NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--This year, roughly 37 million higher-frequency RFID and RTLS-enabled asset tracking and asset management tags are expected to ship. But in 2014, such shipments will total almost 150 million, according to a new study released by ABI Research. The compound annual growth rate (CAGR) for 2010-2014 is more than 40%.

“The basic function of asset tracking is to answer the question, ‘Where has my stuff been?’” says practice director Michael Liard. “Asset management, based on Real-Time Location (RTLS) technologies, refines that question to ‘Where’s my stuff right now?’ Some new systems even add sensors, allowing the additional question, ‘How are my assets?’ Most industries need answers to these questions, but aerospace and defense, automotive manufacturing, commercial services, and non-CPG/industrial manufacturing are showing the fastest and strongest growth in the use of RFID systems.”

During the recent global recession, businesses have continued to realize that optimizing their Return on Assets (ROA) and eliminating unnecessary asset investment is critical. As a result, the adoption of RFID and RTLS-enabled asset tracking and management solutions continues to grow at an impressive rate across verticals and regions.

A recent ABI Research survey of 80 RFID end-user organizations (excluding those with no interest in RFID, and those using it for item-level retail tracking or people tracking in healthcare) surprisingly revealed that 65% of respondents were piloting, deploying, or had already deployed an RFID-based asset tracking and/or management system. This was a higher percentage than those using RFID in its traditional areas of strength, access control and supply chain management.

Perhaps that should not be surprising after all, considering such systems’ stellar ROI performance, with many break-even points measured in months, not years. “Most people assume the savings will be in ‘soft money’: the ability to reduce employees’ time spent on this kind of work,” notes Liard. “But deployments that have been carried through to completion are delivering surprising returns in ‘hard’ money: lower CAPEX and less inventory ‘shrinkage’.”

In its “RFID and RTLS-enabled Asset Tracking and Management" study ABI Research provides detailed analysis and assessment of specific applications for asset tracking and asset management, focusing on passive UHF, active RFID, and RTLS-enabled solutions.

Las Vegas, NV (PRWEB) -- When you are setting the hotel industry standards for luxury and prestige, you cannot have guests complaining that their mag-stripe keycards have been demagnetized by their cell phones. For hotels with thousands of rooms, door lock reliability is particularly important.

That is why CityCenter in Las Vegas took action to make ARIA at CityCenter one of the first Las Vegas resorts to install an RFID guest room locking system with benefits that go far beyond eliminating keycard complaints. The hotels in the luxury complex are achieving levels of elegance and technological sophistication in guest service with an electronic locks system from KABA that will mark them as innovators well into the 21st Century.

Online locking delivers limitless guest service opportunities
“We singled out RFID technology for our new hotels because it eliminates the demagnetization problem we experienced at other properties,” said John Lowes, executive director of guest technology for MGM Resorts International. “We also recognized RFID’s virtually limitless potential to integrate with ‘smart room’ technologies. We implemented KABA Saflok Messenger lock system because KABA was able to put our hotel door locks system on a network that enables us to continually interact with rooms enhancing our guests’ experience.

The new RFID system at CityCenter’s ARIA Resort & Casino, Vdara Hotel and Spa and Mandarin Oriental, Las Vegas is part of the most advanced guestroom technology project in the world. All of the nearly 6,000 guest rooms and suites at CityCenter incorporate hotel door locks using RFID technology, which enables guests to unlock the door by flashing their key over a lock reader. Unlike mag-stripe keys, an RFID key cannot be demagnetized by cell phones or other articles in a guest’s pocket or purse and there is no need to move the key in and out of a slot.

When a guest unlocks his or her room at a CityCenter location, the Saflok RFID system communicates with a wireless network of technologies within the room. CityCenter collaborated with Control4 Corporation to develop an unsurpassed level of personalized guest automation. When a guest first opens their door Saflok sends a message via a Zigbee mesh wireless network to the Control4 in-room controller, which activates a ‘welcome theme’ if it is the guest’s first time in the room. Lights come up; curtains automatically part to showcase the spectacular mountain and city views, and the TV displays controls for guests to personalize.

