RFID Weapons and Firearms Tracking Video

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) is a breakthrough technology for tracking weapons, small arms and firearms. RFID Tags and RFID readers can be used to gain 100% visibility and accountability into where and when a firearm moves within a facility or vehicle. This short video shows how using teh US Department of Defenses ISO 18000-6 passive RFID standard can increase security and accountability of weapons. Passive RFID is not bringing a new world order (NWO) rather it is increasing security and accountability.

RFID Technology Adoption -- healthy at 300

Reik Read of RFID Monthly / Robert W. Baird & Co. posted an article this week citing the lack of industry and end user technical knowledge as the key factor holding back RFID technology adoption.  It stood out in sharp contrast to an ODIN milestone announced this week. As of January, ODIN has completed over 300 paid RFID projects. These span more than a dozen industries for over 90 companies.   Three hundred projects completed by a single company would typically suggest healthy and growing market adoption.  Of course, it depends where you are looking. 

Two years ago, ODIN began to see some trends emerge.  Retail was seeing decent results from RFID, but the industry was struggling with macroeconomic factors. At the same time, government use was accelerating, RFID IT asset tracking was taking hold, RFID tool tracking and inventory visibility applications were emerging with strong ROI.  Weakness in one sector was counterbalanced by growing RFID adoption in industries ranging from the aerospace and defense to healthcare and financial services.  Several industries were embracing RFID because it enabled rapid item identification for high value and high risk assets without human intervention.  It was more than just efficiency.  RFID was providing visibility with real value.   

Knowledge – an RFID Adoption enabler

Having completed many projects and seen many others that weren’t funded leaves me with the impression that Mr. Read is at least partly correct.  Technical knowledge and RFID expertise have been important factors in whether RFID projects go forward and whether they are successful.  The customers best educated in RFID have been the most likely to move forward.  And, the most knowledgeable RFID implementers have been the most likely to deliver successful solutions.  We have seen many projects go unfunded because of lack of technology understanding.  Unfortunately, we have seen other projects that were canceled due to unskilled implementation and end users looking to us to rescue their project. 

There is no doubt that more knowledge will result in more successful projects.  Oftentimes the challenges are not found in the technology, but rather in its proper selection and implementation.  At ODIN, all of our engineers go through CompTIA RFID+ certification.  This is a small portion of their training, but is a good foundation that we recommend all implementers of RFID consider for their staff.

Making RFID Invisible and Easy – embedded solutions

In 2004, knowledge was probably the biggest adoption barrier.  Deploying systems was complicated and time consuming even for the most expert implementers.  By 2007 we were seeing more buyers whose biggest concern was a paucity of peer references within their industry.  They wanted to know that someone else like them had been successful.  Today, there are a large number of successful references across a number of industries.  We expect these successful deployments will lead RFID solution suppliers embed their experience into more pre-packaged RFID solutions.

The increased availability of easy to use, pre-packaged solutions will no doubt be a catalyst for RFID adoption.  Three years ago, most solutions were custom designed and built to a customer’s specification.  That approach can deliver great results, but it also involves more time, cost and risk.  Today, there are well proven, pre-packaged RFID solutions that can be installed and put to use in just a few days.   High ROI RFID solutions for kit tracking, IT asset tracking and tool tracking are good examples of solutions where end users don’t need a great deal of knowledge.  The learning is embedded in the solutions and the RFID technology is transparent to the users.  End users can now adopt business solutions that happen to use RFID and not the other way around. 

Let us know your thoughts on RFID adoption barriers and successes by commenting below. 

2010 RFID Predictions--Video Blog

In this video blog I make my 2010 Predictions for the RFID industry. I also look back on 2009 and summarize how my "9 for 2009" stacked up; consequently, a special guest joins us on set.

Airbus A350 RFID programme Questions & Answers

By Luke Waidmann -- ODIN expert at Airbus

In 2009, Airbus announced requirements for high memory Ultra High Frequency (UHF) Radio Frequency IDentifictation (RFID) and Contact Memory Button (CMB) tags use in parts tracking of all serialized, replaceable, and repairable part of the A350. To go along with these requirements, this month Airbus announced preferred pricing on high memory tags through further contract. These two developments have raised a number of questions from parts suppliers, so I will try to answer the most repeated questions.

Why Use RFID and CMB for Aerospace?

