Going green and mobile with RFID

Savi Technologies installed solar-powered RFID readers for the DOD, saving power and enabling data collection in more places than ever.

By Bob Trebilcock, Editor at Large -- Modern Materials Handling, 11/29/2007

There’s a lot of talk these days about the green supply chain. Materials handling and logistics professionals are not only looking for ways to optimize their operations, but also to make them more energy efficient and eco-friendly.

There’s also talk about mobility—that is, the adoption of technologies like RFID, wireless sensors, and cellular networks to collect more information at more points in the supply chain than ever before.

That’s why a press release from Savi Technology last week caught my eye. Savi is best known as a provider of RFID-based asset tracking solutions, especially for the Department of Defense. That’s the mobility angle.

But the company’s most recent deployment involved the installation of solar-powered RFID readers at a major U.S. Army supply facility in Kuwait. That’s the green angle.

In fact, the installation represents a convergence of both trends. “Solar energy provides an energy-efficient and environmentally friendly power source for RFID hardware,” says David Stephens, Savi’s general manager of the Americas. “The Army also wanted broader access to information used to make strategic decisions.”

Using solar power eliminates the need to install an electrical infrastructure in remote areas where there is no reader infrastructure or power grid. As Stephens points out, there’s plenty of sunshine in the desert.

How does it work?

The forward location in Southeast Asia is used by the Army to position supplies and equipment needed by the troops at a remote location in Afghanistan. Savi mounted the solar-powered RFID readers on poles at the facility. The readers activate RFID tags attached to vehicles or pieces of equipment as they enter or leave the facility. The readers can communicate to a local server, or over the DoD’s satellite network to one of four central servers.

Commercial applications

While this deployment is for the military, Stephens says Savi is also working on commercial applications for solar-powered RFID technology. Emprevi Ltda, a Colombia-based provider of logistics and security services for major importers and exporters, is using the technology at strategic checkpoints, including factories and port facilities, to monitor in-transit goods manufactured in and exported from Colombia. 

“As end users look to collect more information at more nodes in the supply chain, I think we’re going to see more applications pop up,” says Stephens. “If you don’t have power, it doesn’t matter.”