According to Lowes, CityCenter’s implementation of Zigbee wireless technology is unique in the hotel industry. “KABA’s willingness to work with Control4 to integrate with CityCenter’s wireless Zigbee in-room network was integral to the decision to install Saflok. KABA was able to integrate to our single in-room Zigbee infrastructure which created hardware and management efficiencies. The alternative would typically have been for each vendor to install their own infrastructure.”

Guest room network aims to enhance CityCenter’s ‘green’ quotient
CityCenter is one of the largest sustainable developments in the world, with six Gold LEED certifications from the U.S. Green Building Council, and door locking technology plays a part.

Lowes cited other advantages CityCenter realized from its RFID system and in-room network.

• RFID locks are sealed with fewer moving parts which reduces maintenance.
• The battery status of all door locks and in-room devices is automatically monitored for efficient maintenance and virtually zero downtime when room systems are managed on a wireless network.
• Since CityCenter’s guest rooms and RFID door locks communicate over the property’s online network, guests can change rooms without requiring a new key. The front desk can remotely program any door to accept a guest’s existing key. This makes it possible for CityCenter’s properties to pre-key groups and even issue keys to early arrivals which may be activated when their room is ready.

LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Silvertap, a Free Flow Wines brand and industry leader in wines on tap, is taking a leap forward in their production and inventory management technology. Silvertap is working with Mobile BIS to develop RFID technology-based mobile software that tracks and validates every step of the wine keg’s product lifecycle. From the warehouse to bars and restaurants around the world and back, every keg of wine in Silvertap’s pipeline is tracked.

“One of the largest sources of loss for the beer and wine on tap industries is loss of kegs,” Jordan Kivelstadt, Managing Partner of Free Flow Wines explained. “And with the software solution Mobile BIS has built using RFID technology, we’re able to keep accurate track of where our kegs are in the marketplace.” Kivelstadt also anticipates a dramatic increase in labor efficiency, improved sales projections and analysis for supply and demand, shorter turnaround of kegs, and enhanced customer service.

According to Mobile BIS President Michael Macho, Silvertap is at the forefront of the wine industry. “In an industry that has been historically reliant on less streamlined, manual organization methods, Mobile BIS is developing software solutions for Silvertap that dramatically improve the efficiency of their business,” Macho says. Mobile BIS has a number of other clients in the wine industry, including Boutique Wines Direct and Andrew Lane Wines.

The Silvertap software system is another in a series that is designed to work with the Psion Teklogix Workabout Pro handheld computer, running Windows Mobile. The adaptable Workabout Pro is a staple in warehouses around the world, helping users increase efficiency and improve job performance.

“We worked closely with Mobile BIS to combine its software with our durable Workabout Pro to provide Silvertap with an innovative, custom mobile RFID solution,” said Dave Peddemors, vice president, North American sales at Psion Teklogix. “Customers like Silvertap rely on our rugged handheld computers because they are able to withstand the most demanding conditions of the warehouse floor ranging from drastic temperature changes to daily abuse."

Total Terminal International Algeciras (TTI Algeciras), the container terminal operator of Hanjin in Southern Spain, has gone live with an innovative new Real Time Locating System from Identec Solutions, for the tracking and control of containers.

Lustenau (AT), August 13, 2010 – TTI Algeciras is the first semi-automatic terminal in the Mediterranean area and was built with the intention of handling the latest as well as the future requirements of container vessels. Identec Solutions, in partnership with Hi-Tech Solutions Europe (HTS-E), deployed active RFID and GPS based technologies for a quay crane RTLS and automated transfer point management system (TPMS) in the automated storage areas.

The terminal, owned and built by the South Korean Hanjin Group and located at the Port of Algeciras on the Strait of Gibraltar, represents the largest single investment ever made by a South Korean company in Spain. Operational for two months prior to the formal opening ceremonies on July 15th 2010, TTI Algeciras had already reached 47 percent of its operational status.

