The goal of this project is to develop a small, cost-effective and robust Geo-Referencing Identification (GRID) technology package to tag and automatically track equipment and assets in real time. This will be accomplished via the following key development issues:
Develop the device architecture for deployment such that low cost mesh radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags communicate in groups with just a few satellite/GPS modules; Modify existing lower-cost commercial off-the-shelf active RFID tags to survive harsher conditions with the goal of subzero temperatures, seawater and prolonged deployment to provide more effective global tracking tags; Adapt power management firmware and integrate additional sensors combined with intelligent algorithms with the goal to extend battery life by 25% compared to existing tags for all devices in the system; Employ an adaptive system level approach, along with a novel GRID packaging design, to mitigate the adverse effects of snow buildup and ice formation on the wireless links; and Integrate and confirm software to allow the system to stay dormant and conserve power; this could be accomplished via either user requests or automatically.
The project is complete and the report is posted below.