Marine Asset Tag Using Near Field Electromagnetic Ranging

We propose a Marine Asset Tag Tracking System (MATTS) using a breakthrough wireless tracking technology called near field electromagnetic ranging (NFER¿). The primary objective of Phase I is to validate that NFER¿ technology is the best RF solution for tracking containers on ships and in ports. Phase I will also (1) develop an overall architecture for the MATTS; (2) design the container tag; (3) design the NFER¿ access point; (4) prepare a conceptual design of the local Data Center, and (5) define the data link to the Global Data Center. MATTS should be capable of tracking containers in the following marine environments: (a) being loaded aboard ships, (b) stacked in a ship, (c) being unloaded, and (d) being moved and stacked in shipping terminals. Even without a NFER¿ infrastructure at a port or ship, a DHS official should be able to use a NFER¿ receiver to locate a specific container in a stack of containers provided the targeted container has a NFER¿ tag. Q-Track Corporation, the pioneer in NFER¿ technology, has teamed with On-Line Applications Research Corporation (OAR). OAR has over two decades of experience in architecture design, networking, sensor integration, and software engineering for federal information systems.