“TTI Algeciras was designed to immediately accommodate a maximum of 1.6 million TEU’s progressively with the commencement of operations,” states Oscar Pernia, Processes Systems and Innovation Team Leader, TTI Algeciras. “Deploying a Real Time Locating System that featured both active RFID and GPS technologies was essential for our terminal’s immediate and long-term objectives. Identec Solutions and Hi-Tech Solutions Europe, were able to provide a solution that met our requirements.”

"This implementation of Identec Solutions RTLS technology in combination with Optical Character Recognition (OCR) will change the way container and intermodal terminals manage their waterside processes," states Gerhard Schedler, CEO, Identec Solutions. "We developed this RTLS solution specifically for terminal tractor and straddle operations at ship-to-shore (STS) cranes, an area where GPS tracking is particularly problematic."

The RTLS and TPMS deployment began in November 2009 and went live in May 2010.
This announcement represents Identec Solutions' commitment to delivering innovative solutions for the port, marine and intermodal markets. In addition to quay crane RTLS and TPM, Identec Solutions, offers process automation solutions for gate access, automated job promotion and reefer monitoring for marine and intermodal terminals.

How it works:
Leveraged from Identec Solutions award-winning SensorSMART Technology Platform, the RTLS solution combines intelligent active RFID tags along with an advanced RTLS positioning and visibility system that determines the exact location of shuttle vehicles under eight ship to shore (STS) cranes. As shuttles discharge or pick-up containers under the STS cranes, the shuttle ID and exact position are determined by RTLS then matched to the container ID captured by the Hi-Tech OCR system mounted on the STS cranes. Once the shuttle leaves the crane area, tracking of the equipment seamlessly transitions to Differential GPS allowing the containers to be managed and monitored more effectively. Based on the ISO 24730-5 standard, this solution ensures total traceability, increases STS productivity and creates a safer work environment.

The RFID based Transfer Point Management System is an innovative new application of Identec Solutions’ standard RFID technology. TTI Algeciras uses 32 automated Rail Mounted Gantries (RMG) to store and retrieve containers. At both the waterside and landside transfer points, tags on the base of the shuttle vehicles are used to confirm the absolute position of shuttles as they enter the transfer point zones. This information is sent to the RMG control system to ensure the safety of operators during hand-offs, and to provide 100% traceability in container transitions.

King of Prussia, PA — TAGSYS and RFIP Ltd. announced they have developed a new and innovative RFID-based weapons tracking solution to secure armaments for military, law enforcement and other agencies. The solution is currently being piloted with a major UK police force.

Named the Intelligent Drawer Armory System (iDAS), the solution utilizes embedded RFID technology to automatically record the issue and return of weapons to a secure storage locker. The solution not only automates inefficient manual weapons issuing processes, but also provides a complete service history for each weapon, generates audit reports for supervisors, prevents issue of weapons to un-authorized officers and improves weapon security.

In the current installations, the police department is keeping track of its Tasers using RFID-equipped storage cabinets. Each Taser is tagged with a high frequency TAGSYS Ario 370-SDM (Small Disc Module) RFID tag, and monitored using TAGSYS Medio P032 OEM RFID readers and antennas mounted in the cabinet.

"The TAGSYS Ario tags are very small, making them easy to apply to the Tasers without interference with the functionality of the weapon, but they also provide a reliable read range," said David Armstrong, director at RFIP Ltd. "The tags are very rugged, which is important given the environments these weapons are typically used in."

Previously, Tasers were issued by armories at the larger police stations in the UK. However, the devices are now being deployed at smaller precinct locations. As a result, local police stations need a compact and secure method of storing and issuing Tasers that is also cost effective.

When an officer needs a Taser, he presents his identification card to a card reader on the cabinet. At this stage, the system establishes if the officer is authorized to carry Tasers. Upon authorisation, a touch screen attached to the system guides the officer through a series of legal and procedural notices and the Taser is then electronically signed for before the system signals one of the drawers to open. The authenticated officer then removes the Taser, and the weapon is automatically allocated to him within the asset management application from JML Software Solutions Ltd., a UK-based company that specializes in asset tracking solutions for law enforcement.

