Next-Gen Wireless Asset Tracking: A Permanent Solution for Department of the Air Force IT Logistics

Sadly, the Air Force faces critical challenges in its asset tracking due to inadequate supply chain visibility and information technology accountability. Inefficient data management and manual processes hinder operations, causing parts shortages and grounded aircraft. Asset management also suffers from a lack of precise warehouse tracking, with assets known but often misplaced. Experts have assigned these factors to $2B in losses. Manual annual inventories are required, forcing inventory specialists to spend up to 50% of their time locating lost assets, leading to delays and increased labor costs.  Mirala has created the first ever high-capacity, low-power semiconductor logistics system with direct-to-satellite indoor connectivity for use in global asset tracking. The ultra-low size, weight, power and cost module is the size of a postage stamp and can be configured for any form factor and battery attachment. It provides continuous information on location, acceleration, temperature and humidity for up to 10+ years on a c-cell battery for a cost of less than $1 per month for the satellite connectivity, enabling persistent tracking and cold chain monitoring at a fraction of the cost of traditional IoT-based asset tracking. Mirala takes the best features of the two most prevalent forms of tracker tags on the market today: the low maintenance cost and long battery life of passive trackers like AirTag, Samsung SmartTag and Tile with the global tracking capability of GPS trackers. And unlike traditional RFID tags, which are the DoD's current standard for low-cost asset tracking and must be within a few hundred feet of a tag reader to work, Mirala's passive tags can be pinged directly from satellites anywhere in the world. With two satellites currently in space demonstrating the indoor tracking capability, Mirala is uniquely the only solution on the market that can send and receive signals inside buildings, ensuring assets stored indoors (as most are) are not lost in transit. For this Phase II effort, Mirala has partnered with the 186th Air Refueling Wing and the 186th Communications Squadron to develop, test and deploy small asset trackers specifically for use in tracking their high-value IT assets such as laptops, servers and cell phones. The Communications Squadron is responsible for a laundry list of IT products that must be continuously tracked per Air Force approved systems, but the current tracking capability can only work through IP addresses, meaning that if an asset is turned off, unplugged or at someone’s home, it can’t be tracked. If the battery dies, it’s permanently out of tracking range. The end-user for the proposal described an urgent need for long-range, permanent tracking solutions that also integrate into existing DoD logistics management systems, which Mirala will research and map out during the Phase II effort as well.