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Keeping tags

Tagging technology was first used in WW II to identify friendly aircraft - today options are endless.

While the concept of identification using active tag technology is not new - it was used to identify friendly aircraft by the allies during World War II - its uses and deployments have escalated enormously to the point where the only restriction is the imagination.

Barry Baetu, MD at bar code and mobile specialist organisation Harmonic Group, explains that asset tracking and active tag technology is now an affordable means to protect people, investments and assets in any environment from the smallest diamond right up to super-tankers ploughing the oceans.

"Today, tagging possibilities are endless, but one of the most popular applications is to identify assets. The technology can be used to alert the owner when and where that asset is moving and whether the tag is being removed or tampered with. There are also combination technologies that link assets to authorised people to determine whether those people have ownership of particular assets.

"Asset tracking can now also be achieved over far greater distances than before. There are radio frequency identification (RFID) technologies that can beam up to distances of 8 km from the air and 3 km at ground level."

Tags wholly developed and manufactured in South Africa to highly robust specifications can operate in hot, cold, wet and dusty conditions and transmitting through metal using their own long life power sources. Indeed, South African tags are becoming increasingly sought after by the European and American markets.

"Now, the use of this technology is being extended beyond asset tracking. For example, it can be used for safety applications, such as in mining environments where blasting can only take place once miners who wear tags are identified as having vacated the danger zone," concludes Baetu.

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