Public libraries have been at the vanguard of implementing RFID-based tracking, inventory and check-out systems
range of 30 meters. Steve Teller, who directed the RFID deployment for Bechtel Automation Technology, reports that the system is presently achieving a 98% read rate, in spite of the challenge of dealing with the metal cans.
handling of even non-hazardous chemicals, and the agency is planning to extend it to cover all chemical storage at the Dryden facility. According to NASA’s Anton: “Storing at the correct temperature can extend the useful life of chemicals. Given that for every $1 spent buying a chemical it costs about $10 to dispose of it, monitoring the temperature can save the government money in future.”
At the Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base in California, a team of NASA innovators has shown how RFID can be combined with sensor technology to enhance the safety of handling hazardous materials. Ralph Anton, NASA Dryden’s Chemical Program Manager, commented that: “When we heard about RFID, we saw its potential. But instead of just producing a PowerPoint slide show of what RFID could enable, we went ahead and developed a working solution to prove it.” Their pilot in late 2004 demonstrated how RFID tags, augmented by temperature sensors, could be used to monitor the proper storage of hazardous chemicals in one of Dryden’s five storage facilities. The system developed by the NASA engineers tied-in to the existing hazardous materials management system, enabling alerts to be triggered if a tagged chemical bladder, container, or cardboard box holding a chemical was moved, was stored incorrectly, or reached a threatening temperature. The Dryden test showed that safety could be enhanced while producing labor savings in the physical monitoring of the hazardous chemicals. Perhaps even more importantly, the pilot demonstrated that RFID-labeling could enable emergency responders to access information on the chemicals they were dealing with more quickly, should an incident occur off-site.
“Critical people” tracking in government
The initial NASA test further demonstrated the value proposition for RFID in the
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RFID can of course be also be used to track the most critical thing possible – namely people. In Mexico, Attorney General Rafael Macedo de la Concha made headlines last year when it was announced that he and 160 federal prosecutors and drug investigators were implanted with subcutaneous RFID chips to provide the most secure access possible to Mexico’s new federal anti-crime information center. The number of chipped officials in Mexico reportedly grew to include key members of the Mexican military, the federal police and even staffers in the office of Mexico’s President, Vicente Fox. While nothing like this would be a widespread practice for government in this country, due to the obvious civil liberty concerns, there are several exemplary public sector examples of the use of external RFID tags for what might be categorized as “critical people.” First, borrowing from the same RFID concepts that have been successfully used at theme parks with RFID-enabled smart bands, patients can be tracked using RFIDequipped smart brands or bracelets. For instance, the U.S. Navy used smart bands to identify the wounded aboard hospital ships in the Iraq War in 2003, replacing the “Civil War technology” of tracking patients through the use of paper-based charts. The Global IDentification - October 2005