The respective RFID and CMB tags will be used to store maintenance and manufacturer information of up to 3,000 parts on the A350. Airbus will use these tags to keep maintenance records and part history. By storing records on the parts, a repair facility will not need network connection get relevant maintenance information.With the click of a hand-held RFID reader the full component history of an A350 part will be available. Likewise fixed readers in tables or portals will read the part information .This will save MROs significant time and expense when a part needs repair, and it increases the overall safety of the aircraft.

What do the Airbus RFID Requirements actually say?

Airbus will require the tagging of all replaceable, repairable and serialized parts on the A350.  Parts inside the pressurized areas of the plane can use either RFID or CMB (however RFID significantly speeds up the business process because it does not need to be touched and many tags can be read at once). technology, while parts in unpressurized areas should use contact memory buttons (this part of the requirements may change as more robust RFID tags are developed).  The full specifications stipulate requirements for the performance characteristics, locations, and sizes of the tags.  The contract signed this month allows external parts suppliers to benefit from the pricing negotiated by Airbus by providing the same price to contractors.  Neither document, however, requires the use of a specific vendor; parts manufacturers may be able to obtain better value from other tag providers.

Ok great... What's in it for the part supplier to Airbus?

RFID mandates in other industries, such as retail, have floundered because they lacked buy-in from the companies responsible for the tagging (the suppliers).  This time, the manufacturer can implement RFID tracking technology to obtain similar ROI in their processes. In addition, Airbus is offering pre-negotiated RFID prices. Two primary use cases come to mind: process tracking and MRO (Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul) tracking.  The memory in tags can be re-written any number of times or locked forever.  This means that the manufacturer can apply the tags early in the process and track the build status of the part automatically.  The tag can be used similarly to the Airbus use case by adding information to the part as it goes through each build phase.  Prior to delivery, the tag can be erased of information used by the manufacturer, and the information needed by Airbus can be written and locked.

Summing it Up

ODIN can help if you are interested in tagging parts with RFID and CMB.ODIN’s team has been on the ground at Airbus HQ in Toulouse since 2006, and we have the best team in the industry for solving the challenges in tagging LRUs and other Aersopace use cases like tool and jig tracking.  Our team of experts can quickly identify which tag to use and where to place it.  If you’d like to learn more, please contact Kevin MacDonald at Kevin@odintechnologies.com

 

RFID Software needs a New Year’s Resolution

Last week, ODIN kicked off a project to deploy 17 data centers with RFID for one of the world’s top banks.  Should you be surprised that they are moving to deployment or why it took them so long given the clear return on investment of RFID IT Asset Tracking?  It was clear that there great RFID asset tracking success stories abound like Airbus and others.   However, some short term thinking has halted progress in the RFID industry like an anchor grabbing hold of a solid reef –  the DoD’s Alaska Project come to mind when I think of ships run aground. Much of the fault or credit goes directly to the software strategy those organizations adopted.  So I thought it would make sense to show what makes success or failure in RFID software.

The Problems with RFID Middleware

There are three major problems with traditional RFID middleware:

1. The software is not optimized with the RFID physics in mind

2. Many middleware companies require additional servers because they are another enterprise application in disguise

3. Integration and support are a nightmare with enterprise ERP systems like SAP or Maximo

Unfortunately many software companies don’t have an RFID lab and can’t Benchmark RFID Equipment to know how their software effects the performance of an RFID device. Some companies only have the ability to interoperate with one or two readers and use trial and error in the field.  This leads to software convenience driving reader selection and in a world where no one size reader fits all use cases, this too often leads to poor performance and cumbersome exception processing.

What you should look for in RFID middleware

There are a handful of features to look for that will ensure success in an RFID deployment they are:

1. The software can control the reader operation at the deepest level to ensure optimal performance

2. There is a mechanism for high-availability that does not require adding more servers which burden you with associated costs and support headaches

3. The software should not try to replace SAP’s, Remedy’s or Maximo’s functionality, but should augment those solutions

4. You should cap the integration period to a couple of weeks when getting started

5. The “as-is” business processes should be changed to drive a solid and measurable ROI

RFID’s New Year’s Resolution

One or two RFID vendors have it right. The software is built in a high availability, peer-to-peer architecture and it’s built with the physics of RFID in mind. Then the best companies take it one step further and actually go through rigorous testing and Benchmarking in an RFID  lab and with real-world use cases.For those companies that don’t follow that prescription – here’s a New Year’s resolution for the good of everyone in the RFID industry. If you are making RFID software, especially if you have raised millions of dollars in VC, stop wasting time working to be Microsoft ‘s Gold partner or attending IBM’s Pulse Conferences, those are for mature industries. RFID isn’t there yet. Focus on removing the adoption barriers:

1. Make your RFID software work with 99.9% read accuracy by understanding the physics of RFID and how software can enable better performance

2. Create easy integration onramps to existing enterprise applications

3. Set up a lab that is more than a conference room, because last time I checked not many manufacturers, data centers, or retails use conference rooms to do anything other than talk.

