Discussion on the Application Requirements of Electronic Labels for Combat Ready Containers

In the first Gulf War, the US military transported a large number of combat personnel and supplies to the front lines. This was the largest logistical operation of the US military after World War II. But when the logistical tasks were completed, the U.S. military found that the logistical work was far from meeting the requirements. The U.S. military did not have any tools or methods to make up for logistical deficiencies. In fact, the logistics work in the first Gulf War was merely transporting combat personnel and materials to the front, which was a manifestation of “powerful” logistics. Since the military lacks complete information on almost any material, it has neither good tracking capabilities nor fully-funded visualization capabilities, so that the materials enter the logistics channel when the demand is unknown, and no real tracking can be obtained.

Generally speaking, if front-line commanders are unable to determine what they have on hand and when the required supplies will arrive and other issues, they will apply for more supplies. The supply non-commissioned officers at the front did not have a logistics plan that matched the war plan. They lack the necessary understanding of when and where the supplies will arrive. All work is carried out in chaos, and the US Central Command is helpless. This is a veritable “powerful logistics”. Because it is impossible to know the status of cargo delivery, soldiers do not know whether the materials they have applied for have been sent out, so they often over apply.

After the war, the U.S. Department of Defense began to test new tracking technologies to grasp the movement of logistics materials. After the Gulf War in 1991, in order to solve the serious practical problems in the process of claiming, transporting, and distributing materials, the U.S. military provided fast and accurate logistical support to combat troops. The U.S. Department of Defense formally proposed a full-asset provision in April 1992. Visibility plan. The so-called visibility of assets refers to the timely and accurate provision of information such as the quantity, location, status and characteristics of troops, personnel, equipment and supplies to users, so as to comprehensively improve logistics support capabilities. As one of the goals of the U.S. military logistics revolution, joint full-asset visibility is an important part of the U.S. Department of Defense’s logistics development strategic plan. According to the new concept, the U.S. military’s logistics should be able to provide the joint combat forces with an appropriate amount of required personnel, equipment, and supplies at an accurate place and time during the entire process of various military operations. To achieve this goal, it is necessary to achieve a high degree of transparency of assets in logistical support. And radio frequency identification undoubtedly provides a convenient and flexible solution for automatically obtaining visibility information of assets in storage, in transit, and in use.

Equipment logistics refers to the entire life cycle of equipment and materials required by military forces during normal training, duty and wartime through procurement, storage, transportation, supply, use, scrap, recycling and other functions, as well as packaging, processing, maintenance, repair and other functions. , To realize the whole process of time and space transfer. The core goal of researching equipment logistics is to solve the problem of “fast, accurate, and efficient” support of equipment and materials in peacetime and wartime. Equipment logistics is a complex, comprehensive and complete system. Equipment refers to the general term for weapons, weapon systems and other military technical equipment used to implement and support military operations, and mainly refers to weapons, ammunition, vehicles, equipment, equipment, etc. in the armed forces establishment.

In the logistical support of military equipment, fast and unobstructed information is the basic prerequisite for the success of the system. Especially the equipment support, due to the wide variety of equipment, brings great problems to the equipment supply and management. The use of RFID technology can accurately obtain the complete information of the equipment at the fastest speed without opening the box, conduct visual equipment management, improve the efficiency of equipment logistics support, and reduce operating costs. At the same time, because RFID does not require contact recognition and visual recognition, it is resistant to oil and dust, and has strong environmental adaptability, which is particularly suitable for field supply and identification of equipment. Therefore, RFID has important significance in equipment management.

One of the main applications of RFID in logistics is the tracking of logistics. The main task of RFID is to increase productivity through automation and limit manual intervention to avoid human error; to obtain rapid logistics management and obtain immediatesupply chainDynamic data, realize the complete visualization of the supply chain, accelerate the delivery of logistics and improve the control of the delivery; reduce redundant data entry and improve the accuracy of the data.