The solution has provided the department with a complete pedigree for each weapon, allowing supervisors to track which officers have used which Tasers. This provides the department with a robust audit trail for any investigation regarding the use of a Taser, or the relevant officer’s training record.

"The RFID solution has improved the department's track-and-trace capabilities," Armstrong said. "In the event that the department would need to review the history of any device or officer, authorities can access a complete record of who had access to the weapon and any relevant service or training information."

RFIP and JML Software Solutions have developed additional concept models for hand gun and machine gun tracking for both law enforcement and military applications. This project seals the partnership between TAGSYS, RFIP and JML and leads the way to more joint projects in the future.

PITTSBURGH--(BUSINESS WIRE)--ClearCount Medical Solutions and Medline Industries, Inc. today announced that its newest customer, the VA Pittsburgh Healthcare system will help prevent retained surgical sponge incidents with the use of the SmartSponge System. The SmartSponge System is part of ClearCount’s RFID-based platform that uniquely identifies each sponge so that they can be easily counted and detected. Medline is the exclusive distributor for the SmartWand-DTX and the SmartSponge System, the only FDA-cleared systems using RFID to both count and locate surgical sponges.

The VA Pittsburgh hospital has implemented SmartSponge Systems into its full suite of operating rooms. The national Veterans Health system, which includes 155 medical centers and 842 outpatient clinics, is the largest health care system in the US, with more than 5 million of the 25 million veterans alive today receiving its services.

“The SmartSponge System provides a safety net for human error. Despite the level of experience of staff, individuals are bound to make mistakes. Distractions during counting and the mundane simplicity of 'counting' make the inevitability of losing track of a sponge a constant reality. The use of a system that virtually eliminates retained sponge incidents allows us to meet our ethical obligation to our patients,” said William Stevens, RN, BSN, CNOR Nurse Manager OR/PACU Surgery Specialty Service Line, VA Pittsburgh.

“We are pleased to derive the benefits of such a comprehensive solution for the prevention of retained surgical sponges,” said Mark A. Wilson, M.D., Ph.D. Chief Surgeon and Medical Director of the Surgery Specialty Service Line, VA Pittsburgh. “We use the SmartSponge System to improve patient safety in our ORs with the goal of also improving efficiency. The uniqueness of this RFID platform is its integration of both counting and detection strategies. It is capable of growing with our patient safety initiatives, and we look forward to the future benefits it will provide.”

Despite designation as a “never event,” retained items are estimated to occur in one of every 1,000 to 1,500 abdominal surgical procedures, which can lead to hospital inefficiencies, unnecessary costs, serious infections and even death. Hospital infections add an estimated $30.5 billion to the nation's hospital costs each year. In one study using a retrospective review of medical malpractice claims data from a statewide insurer in Massachusetts, sponge counts had been falsely correct in 76 percent of non-vaginal surgical cases involving retained sponges. Falsely correct sponge counts were attributed to team fatigue, difficult or long operations, sponges “sticking together,” shift changes or procedures with a large number of sponges.

WASHINGTON - (BUSINESS WIRE) - ProxFire Detection System, an integrated system using RFID technology to detect forest fires in real time, proved successful in a controlled burn test in Castaic, Calif. Introduced by ProximaRF, ProxFire Detection System supports early and rapid response protocols, thereby greatly reducing the potential for damage to the environment and property, loss of wildlife and its habitat, and loss of human life.

The July 20 test was conducted in partnership by the U.S. Forest Service, San Dimas Technology Development Center, and the Los Angeles County Fire Department. Four experiments were conducted during the live burn including dozer burnover, structure protection wrap, vehicle tracking, and early detection systems.

