Why RFID is essential to the DoD Supply Chain ...

Why is RFID essential to the DoD Supply Chain?

From DOD "Frequently Asked Questions about RFID" ...

... The use of RFID in the DoD supply chain has the potential to provide real benefits in inventory management, asset visibility, and interoperability in an end-to-end integrated environment. RFID encapsulates the data accuracy advantages inherent in all types of automatic identification technology (AIT). Additionally, RFID is a totally non-intrusive methodology for data capture (requires no human intervention), is non-line of sight technology, and is a technology that may possess both read and write options within the same equipment item. ...

RFID systems carry data in suitable transponders, generally known as tags, and retrieve data, by machine-readable means, at a suitable time and place to satisfy particular application needs. Tags have a discrete memory capacity that varies from a small license plate to thousands of records. Data within a tag may provide any level of identification for an item during manufacture, in-transit, in-storage, or in-use. With additional data, the tag may support applications that need item-specific information. For example, shipment consignee or destination ports can be readily accessed upon reading the tag. In addition to tags, an RFID system requires a means for reading or "interrogating" the tags to obtain the stored data and then some means of communicating this tag data to a DoD logistics information system. RFID in the context of DoD usage falls into three broad categories based primarily on the technology currently in existence - active RFID, passive RFID, and semi-passive RFID.