Due to the unique identification of RFID tags, through the combination of computer technology, network technology, database and other technologies, goods can be tracked in all aspects of logistics, and the equipment can be tracked in real time at which node in the equipment logistics. By applying this technology, the following goals can be achieved and the expected economic benefits can be obtained:

(1) Shorten the operation process. For the equipment distribution center (referred to as the distribution center), in and out of the warehouse account for a large proportion of the usual operations. RFID tags are affixed to the pallets and packaging boxes, and readers are placed at the entrance and exit of the distribution center, so that when entering and leaving the warehouse, Use a forklift to transport the goods into (out) the warehouse. There is no need to stop scanning at the entrance and exit. The data is captured in the process. The reader can dynamically identify multiple tags at a time from a long distance. The computer checks the database according to the information read. The visit and corresponding data recording have greatly saved the operation time of entering and leaving the warehouse.

(2) Improve the quality of inventory operations. Since RFID tags are affixed to each packaging box and pallet, when performing inventory operations, you only need to use a handheld RFID reader to pass through all the shelves in turn, and the reader will automatically obtain the information on all tags, and use a PC to perform inventory records. The use of RFID technology will greatly reduce errors such as omissions in traditional inventory operations, and enhance the accuracy and reliability of information.

(3) Increase the throughput of the distribution center. When the main operation of the distribution center-the efficiency of the warehouse operation is improved, the distribution center’s ability to handle goods will be greatly improved, so that the daily cargo throughput of the distribution center can be increased, and the distribution center can obtain greater economic benefits.

(4) Reduce operating costs. Because RFID technology can dynamically identify multiple data at the same time and the identification distance is large, in the process of warehousing, acceptance and warehousing are almost completed at the same time, and there is no need to stack the goods in the receiving area for inspection. The goods and bar codes are scanned, and the goods can be checked into the warehouse after receiving the goods and checked out of the warehouse after the goods are picked. This greatly reduces the number of times the goods are moved in the distribution center, and reduces the equipment and labor costs caused by the transportation.

(5) Equipment logistics tracking. The core of RFID technology is on the labelEPC(Product Electronic Code) Provides a unique identification of physical objects. Using EPC can realize the tracking and automatic management of equipment in the entire logistics, and increase the transparency of equipment management.

(6) The transmission of information is faster and more accurate. Due to the advantages of long-distance, dynamic automatic identification, and identification of multiple tags at a time, RFID technology will make the transmission of information more rapid and accurate, and greatly reduce the occurrence of errors and omissions.

At present, our army mainly uses RFID technology for equipment “in transit” (container storage and transportation), equipment repair, equipment “in storage”, military license plates and other aspects, and has achieved some research and application results. Due to the following limitations, the application of RFID in the military has not yet been popularized.

The implementation of RFID projects is not as simple and intuitive as most people imagine.Whether you buy an RFID system directly from an RFID equipment supplier, or from its product distributors or value-added operators, you need to consider many issues, such as the frequency of system use, protocols, andstandard, Tags of different frequency bands cannot be used universally, and readers cannot be universally used in different frequency bands, that is to say, readers of fixed frequency bands can only read tags of the same frequency band. To successfully implement an RFID system, we can consider from several aspects:

(1) Standard

The current industry standards and related product standards are not unified yet.electronic labelSo far, there has not been a unified international standard (including various frequency bands) officially formed in the world. The inconsistency of standards (especially on the definition of data format) is an important factor restricting the development of RFID, and the standard issue of data format involves the interests and safety of each country. The inconsistency of standards also makes the RFID products launched by various manufacturers incompatible with each other, which will inevitably hinder the intercommunication and development of future RFID products. Therefore, how to make these standards compatible with each other so that an RFID product can circulate smoothly in the world It is an important and urgent issue at present.

(2) Cost

Due to the different data capacity, frequency band, and packaging requirements of the tags, the price varies greatly. With the continuous improvement of technology and the increasing promotion in various major industries, the manufacturing costs of various components of RFID, including electronic tags, readers and antennas, are expected to be greatly reduced.