4. Listen, listen, listen to what customers want and then give them what they need.

If the industry can follow these four simple rules, we’ll have a lot more stories like Airbus and J&J and the handful of RFID software companies will have more business than they know what to do with, and most importantly clients will be happy.

For a more detailed analysis of RFID software, click here to recieve a copy of ODIN's Whitepaper "Seven Secrets to RFID Software Success"

The Internet of Things is baaaack!

As I think about all the great ideas born out of the 1999-era Auto-ID Center at MIT, I can't help relying on the old adage "timing is everything".

I took MIT's RFID summer course just a couple of years after the Auto-ID center was founded, and met Kevin MacDonald - one of ODIN's pillars, a five-year employee with a great reputation. I met and hired Dr. Daniel Engels (before most people could spell RFID). And I sat with Dr. Sanjay Sarma and discussed an "Internet of Things". It was his vision of the world if everything was connected.

Many people in RFID have scoffed at the IBM advertisement of a woman sitting behind a desk on a desolate road telling a truck to turn around because the RFID tags talked to her, but we aren't far from getting there and it looks like we are doing it with cooperation and oversight from the governemnt.

Last week I had the good fortune to speak at a symposium in Washington, DC about the Internet of Things. It was largely focused on policy and regulation and Gerald Santucci the head of the European Commission unit for ICT and RFID in DG Information Society and Media discussed the EU RFID recommendations and the EU Communication on the Internet of Things. Also present were several representatives from the Obama administration as well as their EU counterparts.

The big takeaway from the event was that the Internet of Things is being planned for; and is expected on both sides of the pond. There are many smart people making it as effective and safe as possible. Early pioneers from the registrar and domain name service (DNS) companies were there to lend their lessons learned creating the first scalable Internet (capital "I"). They reported we are only months away from not having fixed IP addresses from the governing bodies, because we are running out of IP numbers. Clearly the only solution is IPv6 - the latest version of the Internet Protocol. That will become very important for the Internet of Things.

The other curious bit of misinformation was that they thought RFID just worked no matter what, and that the object name service (ONS) was what people were using to route data. Fortunately there were several experts on the docket to dispel both those rumors. I did my best to educate on the physics of RFID and the limitations of passive read ranges and active battery size, for instance. I spent a lot of time on the benefits to everyday consumers, while others talked about how there are various "catalogs" to look up things like ONS. It was great to see policy makers get an education and take steps forward to help Dr. Sarma's vision step one foot closer to reality.

Time for CIO’s to step up their game with RFID & ROI

For executives who run major IT organizations, the implications of the current downturn—marked by persistent uncertainty, tighter credit, lower consumer spending, and greater government involvement in business—are clear: they will have to make the IT function dramatically more productive, use IT more effectively to meet larger company goals, and embrace disruptive technologies…” McKinsey & Company Quarterly newsletter

McKinsey is telling CIOs to raise their game and “embrace disruptive technologies”. In August 2009 Gartner’s Hype Curve analysis for the first time ever called RFID “Transformational” their highest rating of impact on an organization. The conclusion is plain to see; using skilled, expensive labor to manually count (whether with human readable or barcodes) is as wasteful today as using a typerwriter and carbon paper to send memos within your organization. 

Yesterday I toured a 550,000 square foot data center facility just outside of London’s Heathrow airport. Our Dublin office requested I visit so they could leverage my operational background running data centers in the 1990s. What I found will make an ideal case study for the adoption of RFID by a CIO who wants to transform the data center through disruptive technology.

Based on measurable and demonstrable metrics there is a 61% savings in effort to provision and location verification by using RFID instead of the 35 year old barcode. If you have a 50,000 square foot data center that receives 1,500 devices annually the annual savings on provisioning alone is $377,618 (this does not include increased productivity through provisioning the server in a much faster manner).

