A full 24 hours after a deadly power plant explosion in Connecticut, media reports this morning indicated that emergency response personnel were still unsure if workers were missing in the rubble. Has there ever been a stronger case for the use of RFID and RTLS technology to track workers in dangerous environments like mining, construction and the utility sector?

Several RFID applications are available for tracking workers in the mining sector, where mining accidents can leave officials unsure of where miners are located in affected mines. If the construction workers at the Connecticut site were wearing RFID enabled badges, officials there would have known early on when all workers were accounted for, and would not need to risk sending rescue personnel on dangerous recovery missions. Some media accounts quoted officials as not knowing what workers were on duty at the site when the accident occurred.

Stay tuned to RFID 24-7 for more on people tracking and RFID later this week.

The aerospace industry has long been a pioneer when it comes to RFID research. Today, a pact between Airbus, MAINtag SAS and Tego will take that innovation to a new level. By early next year, thousands of Tego’s high memory tags will find their way onto aircraft parts across the Airbus A350 XWB fleet. Approximately 1,500 tags will be included on each aircraft, with the possibility of many more in the future. The seven-year contract is expected to be worth a minimum of $5 million for Tego.

The combination of MAINtag’s manufacturing capabilities and Tego’s high-memory chip provides the first standards-compliant, high memory and fully-passive RFID tags that can achieve Airbus’ goal of value chain visibility. The technology will allow Airbus to include a PDF of a product manual on the tag, as well as the complete cradle to grave maintenance history of aircraft parts, allowing for new cutting edge MRO applications.

The deal represents a significant breakthrough for high memory tags that Airbus and the aviation industry has coveted for years, and could take asset tracking to new levels in other industries.

“This is the first coming out party for the industry,” says Tim Butler, president and CEO of Waltham, Mass.-based Tego, which has been working on a high memory tag solution for several years. “Airbus has invested significant money in this space over the past several years and has been waiting for the ability to use high memory passive RFID tags on both pressurized and non-pressurized parts. We are excited to work with MAINtag to deliver the first flyable parts RFID tags that will allow Airbus and its suppliers to get RFID in the air quickly.”

To read the rest of this story, visit RFID24-7.com.

This year could prove to be a breakout year for RFID technology. Over the next few weeks, look for major announcements from key players regarding significant contract wins and new products. One big contract will be announced on Tuesday. RFID 24-7 has learned of at least three other deals of significant scope that will follow over the next few weeks. Stay tuned to rfid247.com for coverage and analysis as the deals unfold.

During last year’s Super Bowl, I posted about how the NFL could benefit from using RFID technology during games. RFID could remove the human element from such things as “moving the chains” to determine first downs. The NFL hasn’t done anything yet, but their game announcers must read RFID 24-7. During the Patriots playoff loss to Baltimore Sunday (what happened to Tom Brady?), Ravens running back Ray Rice was stopped at the goal line, prompting a lengthy review to see if his forward progress was enough to get him into the endzone. While it clearly looked like Rice crossed the line, the ball was not in view for the replay, so game officials ruled no TD. That prompted Jim Nantz to utter a line about “implanting chips into the footballs.” He gets it! Of course an RFID-enabled football, with RFID readers along the goal line, could have easily determined the outcome on that play.

Proctor & Gamble may have decided to de-emphasize tagging of in-store displays at Wal-Mart stores, but Revlon is getting a maximum return from a similar tagging program with Walgreens. Revlon and Walgreens announced this week that RFID has substantially increased the average execution of tracked promotional displays across the drugstore chain.

The two companies are now moving forward with an upgrade to the GOLIATH RFID system that Walgreens implemented late last year. The system uses patented RFID?based technology to determine the location and execution of in-store promotional displays. The upgraded system extends accurate monitoring and locating capabilities to include EPC tags placed on the displays and represents a significant leap forward in RFID technology.

“The information GOLIATH provides is a game-changer for us,” David Van Howe, Vice President of Purchasing for Walgreens, said in a press release. “Not only does it help us identify and purchase more effective programs, our store operations teams are embracing the Goliath data to improve execution throughout our chain.”

Stay tuned for more information in next week’s issue of RFID 24-7.

RFID visionary Patrick Sweeney, founder and CEO at ODIN technologies, is out with his top nine predictions for 2009. We’re into March, and none of them have come true yet, so it’s still a good read. There are some beauties on the list, including a forecast that Alien will sell its reader business to Cisco, and that the financial services industry will continue to embrace RFID, resulting in one million tagged assets in the financial sector. I particularly like prediction nine. Let us know what you think of Patrick’s prophecies.