Keeping Track, Staying the Attack

KEEPING TRACK, STAYING THE ATTACK



The U.S. Transportation Command is leveraging radio frequency and automatic identification technologies in an effort to provide real-time asset tracking and visibility capabilities to the warfighter, on demand, across a global battlefield.

By Karen E. Thuermer

Since September 2006 when the United States Transportation Command was named the lead functional proponent for implementation of radio frequency identification and related automatic identification technology across the Department of Defense, USTRANSCOM has watched its mission grow in importance.

The DoD was an early adopter of innovative, passive RFID technology that leverages the Electronic Product Code (EPC) and compatible RFID tags. Now the military—led by USTRANSCOM—is ratcheting up the technology.

RFID and AIT are key enablers poised to deliver on the promise of DoD Distribution and Supply Chain Transformation. DoD has built the world’s largest global RFID network, capable of monitoring anywhere from 20,000 to 35,000 conveyances at any one time, with about 4,000 fixed nodes in about 30 countries.

“Commanders in the field have a demand for real-time asset tracking and visibility,” said David L. Dias, chief of USTRANSCOM’s Asset Visibility Division, headquartered at Scott Air Force Base, Illinois. “Transportation and logistics are such a critical piece of any operation. They can’t run without it.”

USTRANSCOM is charged with working cohesively with all AIT stakeholders: the military services, the combatant commanders, the Defense Logistics Agency and the automatic identification technology (AIT) community in the DoD to promote RFID and AIT.

DoD officials call RFID and AIT key enablers to continually improve distribution and supply chain transformation. DoD has built the world’s largest global RFID network, capable of handling between 20,000 and 35,000 conveyances at any one time, with about 4,000 fixed nodes in roughly 30 countries.

NEW ROADMAP EXPANDS VISION

To handle increased demand, USTRANSCOM has developed a new “DoD AIT Concept of Operations for Supply and Distribution Operations” that became available in June 2007. The Concept of Operations, or CONOPS, expands the implementation vision for AIT and RFID in all U.S. military services and agencies through 2015, officials said. Its goal is to energize the integration of RFID and AIT across all supply chain business processes.

“We want to make sure that the technology fits the business processes and makes our logistics and supply chain the very best it can be,” Dias said.

The DoD AIT Implementation Plan, recently signed by General Norton A. Schwartz, USTRANSCOM commander, is action-oriented, providing the organizational structure and specific tasks required to transform the AIT environment into the CONOPS vision. It will be implemented in three spirals—Spiral 1 is targeted for 2008 and 2009, Spiral 2 is targeted for fiscal years 2010 and 2011 and Spiral 3 is expected in fiscal years 2012 through 2015.

“We are currently working on specific tasks and alignment with one another from the wholesale end of the supply chain all the way to the retail end,” Dias said. While progress has been made in implementing RFID and AIT, Dias emphasized the need to keep moving the effort forward. “We need to exploit some of the other technologies that are a little less mature, such as passive RFID,” he said. “And we need to implement it where it makes sense and can provide benefit.”

Dias explained that active RFID is currently being used extensively throughout the military services and DoD agencies, including theaters of operation. “In contrast to the Gulf War where we had iron mountains of supplies building up, the use of active RFID has eliminated those iron mountains,” Dias said. “RFID has increased our visibility to the point that we have been able to manage those shipments to the theater and make our supply chain more streamlined. We now know what’s in the box or container.”

Today the DoD operates with an extensive RFID worldwide server network. The servers offer built-in redundancies so that if one server goes down, AIT data can still be captured in one of the other servers.

With rapid advancements in technology, Dias believes the CONOPS especially holds promise for the future of RFID and AIT.

“I cannot tell you how excited I am about the CONOPS,” said Dias. “It’s a good road map and takes us into the future.”

The intention of the document is to identify a primary and backup AIT device for each layer of consolidation from the item itself, through its individual packing to the conveyance moving the material all the way through the supply chain.