(3) Technology

Although the individual technology of the RFID system has become mature, the overall product technology is not mature enough, especially the compatibility problems of the equipment of various manufacturers, the recognition rate problems, and the interference of liquids and metal products on radio signals is very serious. The accurate recognition rate of RFID tags is currently only about 80%, and there is still a certain gap between the maturity required for large-scale practical applications; in addition, a large number of technical problems need to be overcome during the implementation of integrated application engineering.

(4) Security

Currently, the widely used passive RFID system does not have a very reliable security mechanism, cannot keep customer data well confidential, and is easy to be used by hackers in the process of reading or writing data.

Carry out research on the technical requirements of military container radio frequency identification (RFID) to improve the application level of our military’s radio frequency identification technology, and promote equipment logistics and military managementInformatizationThe development of other technologies has important practical significance to promote the modernization of our military. At present, radio frequency identification technology has obtained some pilot applications in military logistics management, military vehicle management, and military personnel safety management.

Some requirements are put forward for the physical characteristics of electronic tags in the special industry of RFID technology in our military general equipment management container management. The purpose is to standardize the use of electronic tags in equipment support, and solve the inconsistency of electronic tag technology, compatibility and sharing of information. Difficulties, repeated investment and other problems exist. For reference. Only by formulating the requirements for electronic tags can we better promote the use of electronic tags in the military field and better serve the military.

Since the electronic label is affixed to the container, according to the battlefield environment and usual management requirements, the following requirements are put forward for the military container radio frequency identification (RFID) technology:

The first is the identification requirements, which can uniquely identify any container with electronic tags;

The second is the reading distance. The container tag can be read at a distance of at least 100 meters with an RFID reader, so that multiple containers can be read at a long distance while the vehicle is moving or camouflaged and stored in the field;

The third is the reminder requirement. The reader can control the electronic tag to emit sound and light to indicate the location of the container;

The fourth is to rewrite the requirements. RFID tags can be used to identify the variety and quantity of equipment in the container, and it can update the changes in the equipment in the container in real time;

The fifth is protection requirements. The electronic tag meets a certain protection level standard, such as waterproof and physical collision;

Sixth is the electromagnetic adaptation requirements, the reader can communicate with the electronic tag smoothly in the electromagnetic environment of the battlefield;

Seventh is the life expectancy, the life of the label should be more than 5 years;

Eighth is the number and speed requirements for reading tags. Since multiple containers may be loaded and transported in the same vehicle, or a field warehouse may be built for centralized storage, it is required to use a remote device that can at least be used in vehicles with a distance of 50 meters and 40 kilometers per hour. When the speed is moving, the contents of all the container tags on the car can be read at the same time;

Ninth is the label capacity requirement. The label capacity should store the identification information of the container and the type, quantity and location information of the equipment in the box in the label.

Ten others, such as appearance requirements, reasonable matching of container colors, waterproof requirements, installation requirements, communication protocol requirements, data transmission encryption requirements, etc., here are these requirements for everyone to discuss together.

At present, we have developed three types of electronic tags. Type I tags are integrated with the battery and the tag. The battery can be removed and recharged. Type II tags are separated from the battery and the tag. Type III tags are alarm tags. They are used in different applications. Locally, Type I labels are used on combat readiness containers, Type II labels are used on wartime container equipment, and Type III labels are used on the battlefield.

[1] Liu Kesheng, You Zhanqing. Planning and Implementation of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID). Publishing House of Electronics Industry, September 2005

[2] You Zhanqing, Li Sujian, Liu Kesheng. Theory and Application of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID). Publishing House of Electronics Industry, 2004,9

[3] Liu Kesheng. Unified standard is the key to RFID application. Professional radio, 2006, 8

[4] Liu Kesheng, Ji Hongren. Application of RFID technology in equipment logistics. Professional radio, 2006,3

[5] Liu Kesheng, Wang Tiening, Yang Xueqiang. The characteristics and development trend of modern logistics informatization. Industrial equipment business situation. 2004, 1