Newsletter #337 (View other news stories)
Solar energy powers remote RFID
MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA, United States
Thursday, 22 Nov 2007
Savi Technology has deployed solar-powered RFID readers and signposts to customers in the defence and commercial sectors, reducing the cost of tracking supplies and conserving energy.
Savi praises solar energy as "energy efficient, environmentally friendly" and "eliminating the need to install electrical infrastructure in remote areas".
The company’s engineers have mounted solar panels and RFID signposts on poles at a leading US Army supply facility in Kuwait.
The solar-powered signposts activate RFID tags attached to vehicles or equipment that then report the assets’ positions to nearby RFID readers. The readers relay the information to Savi Site Manager software that automatically updates the location of assets.
Lieutenant Colonel Patrick Burden from the US Army Product Management Office of Joint Automatic Identification Technology (PM J-AIT) says the army faces challenges in providing sufficient power for the installation of RFID sites in austere locations.
PM J-AIT is the contact point for acquisition support and technical expertise for Joint Services, Federal agencies, NATO and multi-national forces.
On the commercial side, Savi Networks, a Savi Technology joint venture, operates an RFID-based network in Colombia that uses solar energy to power Savi RFID signposts and readers that track the status and security of containerised cargo shipments managed by Colombian logistics provider Emprevi Ltda.
"Solar energy powers some of the more remote sections of Emprevi’s RFID network that would otherwise lack a constant, dependable power source," says Emprevi president Mauricio Barberan Canas.
Savi Technology, established in 1989, is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Lockheed Martin, headquartered in Mountain View, California. The RFID solutions provider has offices in London, Melbourne, Singapore and Washington DC.
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