RFID and Automated Identification Technology: Defense Logistics Agency DLA Applications
Automatic Identification Technology can improve DoD’s logistics business processes and enhance warfighting capability by helping logisticians collect information on troops and equipment moving throughout the theater of operations. AIT encompasses a variety of read and write data storage technologies that capture asset identification information. Those technologies include bar codes, optical memory cards, radio frequency identification tags and satellite tracking systems.
AIT devices offer a wide range of data storage capacities from a few characters to thousands of bytes. The information on each device can range from a single part number to a self-contained database.
Family of AIT Devices
Bar Codes
A bar code is an array of parallel, narrow, rectangular bars and spaces that represent a group of characters. Bar codes are applied on labels, paper, plastic, ceramic and metal by a variety of marking techniques. A reader scans the bar code, decodes it, and transfers the data to a host computer. There are two types of bar codes, linear and two-dimensional.
Linear—a linear bar code is normally limited to about 20 characters. Linear bar codes are used to represent a key data element that serves as a point of reference in a central database. Scanning a bar code permits automatic access to the information in the database.
Two-dimensional—A 2D bar code can store up to 1,850 characters in a single symbol. Two-dimensional bar codes can also sustain considerable damage and still be read. The bar codes are used on multipacks, air pallets and items in the repair cycle that need to be accompanied by detailed historical repair data. DoD shipping activities such as storage facilities, installations, ports and container consolidation points prepare and attach 2D bar codes to multipacks or air pallets that contain several items for one recipient. Those bar codes can contain both transportation and supply data.
Optical Memory Cards
The optical memory card uses the same technology made popular by audio compact discs and audio-visual CD-ROM (read only memory) products. Users write on the card with a narrowly focused, high-intensity laser beam. A low-power light beam is used to read the "pits" created during the writing process. Because the OMC is about the size of a credit card, a person can carry it easily in a pocket or wallet.
DoD activities use OMCs when extensive, detailed content is required. For instance, DLA’s Automated Manifest System uses a DoD standard OMC for automated receipt processing. The cards contain supply and transportation information used for receipt processing, discrepancy reporting and reconstituting shipment data and documentation. Logistics nodes that consolidate shipments generate the OMCs while receiving activities and support units are the primary users.
Radio Frequency Identification
Radio frequency identification is a relatively new approach to identify, categorize and locate people and materiel automatically within a few inches to 300 feet. The technology helps when a user needs to locate and redirect individual containers or needs to know the container’s contents.
In active RF tags, the labels are known as tags or transponders. They contain information that can range from a permanent ID number programmed into the tag by the manufacturer to a variable 128-kilobyte memory that can be programmed by a controller using RF energy. The controller is usually referred to as a reader or interrogator. An interrogator and a tag use RF energy to communicate with each other. The interrogator sends an RF signal that "wakes up" the tag, and the tag transmits information to the interrogator. The interrogator also can write new information on the tag, thus permitting a user to alter the tag’s information within the effective range. Other less capable RF tags—passive tags—operate similarly to active tags except the data capability is limited to 20 bytes and interrogation is generally limited to line-of-sight.
Satellite-Tracking System
A satellite tracking system provides the ability to track the exact location of vehicles and convoys. The latitude and longitude locations of trucks, trains, and other transportation assets equipped with a transceiver are transmitted periodically via satellite to a ground station. Some systems also provide two-way communications between a vehicle operator and a ground station for safety, security and the ability to reroute.
The U.S. European Command is using satellites to track convoys and critical shipments as they are moving to Bosnia. A system has five components—a subscriber unit, satellite, earth station, network control center and logistics managers. A subscriber unit is installed in the conveyance being tracked. The unit exchanges information with an earth station via satellite. The earth station is connected to an NCC that stores information in electronic mailboxes. Logistics managers access their mailboxes to receive information from subscriber units and return information to them.
Conclusion
The strength of AIT, as an enabling technology, is its ability to capture data rapidly and accurately and transfer the data automatically with little or no human intervention. Using AIT supports the DoD strategy of capturing data once and making it readily available to all users.
No single AIT device can support all DoD requirements and applications. A mix of AIT capabilities is needed throughout the DoD logistics chain.
Source: Logistics Automatic Identification Technology Concept of Operations
By the AIT Task Force, Deputy Under Secretary of Defense (Logistics)
Labels: access-control, active-tag, applied-rfid, card, center, communicate, computer, container, credit-card, defense, defense-logistics-agency, devices, dla, dlarfid, dod, equipment, location, low-power-consumption, passive-tag, radio-signal, rf-tags, rfid-device, rfid-transportation, safety, shipping, strategy, symbol, transportation, vehicle
