Printed sensors are often used in active RFID ie where there is a power supply in the tag. Active RFID orders are among the largrest in the industry. For example, Savi technology, a subsidiary of Lockheed Martin, is currently working on a $485 million active RFID order. Here is another.
Hi-G-Tek, a developer of RFID-based tracking and status monitoring solutions for high-value cargo and sensitive materials, announces a strategic subcontract to supply the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 18000-7 compliant active-RFID to Unisys Corporation following the Unisys RFID III award. The U.S. Army Program Executive Office-Enterprise Information Systems selected Unisys and three other prime contractors for an indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity contract with a three-year base period and seven one-year options, exercisable at the discretion of the government. The Unisys team includes technology partner Hi-G-Tek.
Unisys serves as the prime contractor and systems integrator for this contract, bringing together the technologies of Hi-G-Tek and other solution providers. Under the contract, which has a total ceiling value of $428 million, Unisys will compete for orders to provide this standard based RFID technology and services to all U. S. federal government agencies as well as to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and other coalition partner countries. Hi-G-Tek's technology provides real-time monitoring of an asset's location, environmental condition and security status while en route.
Under the RFID III contract, the successor to the Army's RFID II contract, awarded in January 2003, the Department of Defense (DoD) sought RFID 18000-7 protocol licensees of solutions based on the ISO Standard 18000-7:2008. This protocol, which is used around the world by the DoD, NATO, and various military defense systems, operates at 433 megahertz. This frequency features a low power consumption that allows the incorporation of various sensor attributes including temperature, location, and humidity. In addition, the 18000-7 standard establishes an automatic identification of assets at distances exceeding 100 meters.
The DoD uses RFID III as the primary contract vehicle to purchase active-RFID, a technology to secure and monitor the status of all military cargo in transit around the globe and especially those shipments sent to support the war fighter in Iraq and Afghanistan. Currently, RFID tags are attached to approximately 125,000 shipments of military supplies each week. The RFID III contract will supply a universal, integrated platform to all government and military users of active-RFID components for logistics and location tracking and conditional monitoring of cargo and assets.
