Press
“Situational awareness” and the power of the
network are just battlefield concepts.
Here’s how these idea will transform factories at Boeing.
Last November, CACI International Inc., Arlington, Va., won a $5.7
million contract with the Office of Naval Research to develop a
prototype container tracking system for the Navy's Automatic
Identification Technology Support Facility in St. Inigoes, Md.
Called Geotrack, this program will place ultra wideband-embedded
tags on 1,200-pound containers of Freon and other environmentally
sensitive packages. The tags will report the location and contents
of these packages, as well as the surrounding environment, such as
temperature and humidity.
The transmitter technology was developed by Time Domain. Cytec
Corp., Jackson, Miss., will provide hardware support.
Ultra wideband is the "perfect application for this congested
environment," said Russ Tice, CACI program manager for the Geotrack
program, noting the 4,700 metal Freon containers would confuse
signals sent by traditional wireless systems.
CACI will build off this work to pursue other military projects in
automatic identification technology, according to Tice, who said the
number of potential applications is "mind boggling."
"The military has amassed so many materials, they need a solution
just to keep track of them all," he said.
.jpg)