Patent ID: 7876224

Claim:
An airborne passive radio frequency identification (RFID) system comprising: an unmanned air vehicle; at least one RFID canister separable from said unmanned air vehicle; a parachute for controlling a descent of a separated RFID canister; a plurality of RFID sensors contained within said separated RFID canister; a scattering mechanism contained within said separated RFID canister to scatter said plurality of RFID sensors over an area to be monitored resulting in an RFID monitored area; a transceiver contained within said unmanned air vehicle for sequencing an interrogation signal and a response signal wherein said interrogation signal and said response signal are in communication with said plurality of RFID sensors; an interrogation response processor contained within said unmanned air vehicle for processing said interrogation signal and said response signal; a telemetry system partially contained within said unmanned air vehicle for communicating an output of said interrogation response processor to a receiving station; a computer in communication with said receiving station wherein said computer processes said output of said interrogation response processor as transmitted by said telemetry system and received by said receiving station; a shell to protect an RFID sensor compartment containing said plurality of RFID sensors and to protect a deployment system compartment containing said scattering mechanism wherein said RFID compartment and said deployment system compartment communicate using a two way valve; an opening in said shell wherein said opening is an access for passing a firing pin lanyard; said opening operating as a pressure equalization port wherein said pressure equalization port equalizes an air pressure within said deployment system compartment with an external air pressure; and a parachute anchor point connected to said shell for anchoring said parachute.