Digital Angel to equip Army Corps with RFID

Digital Angel Corp. will supply the Army Corps of Engineers with passive integrated transponder technology for fish monitoring through a new $10 million contract.

The Corps plans to use the transponder technology in tandem with the company's radio frequency identification antenna to monitor fish movement and stream and dam passage.

The Corps routinely uses passive integrated transponder technology to monitor everything from fish populations and migration patterns to water levels and the flow of various dam passages and streams.

When a tagged fish passes through the monitored area, its transponder automatically activates, sending the Corps a unique identification number. At the operations center, important information such as species, the starting point of the fish's journey and the age of each fish is logged.

Digital Angel of St. Paul, Minn., develops and deploys sensor and communications technologies that enable rapid and accurate identification, location tracking and condition monitoring of assets. The company is majority owned by Applied Digital Solutions Inc. of Delray Beach, Fla.