Government Computer News
Project to mesh with supply chain
Ad-hoc networking improves battlefield asset management
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Image: Arthur McQue
EN ROUTE: Containers holding medical and personal gear for the US Army 212th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital are loaded into a cargo plane in Germany.
“It’s too expensive to track containers with satellite communications. That’s why we’ve stopped talking [satellite communications] for tracking shipments and assets,” said Bill Jarrett, leader for the agency’s Next Generation Wireless Communications (NGWC) project.
“Our goal is to connect the various backbone communications capabilities in existence on the battlefield,” Jarrett said. “We can’t afford satcom for everything.”
The key capability being developed under NGWC involves tying the radio frequency identification tags already on Army shipments into ad hoc “mesh” networks in order to communicate content and location information, and provide shipment visibility to Army logisticians.
Ad hoc networks differ from traditional networks in that they are self-organizing, with each node relaying signals through neighboring devices. Traditional networks operate through more centralized control.
“There are thousands of containers on the move at any given time, and they are moving too fast to know who has what, when,” Jarrett said. “NGWC is an enhancement to the current RFID fixed-nodal infrastructure.”
The Army’s current RFID network is operated by Savi Technology Inc. of Sunnyvale, Calif., which pioneered the technology. Lockheed Martin Corp. bought Savi in May.
Clear picture
Savi’s tags communicate the location of shipments as they pass through fixed nodes in the network.
“NGWC would enhance asset visibility beyond the fixed RFID infrastructure, enabling on-demand global total asset visibility,” Jarrett said
NGWC’s building blocks include commercial technologies that already are in use in industrial, factory and facilities management applications, Jarrett said.
“We are discussing relatively low-data-rate, low-power sensor mesh networks, not tactical or strategic communication nets,” he said. “The sensor mesh technology in use today is a largely static, externally powered mesh network technology where the mesh is always up and running, maintaining connectivity. There is a significant [commercial] market in that area.”
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