Implementation Of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID):
The Indian Army commenced implementation of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tagging of its ammunition inventory.
- Earlier in 2021, the Union Government integrated the E-Way Bill (EWB) system with FasTag and RFID.
- RFID is a type of passive wireless technology that allows for tracking or matching of an item or individual.
- The system has two basic parts: Tags and Readers.
- The reader gives off radio waves and gets signals back from the RFID tag, while the tag uses radio waves to communicate its identity and other information.
- A tag can be read from up to several feet away and does not need to be within the direct line-of-sight of the reader to be tracked.
- The technology has been approved since before the 1970s but has become much more prevalent in recent years due to its usages in things like global supply chain management and pet microchipping.
- The RFID implementation has been steered by the Ordnance Services Directorate of the Indian Army, in conjunction with Munitions India Limited (MIL), Pune, the newly created entity formed post corporatisation of the Ordnance Factories Board (OFB).
- The RFID tagging is in conformity with global standards in consultation with GS-1 India, a Global Standards organisation set up by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
- The RFID tags will be interpreted and used for asset tracking by the Enterprise Resource Application run by the Computerised Inventory Control Group (CICG) of the Ordnance Services Directorate
