RFID Historical Perspectives ...

RF/ID ENABLES RAPID OFF-LOAD OF

Randall McClure and Thomas J. Kershaw write ...

... "While preparing final plans for loading its prepo ships in late 1994, the Army decided that radio frequency/identification (RFID) tag technology like that used in Haiti would aid in rapidly identifying the contents of containers deployed aboard the ships. After a series of feasibility meetings, the Army decided that soldiers could use handheld interrogators and RF tags affixed to shipping containers to locate quickly items packed in the thousands of containers arriving for a contingency. Handheld interrogators and RF tags manufactured by Savi Technology were selected for this task. Remarkably, this automatic identification technology could work even in an austere environment without computers or external power sources-exactly the conditions often found during the initial offloading of prepo container ships in an oversea theater. " ...