ExploTrack Launches e-Pedigree Platform for Explosives

Jun 06, 2006By the end of June, at least one explosives manufacturer in the United States will be implementing a system using RFID and GPS technology to track explosives and detonators as they proceed through its supply chain, according to the system's developer and provider, ExploTrack. This system will reportedly monitor, in real time, each unit of explosive material from its creation on an assembly line to its delivery to a customer.

RFID systems developer IPico is providing its Dual Frequency IP-X RFID tags and readers for this implementation, along with GPS hardware and software. IPico's technology is integrated with ExploTrack's platform, consisting of Smart Explosives, Smart Detonators, Smart Cases and Smart Magazines. This enables the tracking of explosives at the pallet, case and unit levels. With IPico's dual-frequency system, the tags are energized by a 125 kHz low-frequency (LF) signal from the interrogator, and respond with a 7 MHz high-frequency (HF) signal. Thus, tags can communicate with the reader at frequencies where RF propagation occurs at such low power levels that it will not exceed safety limits and accidentally detonate the explosives.

Currently, the explosive industry tracks its products on paper. There is no automated system to identify the location or source of individual detonators, according to ExploTrack managing partner Bob Morhard. This fact limits law enforcement efforts in forensic investigations. There is also no mechanism to track people who come into contact with the detonators and explosives. With the ExploTrack solution, the explosives industry will be able to provide more security, as well as a tool for law enforcement in the event of a terrorist act.

The hybrid RFID and GPS system was tested on Jan. 17 at Vet's Explosives, a Litchfield, Conn., explosives distributor specializing in urban blasting. The test followed inert explosives through the supply chain, from Vet's factory to an active blasting site in the Harlem section of New York City. According Morhard, this is the first time an RFID and GPS tracking system has been used to track explosives on a commercial level.

The security system begins with the application of a dual-frequency RFID tag on each explosive device, such as a detonator or a cartridge of dynamite. The tag comes with a unique factory-burned ID number, according to IPico's U.S. vice president of business development, Rob Ufford. Each tag's ID number is read as the tag is applied to a device, when the device is packaged in a carton and again as the cartons are placed in a case, which also has an RFID tag associated with the ID numbers of the items packed inside. As the cases are placed on a pallet, the tags are interrogated again, and a tag applied to the pallet is associated with the cases and units inside. The tags have a read range up to about 2 meters. Both handheld and fixed IPico readers are used to read the tags.

When the items are loaded in the manufacturer's magazine—an explosive-proof storage area—they are interrogated again and the magazine entrance is locked. The magazine is equipped with a biometric reader and an RFID interrogator. To gain entrance to the magazine, an employee must possess a biometric ExploTrack Dual Frequency IP-X RFID ID badge encoded with his ID number and fingerprint. He then presents his fingerprint to the magazine's biometric reader. This links his tag's ID number to every RFID-tagged explosive unit inside the magazine. The data is stored in the manufacturer's database. "And if that explosive were to go missing down the supply chain, that employee's name would come up," Morhard says.

Truck drivers who pick up the products carry RFID-enabled ID badges, and an RFID interrogator deployed on the truck captures data from the tags on board. The truck also has an onboard GPS system that tracks the truck's location at all times. If the truck leaves its appointed route at any point or operates outside of appointed hours, the system can transmit an e-mail or phone text message alert to both the explosives company and the police with a combination of satellite and cellular communications technology. When the truck reaches its destination, a fixed or handheld interrogator is used to read the RFID number of each product delivered.

"The receipt of that product creates a complete pedigree," Morhard says. If the explosives travel overseas, the ships are also equipped with interrogators and GPS receivers to track the movement of the products from one shore to the other. As with the truck, if a ship leaves its appointed route, the system sends an e-mail message to the explosives manufacturer or other necessary personnel.

About 9 million metric tons of explosives are transported every year, mostly for use in the mining and quarrying industry, as well as construction.

"I see this as a global solution for explosives security. Our mission is to provide a safe practical economic solution," Morhard says. ExploTrack is a subsidiary of explosives design engineering firm Zukovich, Morhard & Wade.