Feb-March 2003

The UK's Ministry of Defence is to deploy Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) to track and manage military supplies in transit from storage depots to front-line operations. Information about shipment status and location - whether by truck, rail, ocean or air - is captured in real time by a global network of fixed and portable handheld RFID readers, and transmitted to secured software systems operated by both the UK MOD and the US Department of Defense.

Californian company Savi Technology is supplying the hardware. The company has worked with the US Department of Defense since 1994, helping to build its Total Asset Visibility network and. TAV is believed to be the world's largest active RFID-based logistics tracking system, monitoring 270,000 cargo containers transporting military supplies throughout 400 locations in more than 40 countries.

Savi's contract with the MOD's Defence Logistics Organisation initially calls for fixing about 15,000 410 Series SaviTags on equipment such as ISO containers and pallets. These "smart tags" communicate over radio frequencies with strategically placed readers, which in turn transmit information on the status of the shipment to a Web-based software system used by the MOD. The result enables the British Army, Royal Air Force and Royal Navy to have real-time visibility of the conveyances and their contents.

The order also calls for handheld reading devices, fixed and portable automatic data collection readers and Savi Retrievers, which process and translate the data from the RFID hardware. The company's Universal Data Appliance Protocol interface allows interoperability between various automated data collection devices.