Year
2010
Abstract
Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) has developed an activated Ultra-wideband (UWB) tagging system for tracking high-value assets that addresses some of the factors limiting use of commercially available UWB tags in secure environments. UWB tags have several performance advantages when compared with other radio frequency inventory systems. Advantages include improved read range, wide bandwidth, and good performance in proximity to metal. However, commercially available UWB tags have been avoided in secure environments because they are one-way tags that transmit at a set rate. In many situations this mode of operation is unacceptable from an operations security standpoint. The tag developed at ORNL is designed to be activated by a low-frequency signal sent by a reader. Once activated, the tag responds using a UWB transmitter. The tag addresses the operations security issues by allowing it to be activated only in desired areas and includes several additional features, including the ability to interface simple sensors. This paper reports on both the technical aspects of the ORNL-developed tag as well as the advantages of the tag for secure environments.