Passive RFID Portals Added to DoD Distribution Centers

August 2, 2006

More than 300 passive radio frequency identification (RFID) portals will be installed across the U.S. Defense Distribution Center (DDC) global logistics network.

Odin Technologies, the company awarded the installation contract, is running test pallets by each of the newly installed portals to validate equipment readiness, antennae placement and network connectivity.

The test pallet is passed through the portal 10 times as a nearby technician watches a laptop computer that shows which tags are read. Each of the 20 tags on the test pallet must be read successfully every time before the portal is accepted.

Both generation one and generation two tags are being used on the test pallet. Both tag types have been read successfully, said Larry Loiacono, DDC information operations wireless team leader.

Under the project, Defense Distribution Depot Susquehanna, Pa., (DDSP) was outfitted with 55 additional portals.

DDSP has four passive RFID portals operating since December 2004 and was successfully reading tags and providing electronic acceptance to the Defense Finance and Accounting Service system.

DDSP is the largest distribution operation in the Department of Defense (DoD), receiving about 40,000 new procurement shipments each month.

The enhancement of existing passive RFID infrastructure brings DDC into compliance with the DoD policy requiring that DoD distribution centers receive passive RFID tags as suppliers begin tagging their products in accordance with acquisition regulations.

Across the organization, less than 7% of the material entering DDC distribution centers is tagged with passive RFID, but that number should increase as more suppliers begin tagging shipments, said Loiacono.

Odin Technologies will add 49 portals to the existing passive RFID infrastructure at DDC's second largest site, Defense Distribution Depot San Joaquin.

DDC's 19 distribution centers in the continental U.S. will be equipped with RFID portals by September. Portal installation at DDC's seven overseas sites will be complete in 2007.

Source: U.S. Defense Logistics Agency (DLA).