Somark's inkless RFID tattoos could keep troops safe
Yesterday’s attack in Iraq proves uniforms may not be the best way to distinguish friend from foe; technology intended for tracking cattle could prove a lifesaver for humans; passive RFID is perfectly harmless and does not require line of sight to be read
In the film “The Day of the Jackal,” the police attempt to stymie an assassin dressed in their uniform by issuing all officers with special badges on the day of Charles de Gaulle’s parade through town. This ploy has no noticeable effect on the plot, but it popped into our head due to reports this morning that a number of U.S. forces in Iraq had been killed by militiamen masquerading as American troops. Why, we wondered, should not there be a way for soldiers to quickly identify one another without depending on easily-forged uniforms? Turns out, there is. St. Louis, Missouri-based Somark Technologies has developed a biomcompatible RFID ink that might one day be used to create identfying tattoos for soldiers overseas.
Of course, Somark believes the product has other, more immediate uses as well. Having recently proved the concept on laboratory rats, the company intends to promote the technology in the livestock industry to help identify and track cattle. (Ear tags currently in use are far more expensive and often need to be replaced.) The passive RFID technology contains no metals, and does not require a line of sight to be read. The tattoos themselves can be colored or invisible, suggesting perhaps that the Marines can offer soldiers free anchor tattoos upon enrollment.
-read more in this Technovelgy report