If the same data center costs $250,000 to deploy and integrate an RFID network the ROI is less than seven (7) months. Assuming a 3% weighted average cost of capital (WACC) the net present value (NPV) over three years is an astounding $794,305 or nearly eight million dollars of value created across an enterprise of ten data centers.

If you look at inventory and audit requirement for Sarbanes Oxley, tracking requirement for hard drives containing sensitive customer information and loss due to manual data entry errors, the savings for a data center described above tops out well over $500,000 per year. Many CIOs would first think about laying-off almost five full time staff members as a way to get that savings. Wouldn’t you rather save the money on counting equipment and use it to keep staff for more value-add processes or billable services?

If your organization had ten data centers RFID can drive an annual $5,000,000 savings through process improvement. Remember with RFID it is not about the technology.  It’s all about the process improvement and ROI.

For a complete White Paper of the ROI of RFID in the Data Center Click here to send an email request for the white paper

RFID 2.0 - SIMPLE

From Ronan Wisdom who runs ODIN's Dublin office:

First email, then iPods and now eBooks; each of these technologies have been transformational leading to significant change of a type some folk like to call ‘disruption' - meaning there were people, companies and whole market sectors that got disturbed and in many cases eliminated by the change. When was the last time you bought 35mm camera film?

So when we talk about technologies that have the power to transform, people sit up and take notice for fear of disruption in their own back yard - after all, these days it's not the large that eat the small, but the fast that eat the slow. And that's transformation in a nutshell.

Email, iPods and eBooks have something in common - they all achieved market transformation by mastering one key attribute, an elusive beast we in the technical community often miss by a country mile; simplicity.

Let's try for a definition; easy purchase, quick setup, great integration, ease of use balanced with rich feature sets and of course, great service. These combine to produce a simple offering we can quickly understand, value and use. For you tech heads wed to complexity and your favourite C++ garbage collection routines who think this is a consumer phenomenon, tell me how many software developers out there are writing CORBA interfaces compared to the number developing (oh, and actually deploying) Web Services.

I remember having three MP3 players because the first had the best audio quality, a second had greater capacity and yet another was small enough to go jogging with (God be with the days). I actually had to have two duplicate music libraries to service all these devices and a Minidisc player for good measure! How did I ever find time to actually listen to anything? Then the iPod arrived and pretty quickly I understood this meant less disk space, fewer cables, easier purchase from the clever iTunes Store and a single, brilliantly simple device. Oh, and I actually got to listen to stuff.

Corporate purchasing is influenced by the same factors; easy purchase, quick setup, great integration, ease of use balanced with rich feature sets and of course, great service which all lead to quantifiable return on investment. Simplicity wins and that's what RFID 2.0 is all about.

For the past eight years or so, RFID has quietly gone about its business winning significant market share while disrupting older technologies. I say quietly because I'm not sure we appreciate just how pervasive RFID has become; inventory sure, but also travel cards, ski lifts, walking sticks, aircraft parts, car keys, fleet cars, tools...the list goes on. But it's fair to say RFID has suffered from complexity preventing even wider adoption. It's not exactly been easy to purchase, configure, install, integrate or support - and many system integrators without the physics backbone have failed to deliver. The industry has trumpeted how accuracy has improved beyond recognition in the last two years, but that's not enough - we must address complexity.

The good news is that's changing, and at ODIN we're leading the charge with RFID 2.0 solutions focused on simplicity. What's RFID 2.0? Think of it like the iPod for RFID - focused solutions which are easy to purchase, quick to setup, deliver seamless integration and ease of use balanced with rich feature sets, backed by great service. Simple!

Imagine an RFID tunnel that slots into your logistics operations immediately automating shipping, receiving and replenishment processes. That's EasyTunnel™, an RFID 2.0 solution from ODIN that is installed and operational in under 24 hours.

Imagine a portable RFID portal that can turn any shipping container into a fully monitored environment tracking the status and location of your tagged items as they travel all over the world in real time. That's EasyContainer, an RFID 2.0 solution from ODIN that installs magnetically in under two minutes!!

Back up and think about that - when was the last time you read ‘RFID' and ‘installs in under two minutes' in the same sentence?

From clever monitoring software that runs on the reader itself eliminating the complexity and cost of middleware, to fully-featured low-cost asset tracking, RFID 2.0 solutions are all about simplicity. And because ODIN has the best RF physics team of any company worldwide, all that RF complexity is hidden away under the hood while users benefit from increased accuracy and reliability.

