Active RF tags Powerful transmitters with enhanced monitoring Pacific Northwest National Laboratory has developed a RF tag and sensor system for the Air Force to monitor the temperature of the brakes on F-16 planes.
Active tags are true transmitters of information.
Powered by a battery, these tags can initiate communication whereas passive and semi-passive tags are activated only when they are read or interrogated by another device first. Active RF tags could be read and updated from up to hundreds of kilometers away. In addition to helping locate items, these systems can be used to monitor temperature, humidity, pressure, breakage and other data that could help determine the physical condition of the items being tracked and monitored. At Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, we're developing complete systems that include predictive sensors and that could transmit data using existing cordless and cell phone technology, for example. We can build networks of RF tags and predictive sensors to collect and evaluate data in real time.