The backbone of the CONOPS is a blend of passive tags, two-dimensional and linear barcodes, and active license plate tags that provide only the active tag number. “The tag number is then cross-referenced in the backend databases that would give the contentlevel detail,” Dias explained.

“We also identify what we refer to as premium AIT for unique items such as perishables, temperature-sensitive pharmaceuticals and situations where security is a priority or where real-time visibility is required.” Premium AIT would include things such as satellite technology, cellular technology and sensors.

Dias sees passive RFID as the next potential revolution in RFID. A much smaller and less expensive tag than active RFID, passive RFID is powered by a reader at close range and does not have its own power source. Active RFID tags costs about $70 each and employ their own internal power source, which can power the integrated circuits and broadcast a signal to the reader from a distance of up to 300 feet.

“We are doing some pilot tests on passive RFID in the CONUS and Alaska,” Dias said. “We want to document the results and see what benefits it offers. In addition, we are looking at cellular and satellite technologies to track shipments.”

SUPPLIER ENGAGEMENT

To develop the technology, USTRANSCOM works closely with suppliers and attends various technology forums. “We do a lot of research and assessment of different technologies and will continue to do this in the future,” he said.

In exploring and developing the technology, USTRANSCOM pays close attention to global standards, Dias said. “We not only adhere to global initiatives. We take a proactive role in the development of global standards and processes,” he said. “We do this because we want the AIT technology to be interoperable with our industry partners and our global partners all over the world.”

Dias sees the implementation plan as a great step toward reaching this goal. “It represents a lot of hard work and collaboration and cooperation between the services and the AIT stakeholders,” he said. “In the end, it’s all about logistics and supporting the warfighter. I think anytime you can support our military forces, that’s a tremendous thing.”

Freedom Technologies Corporation, an automated data solutions and error proofing software company headquartered in Brighton, Mich., is working to address the DoD’s RFID challenges concerning supply container itemization and tracking. “As DoD eliminates the backlog of supplies that has accumulated at single requisition points in the war effort, the focus has shifted from tracking large supply stores to smaller, more parts-specific ones,” said Freedom Technologies’ President Rick Scorey. “With passive RFID as the primary method of supply tracking, these smaller, more equipment-specific stores have put a strain on the ability to selectively identify specific items within a given depot’s inventory.” Working with Harris Corporation, Freedom Technologies has created a system by which all governmentrequired data is encapsulated in a database repository that keeps detailed information on supply items from parts manufacturing to parts distribution.

Roland F. Bryan, president and CEO of MachineTalker, Inc., a networking platform manufacturing company in Santa Barbara, Calif., said, “RFID systems use polled, pointto- point communication links with no built in intelligence and little or no networking functionality. MachineTalker wireless peerto- peer networking does not alter the basic functionality of RFIDs. The RFID backend software and stored databases which now process data do not have to be changed. The MachineTalker wireless network enhances RFID functionality and at the same time reduces costs by sharing local information in the field over the local mesh network.

Savi, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Lockheed Martin with headquarters in Mountain View, Calif., is actively supporting all military services in their effort to implement RFID and AIT technology solutions. Although Savi is most known for providing active, battery-powered RFID solutions, “we’ve run early implementations with passive RFID in some areas,” said David Stephens, CEO of Savi Technology, which is focused on defense and government agencies. “We also help customers that still do a lot of barcode work. We help them combine the various AIT capabilities to solve problems.” “We help them in areas that are not using RFID today, such as identifying and putting capabilities in movement control teams through the use of portable deployment kits (PDKs),” he said. “We help marry RFID technology with other capabilities.” PDKs are basically a mobile kit containing all the hardware and software needed to enable military personnel deployed in remote locations. A logistics officer, for example, can take the mobile supply chain management RFID kit and deploy it without relying on a fixed infrastructure because it can transmit and receive information via satellite communications. The kit can be powered through a Humvee’s DC outlet. The kit makes it possible to read and write RFID tags for situations such as loading or unloading a C-130. It can also be used in associating cargo with troops and their convoys.

