Drone based solution elevates UAE Company alongside NASA

Revolutionary inventory management solution nominated for the most innovative use of RFID technology during annual conference in San Diego

Age Steel™, a UAE based company that operates multiple steel yards in Dubai, has been selected as one of three finalists for the RFID Journal Award for the most innovative use of RFID. The winner would be declared at RFID Journal LIVE! 2015, which is the 13th annual conference exhibition of RFID Journal, scheduled to be held at the San Diego Convention Center, California, on April 15th – 17th 2015.

The company has been nominated for the awards along the likes of the pioneers in space – NASA.  Age Steel™ has harnessed the expertise of Exponent Technology Services, a UAE based new-age technology services company, in order to autonomously track steel stocks spread over vast areas and automate their process.

Exponent Technology Services, a UAE based new-age technology services company developed a unique Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) based solution for inventory management challenges faced by organizations. The solution merges the capabilities of both RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) and UAVs – also commonly referred to as drones.

Inventory tracking across large open yards presents a serious challenge to many steel traders and distributors in the UAE, resulting in higher operational costs. In order to address this, Exponent developed a solution – a unique Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) which is embedded with RFID technology at its Dubai based lab, over an exhaustive period of research and testing lasting several months.

“Recording inventory is an essential part of the warehouse function. However, it can pose several challenges which include safety as well as health issues while dealing with stocks spread over a vast area. To mitigate this issue Exponent came up with a unique solution that utilized active RFID tags which could be read by a reader mounted on a drone in a surrounding which had high metal content. This state of business intelligence brought by the RFID technology and drones boosts the operational process in inventory management leading to better savings. Warehouse drones are here to stay and will definitely form an integral part of inventory management in large warehouses,” stated Asam Khan, Exponent’s Chief Operating Officer.