Section 10.5. U.S. Department of Defense (DoD)

10.5. U.S. Department of Defense (DoD)

The DoD officially released its RFID policy on July 30, 2004. DoD contracts issued as of October 1, 2004, for material delivery on or after January 1, 2005, must use RFID tags. Starting January 1, 2007, all commodities and commodity pallets shipped to any DoD facility must have RFID tags. You can download the entire policy and related materials from www.dodrfid.org. Some of the policy highlights are as follows:

• Passive tags should be attached to pallets and cases. This also applies to individual high-value items that have a unique identification (UID) code.

• A supplier can use either the EPC or UID data format to encode item identity.

• Use of passive UHF tags operating between 860960 MHz with a minimum read distance of 9 feet (about 2.7 meters). EPC Class 0 (64 and 96 bits) and EPC Class 1 (64 and 96 bits) are acceptable. These tags will be phased out after UHF Gen 2 tags and readers are available.

• All 20- and 40-foot containers shipped outside the United States should have an active tag containing the content list data written at the point of origin. This applies to both airborne and seagoing cargo containers.

The DoD is already convinced of the potential benefits of RFID through multiple pilots run over a period of several months. It is expected that RFID will provide better inventory management and control. This can also translate into better released support for the troops in the battlefield.