Tobyhanna Army Depot, a Department of Defense full-service electronics maintenance facility, plays a critical role in repairing and overhauling command, control, computer, communications, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (C4ISR) systems for the Armed Forces. Its mission is "total sustainment," including the design, manufacture, repair and overhaul of hundreds of sophisticated electronic systems.
The complex repair and overhaul process -- which can take as long as 12 months to 15 months for some C4ISR systems -- involves tracking assemblies, sub-assemblies, components and spare parts across refurbishment areas larger than two million square feet.
Tobyhanna's research and analysis division was seeking a way to automate the tracking of items moving through the repair cycle. They rejected bar-coding technology, which would require human interaction, opening the door to human error. After deciding on RFID technology, Tobyhanna led a competitive request for procurement, ultimately selecting the standards-based real-time locating system (RTLS) technology from WhereNet Corp., Santa Clara, Calif.
"We implemented RTLS in the depot in November 2004," reports Ronald Rains Sr., the automatic identification technology coordinator in Tobyhanna's research and analysis division. A pilot program is underway using RTLS to track components of two major systems: a radar antenna system and a microwave communications system. The active RFID tag is applied to a small percentage of each system's components. Only 150 tags, for example, are being used with the radar antenna system, says Sharon Smith, chief of the research and analysis division.
The process starts with Tobyhanna personnel in a prime work center who receive items, induct them into the shop, inventory the system and inspect all the components to determine what repairs are needed. Items needing repair are grouped together or palletized, and an active RFID WhereTag transmitter is assigned to them. The wireless architecture consists of WhereLAN locating sensors and WherePort devices, which trigger each tag to emit a signal when entering or leaving a specific work center. The tags, which have a 2.4 GHz signal, have a read range of 350 feet indoors and 1,000 feet outdoors.
KEEPING TRACK OF TAGGED ITEMS
The system automatically records information such as arrival, dwell and departure time. This enables depot personnel to know the precise whereabouts and status of each tagged item at any stage during the refurbishing process, to analyze work-in-process flow and prevent bottlenecks. If a tracked item sits in a work center longer than the allotted time, the system automatically triggers an e-mail alert so depot personnel can take corrective action.
In addition, the RTLS system can be used to flag components left outside beyond a standard, so they can be moved to prevent rust and corrosion.
Tobyhanna employees and supervisors have embraced the new technology, which makes their jobs easier and enables them to more effectively support the depot's mission, Rains says. Results of the year-long pilot are being evaluated on a monthly basis.
"When we see a return on investment, we'll likely consider expanding it to another system," says Rains