RFID - Out of this World

Without gravity, straightforward tasks can easily become prolonged activities. With various items floating about, even brushing your teeth can become quite the chore. At the International Space Station, inventory tracking is one of those time-consuming tasks that NASA would like to cut down on using RFID.

This fall, NASA staff will attach RF SAW tags to uniforms and toiletry items placed into each duffel bag assigned to each crewmember of a six-month mission. They will read each tag's ID and correlate that ID with the item in a database. Periodically during the mission, crewmembers will be asked to scan the contents of his or her bag by waving the reader/PDA device over their bags. The reader will collect the IDs of all the tags it reads and then this data will be downloaded to NASA's information system when the PDA is placed on a cradle for recharging.