Iridium to the fore again.

The US Marines have been using an Iridium satellite-enabled equipment identification and tracing system to provide in-transit visibility and asset tracking capability to support today's warfighter. The system has been trialled at Camp Lejeune and incorporates radio-frequency identification tags and Internet-based tracking software to locate and track the movement of vital supplies for fighters on the front lines. The system relics on Iridium's network of 66 low-earth-orbit satellites--the only network with complete coverage of the earth, including oceans, airways and polar regions--to relay data in real-time from RF interrogators and to track vehicles and other assets. The RF tags are low-power radio transmitters attached to equipment pallets and containers, and contain up to 128 kb of information on supply level detail which is read by interrogator devices set-up near the entrances to bases and supply hubs. Portable Iridium terminals transmit the data to an Internet-based tracking system.