Technological and Economic Evaluation of Competitive RFID and Other Automatic Identification Technologies for Asset Tracking in Tinker AFB Ramps – OSU07-ALC

Technological and economic analysis of inserting alternative Automatic identification technologies (AITs), including Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) and other wireless sensor networks towards improving a process.

Sponsor:

Oklahoma City Air Logistics Center- Tinker Air Force Base

Research Team:

Satish Kukkapatnam, Bradnon Lee Gardner, Mostafa Maiz, Rosa Madrid

Universities Involved:

Oklahoma State University

Start Date:

01/01/07

End Date:

12/31/07

Summary:

Provide a fairly accurate economic analysis of specific automatic identification technologies (AIT) suitable for the Tinker Air Force base.
To develop a roadmap for inserting alternative Automatic Identification Technologies (AITs), such as RFID, RF sensor networks like T-motes, etc., for asset tracking and management applications in Tinker AFB ramp operations.
The investigations are presented in three parts:

* Report the framework developed for economic evolution of these technologies.
* Review various alternative AITs that are attractive for insertion at different operational subsystems, and provide the necessary cost information.
* Provide a comprehensive list of the relevant AIT and other related wireless technologies beyond those currently considered for ramp operations.

* Alternative AIT systems and their insertion processes were developed
* The state of the art AIT systems compared with the WhereNet system being considered by the sponsors
* A spreadsheet framework for economic analysis of the various alternative technology insertions strategies reported