Friday, April 22, 2011

Tracking Revisited

Earlier in the month I speculated about the ATF, Project Gunrunner, and GPS tracking chips. My thoughts on the subject were spurred by comments made by Michael Bane in his Down Range Radio podcast. [More]
This is the first I've heard of this speculation--no source I've communicated with has hinted at this. My initial reaction was to wonder if what we're really talking about is eTrace, but concede this may be a valid development to explore. I'd suggest finding out more about such chips, including specs, suppliers, etc., and seeing if any RFPs/competitive bidding/contract award docs can be discovered.

2 comments:

Farm.Dad said...

another possibility http://www.hkpro.com/forum/hk-handgun-talk/75748-hk-p2000-rfid-tracking-chip.html

Stranger said...

The problem with GPS is largely size and power supply for the transmitter or transponder used. While some inventory control chips use very little power, the range is a few feet.

A full fledged transponder would discharge most NiMH 4 X AAA packs in less than 24 hours and be about the size of a stack of two or three large coin cells. Even a "dumb transmitter" would not be much better.

I suspect ATF tried a GPS transponder setup, discovered the limitations, and went ahead with Gunwalker despite the fact they could not track the weapons.

Which suggests an imperative need for the program.

Stranger