The objective of the early detection systems experiment was to evaluate the effectiveness of ProximaRF's ProxFire Detection System (PFDS) sensors. The PFDS operates on a sensory-gateway network. Heat sensitive, lightweight sensors carrying RFID technology comprise the first stage of PFDS. When heat from a developing fire energizes the sensor, it transmits an alarm signal with a unique code to the PFDS wireless gateway in range of the signal, which relays the alarm to a central location such as an operations center for forest fire response and management. ProximaRF's advanced technology allows for the PFDS sensor to withstand significant heat without producing a false alarm while reliably transmitting alarm signals when exposed to real fire conditions.

"We are enormously pleased by the performance of our system during this test. The first sensor went off within four minutes of fire ignition, relaying information that would have made a critical difference in terms of the rapidity of response," said Brent Chapel, CEO of ProximaRF. "The cost of suppressing wildfires is skyrocketing. We know that early detection and precise localization of wildfires can significantly reduce suppression costs. Our calculations suggest that, based on current costs, our system, properly configured, would yield an ROI of 69-1 for every acre saved from fire damage. Obviously the ROI would be significantly greater for higher value areas."

The early detection test results can be observed at www.rfidalaska.com ( this site is best viewed in Internet Explorer)

ProximaRF has accepted invitations to participate in subsequent pilot projects for other entities including county and private forest owners, based on the successful outcome of the Castaic, Calif. test burn.

Spec Performance, a leading Quebec swimming specialty shop and sports events organizer, has announced that after 3 successful pilot runs in June it will now use its newly developed RFID timekeeping system at all its sporting events, including triathlons and swim races.

After years of searching for an accurate and affordable timekeeping solution, Simon Faucher, president of Spec Performance, decided to mandate the Microsoft award-winning TESTeam at Montreal’s Academia RFID Centre of Excellence to design, develop and test a new UHF RFID solution to answer the specific needs and environmental challenges associated with triathlons.

Existing systems using RF antenna-equipped floor-mats didn’t easily lend themselves to swimming and bicycling events and therefore UHF RFID snap-pipe portals were built to create read points at transition areas and the finish line. Waterproof UHF wristbands and bib tags were tested and selected based on size, placement and performance to offer the most accurate read rates.

“This was exactly what I envisioned when I asked the TESTeam six months ago to evaluate the feasibility of this timing solution,” said Faucher. “We worked together to make sure the system would meet the exact criteria of the specific events I organize and I can’t say enough about the experience of creating a new application with existing components without feeling the pressure of working with pre-determined hardware vendors.”

“Every time we start a project, we make sure to clearly define the objectives and then work with a client to guide them step by step through to the process of designing, developing and testing a new solution while remaining vendor-neutral,” added Anthony Palermo, Director at Academia RFID, “this way we can deliver intelligent and application-specific solutions to our clients’ industry-focused business problems.”

The Spec Performance system manages both events and participants; including timing, ranking and simultaneous multi-event reporting and is now being used at events across Quebec.

Mountain View, Calif., - Smart Card Alliance - The U.S. Permanent Resident Card (‘Green Card’) supplied by LaserCard Corporation has been judged the world’s leading government ID card in terms of technology and user utility in a new report by Frost & Sullivan.

Thirteen large government ID programs from around the world are assessed in the report. Rankings were based on a combination of factors including security, durability, utility, range of applications, and demand or adoption by end users.

Shyam Krishnan, Industry Analyst at Frost & Sullivan and author of the LaserCard-sponsored report, said, “Our report identified a representative sample of government ID projects based on a multi-faceted ranking system. The U.S. Green Card scored particularly well due to the extreme levels of security, large data storage capacity, the presence of an RFID chip and the flexibility provided by its optical security media (OSM).”

Other notable card projects mentioned in the report included the chip-based multi-functional Malaysian MyKad national identity card; the OSM-based Costa Rican Foreign Resident Card and the Carabinieri (Italian National Police) ID card, which features a combination of contact and contactless chip, and optical security media.

Robert DeVincenzi, president and CEO at LaserCard, said, “We are pleased that our customers have been recognized for their leadership in the innovative application of security methods and technology. We believe the report points to a growing trend in the application of layered and integrated document security techniques.”

