Fri, Aug 14, 2009
Approved For Use Aboard All Aircraft Transporting Supplies For
Defense
The U.S. Air Force has approved
usage of Savi Technology's RFID asset tracking and security devices
aboard all sizes and classifications of fixed-wing and rotary-wing
aircraft - government, commercial, passenger or cargo - that
transport supplies for the U.S. Department of Defense.
Certification of Savi's Radio Frequency Identification devices
followed extensive tests determining that they did not interfere
with onboard avionics, such as radios, navigation or flight
instruments.
RFID tags from Savi Technology, a Lockheed Martin company, have
been used successfully for years aboard U.S. military aircraft
under other certification programs, but USAF's certification now
broadens their usage aboard all kinds and sizes of aircraft
throughout all the Services. Eight of Savi's RFID tags, which
can be affixed to supplies, Unit Load Devices, containers, pallets
and other transport conveyances, were approved under MIL-STD-46IF
and MIL-STD-464A, which addresses electromagnetic interference
issues.
Previously, Savi Technology became the first company to receive
Supplemental Type Certification from the U.S. Federal Aviation
Administration for usage of one of its RFID tags on a commercial
aircraft.
"U.S. Air Force certification of our broad portfolio of RFID tags
extends the ability of the DoD to further automate monitoring of
its supplies end-to-end across all modes of transportation," said
David Stephens, chief executive officer of Savi Technology.
"This clearance provides further validation that Savi's RFID
devices can be safely used aboard government or commercial aircraft
to improve the efficiency, security and condition of in-transit
supplies."
Savi's standards-based RFID can be
used for multiple applications, ranging from simple asset tracking
to security monitoring and, when embedded with sensors, to check
the health of assets by monitoring environmental changes such as
temperature, humidity and shock. Savi's active,
battery-powered RFID tags are compliant with the ISO 18000-7
standard and are interoperable with all 18000-7 compliant devices
and reader infrastructure provided by the Automatic Identification
Technology (AIT) industry.
18000-7 compliant RFID devices developed by Savi Technology are
safe aboard aircraft because they transmit only microwatts of power
intermittently in short data packets. The tags also can be
de-activated, or "turned off", but the USAF evaluations, which were
done in real-world taxi and flight scenarios as well as in
laboratories, determined that they were safe aboard aircraft even
when activated continuously.
The U.S. DoD and allied international defense forces in Europe and
Pacific Asia track more than 35,000 shipments daily tagged with
Savi's RFID devices by air, rail, ship and truck across more than
4,000 locations and 50 countries. Savi Technology helped
build the DoD's In-Transit Visibility network, the world's largest
RFID cargo tracking system. Savi's SmartChain software suite,
when integrated with DASH-7 technologies (ISO 18000-7-based
devices), can optimize the performance and efficiency of assets
moving throughout local and global supply chains.
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