What's left are great solutions that customers can quickly understand, value and use, leading to better return on investment. Watch out - that's transformational.

 

US State Department selects ODIN's RFID Asset Tracking Solution

10,000 IT Assets tagged to increase security and reduce costs

14 October 2009, Washington, DC - The U.S. Department of State is tagging 10,000 mission critical IT assets with passive radio frequency identification (RFID) to save money, increase security, and reduce administrative burden.

The State Department chose the leading RFID solutions company ODIN, headquartered in Ashburn, VA to provide a turn-key IT Asset tracking solution. ODIN's packaged solution is more secure, faster to deploy, and drives a quicker ROI than integrating separate RFID products or using 35 year-old bar code technology.

The State Department's IT Asset system, based on RFID, is part of a growing trend within the US Federal Government to leverage RFID 2.0^TM, the latest in transformational technology. RFID 2.0^TM is passive RFID technology that is gaining widespread adoption mainly because costs have declined significantly, performance has improved dramatically in the past 12 months, and a global ISO standard has stabilized.

"The State Department is using RFID technology to save taxpayers money by dramatically reducing administrative burden," commented ODIN's founder Patrick J. Sweeney II. "The added security of having RFID-tagged assets will keep sensitive information where it belongs. After all, no Federal Agency wants to find itself on the front page of the Washington Post."

Initially the State Department started with a trial of the technology to ensure that the business process within their agency would benefit from RFID. Once the technology was proven, they decided to start an agency-wide program by tagging 10,000 critical assets with UHF Gen 2.0 passive RFID tags. The tags are based on the same standard in use by the Department of Defense and other Federal agencies.

"There were many choices of RFID components, but only one or two solutions providers with deep expertise and a complete physics-to-software solution. We chose ODIN because they've completed hundreds of successful RFID projects and have a heritage in RFID physics going back to MIT," commented Kirk Ingvoldstad at the US Department of State. "After using barcode and thousands of labor hours to track assets for the past 20 years, it is well past time for a new technology. Passive RFID from ODIN was the right choice for a higher level of security and cost savings."

Sacrifice and patriotism hitting home

As my neighbor was doing his weekly grocery shopping he was stopped in his tracks by a beautiful young girl collapsing onto an outdoor bench and sobbing uncontrollably in front of the store. He instinctively asked if she was alright and needed help. The woman's response was that she just learned her fiance was killed in Afghanistan. They were together just a month ago when he was on leave.

This morning I was honored to ride my motorcycle in escort of that fallen soldier: SPC Stephen Mace of the 61st Armored Cavalry. Mace was a man that each and every American owes an eternal debt of gratitude. This man, who was just old enough to have his first legal beer this year, was caught in a vicious firefight in Afghanistan when the Taliban attacked a remote outpost - killing eight US soldiers. What moved me so much during the 15 mile, almost hour-long, motorcade was the outpouring of respect and appreciation that this Northern Virginia community showed.

As the motorcade crawled along the route the entire fabric of our country was woven on the side of the road. We passed uniformed Korean and Vietnam veterans standing at attention. There were women who didn't know Mace weeping a mother's tears alongside stoic looking men staring out at the motorcade; jaws locked in profound gratitude and the fire of anger for an enemy that would slaughter everyone of us just for being American. There was hope in our future - cub scouts were out saluting with a first and second finger raised to their brow, little girls came out from church wondering why there was a parade on a chilly Sunday morning, their parents trying to explain the turn of events that broke the silence of our rural community. I witnessed the quilt of patriotism and love that sets our country apart from our enemy's.

America is a different place after 9/11. The most patriotic days in our country in a long time were 9/12 and 9/13. In the years since, many of us have let the memory of our enemy's desperate mission of hatred slip our mind. Fundamental Islamic terrorist won't rest until they kill as many infidels as possible. No matter what politicians may say in rhetoric the infidels are us. We are the dominating western force built as "One nation under God". We're a Christian nation that is grounded in an acute sense of propriety, and they detest that about America. A moment like today hits home that those beasts are still there, still trying their best to spill the blood of every American, just because we are American. Every man woman and child is fair game to these cowards.

There's nothing anyone can say to that fiancé, to Mace's mother, to the brothers and friends except Thank you. As Americans with the freedoms to say, do, be whatever we love to do we are eternally in Stephen's, and every other soldiers' debt.

"It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God such men lived".

- Gen George S. Patton