The report examines a number of industry trends and imperatives:

• the growing sophistication of ID card technology and construction
• the importance of multiple layers of visual, physical and digital security
• an increasing requirement for high functionality
• the growing need for scalable government ID solutions that allow for the addition of data over time and the challenges faced in accommodating this feature
• growing interest from governments worldwide in advanced ID cards: Frost & Sullivan forecast global shipments rising from 450 million units in 2009 to 650 million by 2015
• the need for storage of increasingly large volumes of personal data, biometrics and other identification mechanisms on the card itself, which has led to a migration towards chips and optical security media

U.S. Green Card
Through the U.S. government’s Financial Year 2009, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), an agency of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, has issued more than 30 million ID cards incorporating optical security media. There is no known case of the optical security media having been successfully counterfeited or compromised.

The Frost & Sullivan report describes the newly redesigned 2010 U.S. Green Card as ‘among the most physically secure and counterfeit-resistant machine-readable identification cards ever issued’. The new card builds on the success of the legacy OSM-based Green Card, introduced in 1997, and leverages USCIS’ expertise as the world leader in personalizing optical security media ID cards. The new card also features an ICAO-compliant design and its embedded RFID tag ensures compatibility with the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI).

www.smartcardalliance.org

On the popular MSNBC show “Morning Joe,” absent its host former congressman Joe Scarborough, an article in the Wall Street Journal received some twisted retelling.

The group of talking heads announced that Walmart was about to start selling underwear which would have “electronic tags” in them. RFID was not mentioned by name. The talk show consensus reinforced some of the common misconceptions about RFID by talking about how people could now track what underwear you wore.

Walmart will begin the roll out an RFID item-level tagging to track individual pairs of jeans and underwear next month, according to WSJ. Removable tags will enable employees to gain quick access to counting inventory.

Walmart smartly chose to have the tags on removable labels instead of embedding them in clothes, since the general public seems to have an overwhelming fear of being tracked by these passive tags. They are also posting signs informing customers about the tags.

"This ability to wave the wand and have a sense of all the products that are on the floor or in the back room in seconds is something that we feel can really transform our business," Raul Vazquez, the executive in charge of Walmart's stores in the western U.S., told the WSJ.

Myron Burke, director of store innovation and the person leading the retailer's EPC program, told RFID Journal, "We are addressing the opportunity to improve inventory accuracy and inventory availability. We have been working collaboratively with suppliers on a strategic basis to make this part of our systems."

"We are focused on items that require a more complex purchasing decision by the customer," Mr. Burke told RFID Journal. "With denim, the customer has to make a decision based on brand, style, size and cut, in addition to price, of course. There are other areas of the store where we sell items with similar attributes. Tires are one. Some electronics items, such as TVs, are another."

Houston, Texas – Deepwater oil drilling is in the news every day—unfortunately. Might RFID become part of the solution in the future to make it safer or more efficient? A new tag might revolutionize asset tracking in “downhole” and subsea oil and gas operations. This RFID tag can survive sustained extreme conditions of up to 200C (400F) temperature and 2070 Bar (30,000 PSI) pressure.

Merrick Systems announced its nomination for the prestigious SME Innovation Award from Offshore Northern Seas (ONS), the premier energy conference for North Sea Energy Operations. The winner of the award will be announced during the upcoming ONS Exhibition and Conference in Stavanger, Norway on August 25.

The ONS Innovation Awards rerecognize the vital importance of cutting-edge products and solutions and are given to new technologies and significant improvements to existing solutions for the oil and gas industry. Merrick is nominated for this award with its revolutionary new RFID tag which is designed to survive the extreme rigors typical of down-hole and subsea oil and gas operations. The High Temperature/High Pressure (HTHP) tag is the latest addition to Merrick’s RFID Diamond TagTM suite, designed to meet the unique needs of asset tracking in upstream oil and gas operations, surviving not only extreme temperatures and pressure but also impact, vibration, corrosion and abrasives.