“It’s portable on the fly,” Stephens said. “It’s even been used in container yards where a reader is hung out the window of a Humvee that’s driven around to get random checks. The PDKs provide RF-Intransit Visibility (RF-ITV) network capabilities at remote locations or at locations where the capability is temporarily needed.”

The PDKs can tap into the DoD’s fixed RF-ITV network. There are currently over 4,000 read-and-write stations in the DoD’s ITV network, tracking an average of 35,000 RFID-tagged shipments a day through more than 30 countries.

RFID sites are typically found at supply and transportation nodes such as depots, terminals, ports, supply support activities, and even some manufacturing facilities. Besides supplying integrated AIT-based solutions, which include RFID, satellite, sensors and barcodes, Savi provides system integration services as well as a suite of its SmartChain software platform for asset management and security. This includes the network platform, SmartChain Site Man-ager, and SmartChain’s suites of enterprise software applications.

INNOVATIVE SOLUTIONS

Over the past five years, A2B Tracking Solutions of Portsmouth, Rhode Island, has been pursuing the development of commercial software in support of two DoD initiatives: unique item identification (UID) and RFID. The DoD requires all assets and personal property owned by DoD, including assets in the possession of contractors, to be marked with a unique serialized identification number in accordance with MIL STD 130. UID applies equally to legacy and newly-requisitioned government property in possession of contractors (PIPC), with the goal of placing 100 percent of property and deliverables in the new UID Registry for life cycle management. The policy is a difficult one with which to comply, however, given its chosen standard, some vendors said.

“It is complex (up to 72 characters and four separate barcodes per item), and forces contractors to mark and track more government property than in the past and report more frequently,” A2B reported on its Website.

Consequently, A2B Tracking has developed UID Comply!, an intelligent UID data management system which includes labeling and decoding of UIDs that can scan any combination of UID permittedlabels, interpret the data in the labels, and prompt the user for further barcode scans when necessary. UID Comply! also formats the data for perfect flow back to the military’s Wide Area Work Flow (WAWF) and IUID Registry, thereby satisfying policy requirements in compliance with DFARS regulations.

A2B sees UID and RFID technologies as related since UID are used for shipments of critical spare parts used in maintenance.

“There are cases with RFID tags and inside those cases there are items, say engine parts, that are uniquely identified with a two-dimensional barcode and UID that applies to that item so you always know that that particular spare part is going on that pallet inside that container,” said Peter Collins, founder and president of A2B. USTRANSCOM is pushing the technology since, in the broad AIT reference, both technologies come together because they are both about either identifying the container or identifying the item. UID offers pedigree information about where an item came from and where and how it was used in the field.

“This is important because when it comes back to a depot for maintenance there is now far more detail on how it was used in the field and any other maintenance that was performed on it,” Collins said. “Such information makes it easier to determine whether or not the item has gone through its full life cycle or has been recalled for defects.” Issues surrounding UID and RFID also go beyond just printing a label on a thermal transfer printer and putting it on a product or case.

“When you go to mark, say, an engine part, you must realize that an engine gets up to hundreds of degrees,” he explained. Consequently, A2B has teamed up with direct part marking specialists to create permanent marks that can be affixed to such items that will last the full lifetime of the product.

“Our vision is always in the context of solving problems within the DoD,” Collins said. “The military is clearly a different environment than say a supplier shipping products to Wal-Mart.”

Take, for example, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates’ order in late March of a complete inventory of the nation’s nuclear arsenal and all associated components following the discovery that the U.S. military had mistakenly delivered four electrical fuses for an intercontinental ballistic missile to Taiwan—an error that went unnoticed for more than 18 months.

This critical mistake in arms shipment and the fact that despite quarterly checks of the inventory the error went unnoticed drives home the importance of RFID and AIT.

“The combination of UID and RFID would have gone a long way to prevent this nuclear missile fuse misshipment,” said Collins. ♦