Coming together in support of a radio frequency band - 433MHz to be exact - a group of about 20 manufacturers, vendors, government agencies, and universities have formed a cross-industry consortium that will advance the use of the ISO 18000-7 active RFID standard.
The DASH7 Alliance (named for the -7 of the 18000 standard) aims to expand the scope of this international standard as a way to track a wide range of objects, including vehicles, shipping containers, pharmaceutical products, hazardous materials, perishable goods, and manufacturing and operational equipment.
To date, the technology, which defines how active RFID tags communicate with readers, has been ensconced in the global defense industry, specifically, the U.S. Department of Defense. The DASH7 Alliance will work to build applications on top of the core standard as well as ensure interoperability of products. Its hope is to propel the standard into the oil and gas, automotive, and pharmaceutical industries.
"What we are trying to do is enhance the language of the ISO 18000-7 standard so it can be more broadly used," said Mark Nelson, senior director of communications for Savi Technology, one of the founding members of the DASH7 Alliance. The alliance wants to ensure that a device with an 18000-7 tag can move through the supply chain without any disruption, much like a cell phone can roam from one network to another.