“Merrick is honored to be nominated to this prestigious award, alongside the industry’s foremost innovators and forward thinkers” stated Samina Farid, Merrick’s Chairman. “This nomination validates our continued pursuit of practical solutions for tracking high-value assets in downhole, surface and subsea oil and gas operations, where the stakes are high and asset identification errors can have catastrophic results in terms of human and environmental safety as well as financially. Our new technology provides a reliable method to automate the process of tracking these assets and reduce human errors and equipment failures by allowing immediate access to vital asset information across the globe while greatly reducing operational costs. ” She added.

Merrick’s HTHP tags are consistent with OLF (The Norwegian Oil Industry Association) standards and have been independently tested and proven to dependably survive downhole and subsea drilling operations, where other identification methods failed due to destruction of identity markings by extreme heat, pressures, rough handling and chemicals. Merrick’s complete asset tracking solution launched in 2007 includes Merrick’s suite of RFID Diamond

Tags and rugged readers, along with Merrick’s DynaCap software, to track high value oil and gas assets in downhole, subsea and surface operations. Merrick’s asset tracking system allows immediate operational access to asset location, use and inspection history, physical properties, preventative maintenance schedule and traceability information required for an asset. System elements are certified for Class1, Div1 and/or Zone1 use.

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. – Lockheed Martin’s Savi Technology has received a U.S. Marine Corps (USMC) order for 50 Portable Deployment Kits (PDKs) to locate, track and manage RFID-tagged supplies anywhere, anytime in support of expeditionary force surges in Afghanistan.

This most recent order from the USMC Automatic Identification Technology office brings the total number of kits procured to nearly 1,300 kits over the past several years by the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), National Guard, NATO and allied international defense forces.

The updated PDKs in the USMC’s latest order operate on dual Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) modes to provide real-time visibility of assets tagged with devices based on pre-existing standards or to new standards the DoD has adopted based on the ISO 18000-7 (DASH7) standard.

The compact “out-of-the-box” system uses RFID, GPS and Iridium Modems to communicate via satellite with DoD’s In-Transit Visibility (ITV) network. The highly portable solution, which can be carried like luggage and used where fixed infrastructure is not practical, enables military logisticians to know where mission-critical assets are located while they are transported to and from supply depots in the United States to the last tactical area in the field of operations.

“The Portable Deployment Kits help war fighters to be properly equipped, especially in remote and austere environments where rapidly moving expeditionary forces need to be self-sustaining,” said David Stephens, CEO of Savi Technology. “In addition to providing end-to-end supply chain visibility, Savi’s Portable Deployment Kit helps to improve operational efficiency, lower transportation costs and minimize inventory and excessive supply orders.”

“There’s a force multiplier effect when civilian agencies involved in rapidly-moving disaster relief efforts can leverage an off-the-shelf solution that links with the DoD’s existing communications network,” Stephens added. The DoD used PDKs and other RFID fixed infrastructure to track supplies shipped this year to Haiti during disaster relief efforts there. PDKs also can be used in the commercial sector where large and complex supply chains extend to remote locations, such as oil and gas exploration and production, construction and mining.

Because of their ruggedized portability, Savi PDKs can be set up anywhere as mobile reader checkpoints, including at transfer locations from air, land or ocean modes of transportation, or at Supply Management Units in theater. Through satellite communications with the DoD’s ITV network, field logisticians can communicate their requirements with supply depots in the United States, which can then better manage both incoming and outgoing inventory. The PDKs ordered by the USMC track everything needed by expeditionary forces, ranging from ammunition and tires to meals and boots.

The PDK integrates in a single carrying case several wireless tracking and data collection technologies, including bar codes, 2D bar codes, active RFID and GPS location systems with satellite communications. It also includes a laptop, handheld computer, mobile reader, printer, software and communications equipment needed for asset tracking, and cargo and personnel manifesting. In addition, the PDK provides active RFID tag read and write capabilities, and prints Military Shipping Labels with updated shipment information.