RFID-Enabled IT Asset Tracking at Scott Air Force Base Medical Center

The 375th Medical Group at Scott Air Force Base Medical Center uses a large amount of IT equipment in its hospitals and pharmacies. Over time, assets were getting moved and sometimes temporarily misplaced within the organization.

Required periodic audits were manually intensive, time-consuming, and error-prone — involving manual reading of serial numbers and updates in spreadsheets. The primary objective was to implement an RFID-based system to effectively and efficiently track thousands of IT assets dispersed across two thousand rooms in various buildings.

AssetPulse packaged its AssetGather software with EPC Gen2 passive handheld RFID readers and tags for rapid inventorying. A variety of passive RFID tags from different vendors were evaluated, considering readability, mounting surface type, and aesthetics — especially important for mobile devices.

Confidex SteelWave UHF EPC Gen2 tags were selected for over 90% of IT assets. RFID tags were also used to identify rooms, increasing the efficiency of the scanning process. AssetPulse developed special tools and processes to streamline tagging all assets and locations.

The system enables rapid inventory scans and audits across the entire medical center. Personnel can also perform physical searches of asset batches when they are due for end-of-life replacement.

The system is planned to extend to new locations with active RFID for real-time tracking of critical IT assets in selective areas within the medical center.