Year
2011
Abstract
Radio-frequency (RF) devices have revolutionized many aspects of modern industrial processes. RF technology can enable wireless communication for item identification, sensor communication, and asset tracking. Radio-frequency identification (RFID) is a technology that utilizes wireless communication to interrogate and identify an electronic tag attached to an item in order to identify the item. The technology comes in many forms: passive or active tags, low to ultra-wideband frequencies, small paper-thin tags to brick-sized units, and simple tags or highly integrated sensor packages. RF technology, and specifically RFID, has been applied widely in commercial markets for inventory, supply chain management, and asset tracking. Several recent studies have demonstrated the potential safeguards benefits of utilizing RFID versus conventional inventory tagging methods for tracking nuclear material. These studies have indicated that the RF requirements for arms control and nuclear safeguards functions are more stringent than the RF requirements for other inventory tracking and accounting applications. Additionally, other requirements must be addressed, including environmental and operating conditions, authentication, tag location, and attachment. Facility restrictions on the use of the radio spectrum, method of tag attachment, and sensitivity of the data collected impact the tag selection and system design. More important, the intended use of the system must be considered. The requirements for using RF to facilitate inventory management will differ greatly from the requirements for deploying RF for unattended monitoring applications. Recent studies have investigated these considerations to advance commercial RF devices for safeguards use, and a number of system concepts have been developed. This paper provides an overview of recent studies and current technologies, and investigates the requirements, existing gaps, and several potential next steps for advancing RF techniques for safeguards use.