Munich Airport Says RFID Improves Dolly Management

If a dolly is inside the facility, its tag detects this, and the system switches modes to calculate the asset's location, based on the specific Wi-Fi access points that receive the tag's signal.

The T6 tags have a battery life of roughly 0.5 to 3 years, and include a motion sensor that slows down the signal rate whenever the device is not moving.

Occasionally, such as when a freight dolly carries an LD-2 or other Unit Load Device (ULD), the tag's signal may be temporarily blocked and can not be read by a Wi-Fi access point. "At any given time," Lindike stated, "10 to 15 percent of the dollies' tags are unreadable—but this is not a problem for us, since we can see in the system where the dollies have been, and determine the approximate location of the asset."

The company's next related research project, Lindike indicated, will focus on finding a way to include additional power sources—like solar panels—to expand the application.

Another organization using AeroScout's T6 GPS tags is the U.S Air Force's 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group (AMARG), which is utilizing the tags to help it track equipment and tools at its 110-million-square-foot compound at the Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Arizona (see Air Force Base Deploys Wi-Fi/GPS RFID System Across 2,500 Acres).