An Analysis of the Potential and Actual Utilization of the RFID Technology in Emergency Management

The main focus of emergency management is the avoidance, control, management, and elimination of inherent losses when disasters occur. With the high number of natural and manmade disasters, more attention is drawn to all phases of emergency management, namely: mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery. Disasters can be very different in their distinctiveness with respect to severity, impact to homes, businesses, public structures, and human life or any combination of the above. To address those demands more efficiently, the latest technology should be reviewed and verified for utilization in emergency management. Radio frequency identification (RFID) technology offers certain characteristics that provide promising applications in difficult environments. Transponders (active or passive) are attached to entities or built into them. The information on the transponder can be read, expanded or changed immediately when new data arrives. Furthermore, equipment or other entities with embedded transponders can be followed and the location can be determined at all times. Those attributes are valuable to emergency management. This research paper presents previous research and applications that show new potential uses for the RFID technology in emergency management. Copyright, American Society for Engineering Management, 2014.