Tag Team

Defense perfects its inventory handoffs with RFID technology.

Defense Department officials see enough similarities between the logistics operations of retailers like Wal-Mart and Target and those of the U.S. military to pin their hopes on similar benefits. The department is using RFID tags to improve the speed and accuracy of crucial supply deliveries to U.S. military personnel.

"We've been using bar codes for decades to improve the quality of data entry, but this was an opportunity to apply a new technology-passive RFID technology-to improve the quantity of our data and the timeliness of data availability," says Ed Coyle, chief of Defense's Logistics Automatic Identification Technology Office. "That's exactly what we need for an agile force."

"It's about making sure everyone gets what they need when they need it," says Alan Estevez, assistant deputy undersecretary for supply chain integration. "If I know what I'm moving and where it is in the pipeline, that either precludes me from reordering it, or having to fly it, if I know where it is. And it helps me manage my inventory better, which translates into better use of dollars."

RFID uses radio frequency waves to identify objects or people. An RFID system consists of two basic components-the tag itself (also called a transponder) and a reader, which consists of an antenna and transceiver that reads the tag.

There are two types of RFID systems-passive and active. The battery-powered active RFID system allows tags to remain powered continuously. Tags receive low-level RF signals, which in turn can generate high-level signals back to the reader. Active tags can transmit information up to 300 feet, and have a large data capacity. Active tags are expensive-up to $100 each-so the military tends to use them only on large pallets or cargo containers, says David Stephens, a senior vice president at Savi Technology, a Sunnyvale, Calif., supply chain integrator that has implemented RFID systems for the Defense Department.

Passive tags, on the other hand, are powered from the reader. These tags are much less expensive, but can be read only at short range and contain a small amount of data. They are akin to a license plate, which contains basic information needed to gain access to a larger database. Now as little as 40 cents each-with prices still falling-these tags work best in tracking separate smaller items throughout the supply chain, says Alan Melling, senior director of EPC solutions for Symbol Technologies Inc., an RFID vendor in Holtsville, N.Y.

Ready or Not

"If I've got hundreds of different shipments inside a container all going to different units in the field, I can use an active RFID tag, which lists the manifests of all of the different shipments inside that container," Estevez says. "When the tag, which is on the outside of the container, passes a reader, I can tell where that box or air pallet is at different segments of its journey."

The Defense Department's focus is mainly on expanding the use of passive RFID tags. They will be used to manage inventory as it enters supply and distribution centers and then as it moves from those facilities to military forces and industrial activities. As they are activated, the tags will automatically update the appropriate inventory management systems.

Using more passive RFID tags gives the department better visibility of its assets without human intervention. They're more efficient than the frequently used bar code system, which requires scanning of each item individually, Estevez says.

"You can run the same item over a bar code scanner 10 times, and it will think you've just moved 10 items," Estevez says. "But with RFID tags, you just run them through the reader and it automatically checks in everything on that pallet, saving you time and effort while increasing accuracy."

All branches of the military are pursuing uses for passive RFID technology-some in response to the Defense Department memo, and some on their own.

The Army Materiel Command's Combat Feeding Directorate is working toward using the technology to transport food sent to troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. In a test, passive tags were applied to cases and pallets and moved through a simulated end-to-end supply chain to see how much data could be captured and what obstacles might be encountered.

For the full rollout, manufacturers will place passive RFID tags on cases of Meals Ready to Eat. As the MREs are loaded onto pallets or into 20-by-40-foot shipping containers, the tags will create an electronic manifest. The containers will be shipped to a Defense depot or a theater distribution center overseas, where receivers can read the tags to identify the contents. Officials expect to have the system up and running at key sites by January 2005.

"It will be a great benefit to be able to interrogate a shipment and identify the products or cases without having to physically look at those cases," says Chief Warrant Officer Stephen Moody, a food scientist at the Combat Feeding Directorate, located at the Natick Soldier Center in Massachusetts.

The Navy is working on several implementations of RFID technology. In one case, the tags will be used for a special kind of cargo-the human kind. Coordinators of the Navy's Tactical Medical (TacMed) Coordination System are experimenting with using passive tags as tracking devices for casualties.

Soldiers would wear RFID tags containing basic demographic information around their necks, much like standard dog tags, says Michael Stiney, the TacMed Coordination System program manager at the Naval Aerospace Medical Research Lab in Pensacola, Fla. A health care worker would then scan the tag, upload the information into a hand-held device, and make a few quick entries on the tag about the soldier's condition and care.

If the appropriate communications devices are available, then the health care worker would transmit that information to a central database, making it available to others. If the equipment is not available, then the information recorded on the RFID tag would travel with the soldier to the next point, where it could be transmitted.

The experiment has been a great success at a fleet hospital in Iraq. Since RFID tags have not been issued to every soldier and Marine, the concept is limited to tracking casualties within the 118-bed fleet hospital. Patients were issued tags at check-in, and their tags were updated as they received care.

Once the system is fully implemented, Stiney expects it not only will speed treatment and improve accuracy, but also give planning information about bed space.

Now that prices have fallen, standards are under way and the Defense Department is expanding its use of passive RFID, civilian agencies are exploring ways to use the technology.

The Transportation Security Administration is experimenting with RFID tags on luggage arriving at airports. McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas is at the forefront with its RFID-based tracking system. If McCarran and other test sites are successful, TSA officials plan to gain some economies of scale by buying RFID tags in volume, says Buzz Cerino, TSA's communications technology lead.

For now, the Defense Department is the biggest proponent of RFID technology in the government-and with good reason, Coyle says. "Our goal is making sure information about supplies supports the logistics decision-makers," he says. "This technology is one of the keys to transformation, and we're transforming logistics in the Defense Department."