British Red Cross Tests RFID for Equipment Tracking

The British Red Cross has begun piloting a radio frequency identification system at its Bristol warehouse and London headquarters, in order to identify equipment used during emergency-response scenarios around the world. Approximately 500 assets, such as laptops, satellite telephones, forklifts, vehicles and generators, are being fitted with passive ultrahigh-frequency (UHF) RFID tags that will be read via handheld readers as the items are sent into the field for use by Red Cross volunteers, and again when they are returned. If the British Red Cross determines that the technology works effectively, the agency plans, by January 2014, to begin deploying the technology for field use by local supervisors, at emergency sites worldwide. The organization expects to apply tags to about 5,000 assets at that time.

The system, provided by AIDC Solutions is intended to enable the agency to better manage its assets as they move across the globe in the care of a fleet of volunteers, according to David Myers, AIDC's operations director.

The British Red Cross plans to use UHF EPC passive RFID tags and readers at its warehouses, such as this one, to manage its equipment.

The amount of equipment sent to emergency sites is increasing, Northfield reports. At present, sites can require not only mobile phones, laptops or construction equipment, but also sophisticated measurement devices or movie projectors—all of which must be accounted for as the volunteers come and go from emergency projects. "We need to be prepared to account for those assets," he states, "to provide accountability to our donors."

The British Red Cross intends to gain visibility into where specific equipment is located, as well as who is responsible for those assets and when an item is being underutilized (based on it remaining in the local warehouse for an extensive period of time). The solution will include Omni-ID UHF RFID tags affixed to assets, handheld readers deployed at emergency sites, and TransitionWorks software running on the British Red Cross' own server to remotely identify who has which equipment at sites throughout the world.