Savi Technology's compact "solution in a case" Portable Deployment Kits (PDKs) will enable Guard units throughout the United States and its territories to better locate, track and manage RFID-tagged supplies and equipment in real-time.
Under the initial contracts, valued at $4.6 million, Savi Technology will provide each state's Joint Force Headquarters, as well as National Guard units in the District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, with PDK units and related equipment. The initial contracts include orders for 54 PDKs, 5,400 active RFID tags and 120 mobile handheld readers, in addition to associated training for National Guard logisticians nationwide. Mission applications include disaster relief, homeland security and other emergency efforts.
"The contracts with the National Guard demonstrate the growing need to rapidly and efficiently track critical materiel throughout their own facilities and into austere environments where there is little or no available communications or power infrastructure," said David Stephens, general manager of Savi's Public Sector. "There's a force multiplier effect here since the National Guard - and potentially other civilian agencies - can leverage an off-the-shelf solution that links with the DoD's existing communications network."
The PDKs will communicate with the Department of Defense's (DoD) global In-Transit Visibility (ITV) cargo tracking network to provide the National Guard unprecedented mobile capability to assign and track assets throughout the United States and its territories, particularly as it assists local, regional and national relief efforts.
The suitcase-sized PDK is an advanced "mobile chokepoint solution" that integrates several Automatic Identification and Data Collection (AIDC) technologies, including bar codes, 2D bar codes, active RFID and GPS location with satellite communications - all in a single carrying case. The PDK is fully configurable and quickly operational, with no additional software configuration required. As envisioned, National Guard logisticians will be able to access the ITV and feed all relevant tracking information in their own decision-support software to know what's where and what's coming.