There are four articles below : PHOTOS in the second article
HUGE Antenna for passive rfid 
( Ed: can also detect clothing, shoe tags, the VeriChip, anything tagged  )

Antenna for tracking Salmon completed at Columbia River -- March 23, 2006

"Digital Angel ... announced today that its 16-foot by 16-foot RFID (Radiofrequency Identification) antenna designed to electronically track the salmon population in the Columbia River in Oregon
( Ed: and anything else with passive rfid tags ? )

The antenna will be placed in the Bonneville Corner Collector, a high-flow, multi-million dollar surface bypass route developed by the Army Corps of Engineers and the BPA to move fish safely past the Bonneville Lock and Dam. The antenna is capable of electronically detecting previously tagged fish in only 1/30th of a second.

Digital Angel is a leader in developing microchips for tagging fish and large RFID antenna systems that, despite their size, can detect and read the standard fisheries encapsulated tags only 12 millimeters long.

Ed : Is the following process any different from monitoring an implanted VeriChip or any other rfid tag found in clothes, shoes, or any item associated with a person ? We think not.

"When salmon tagged with the passive integrated transponder (PIT) microchips pass through the antenna, the antenna turns on the PIT tag and the PIT tag in turn sends a unique identifying number to operators of the database where important information such as the species, journey origin and age of each fish is logged. Such information is critical for maintaining healthy ecosystems for the indigenous fish population.

"This project demonstrates that our RFID technology has a wide variety of uses," said Kevin McGrath, President and CEO of Digital Angel. "In this case, our technology provides the most efficient and least invasive monitoring capabilities."
 [ Ed: totally unrealized by the hunted ]

Ed: More Big antennas out there ...
Since the early 1990s, Digital Angel has been developing, manufacturing and installing implantable passive integrated transponders and reader systems for the federal Columbia and Snake River hydroelectric projects. For the past two years, the Company has been working on the development of large antenna systems, specifically for the Bonneville Corner Collector.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/060323/lath032.html?.v=52

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World's largest rfid antenna -- March 10, 2005 ... Excellent PHOTOS
Port of Salmon entry

" Both agencies are working with Digital Angel to design a PIT  [ Passive Integrated Transponder ] tag system to meet a detection goal of 60 percent, a goal recommended by the Regional Research, Monitoring and Evaluation workgroup.

"Through improvements in the antenna and reader designs, as well as the continuing tag enhancements, Digital Angel expects to get 60 percent or better by the conclusion of the development," said
Sean Casey, Digital Angel's fisheries project manager tasked with antenna electronics development.
Ed. note: adsx and Digital Angel sure do not lack for Irishmen; ever notice all the Irish names ??
The prototype antenna at the corner collector will be 16 feet by 16 feet, Schwartz said, dwarfing other systems of this type. "The less invasive you can be, the better. It will be much easier on a fish to be diverted into a 16-foot-wide channel than into a 12-inch pipe," he said.

Schwartz said they are looking at potentially needing an extreme makeover for the PIT tag itself in the long-term. This plan, however, is contingent on production testing of newly developed PIT tag materials in the spring of 2005. Results of this test will determine the final design that will be available for use in the 2006 to 2008 fish passage season, depending on the processes/materials needed to meet or exceed the detection goals, Schwartz said.
http://www.djc.com/news/en/11159534.html


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Columbia River antenna ; Oregon State-- Oct. 13, 2005
Ed : Port of Salmon entry, detecting "real" Salmon from "farm" Salmon

Digital Angel Corp. ... announced today that it had received a $680,000 contract extension from the Bonneville Power Administration to complete the development of a large RFID antenna detection system for tracking fish in the Columbia River basin. The new contract brings the total value of the antenna project to more than $1.4 million.

The basin antenna system, with antennas being constructed at a minimum size of 16 feet by 16 feet, could be the largest RFID system in the world. It also includes the development of new readers and new implantable tag enhancements for tracking fish in the area. Digital Angel is a leader in developing large RFID antenna systems that, despite their size, can detect and read the standard fisheries encapsulated tags that are only 12 millimeters long, said Digital Angel Chief Executive Officer Kevin N. McGrath
"When completed in the third quarter of 2006, this RFID antenna detection system will be an invaluable tool for the government,
[ Ed: yes, the government will find out who is living off the land, instead of the 666 system ]

"and the environmental community, for understanding the behavior of fish in one of the most important habitats in the world
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/051013/lath030.html?.v=30 ( expired )

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" The development contract includes design and installation of what is expected to be the largest antenna system for tracking fish in the Columbia River basin and also includes the development of new readers and new implantable tag enhancements.

Digital Angel has been developing, manufacturing and installing implantable passive integrated transponders and reader systems for the federal Columbia and Snake River hydroelectric projects since the early 1990s.

Digital Angel's Chief Technology Officer Zeke Mejia commented,
"Because of our leading technology we were selected by the Bonneville Power Administration. The challenge in this project is to develop large antennas with a minimum size of 16 feet by 16 feet and still use the standard fisheries glass encapsulated tag of 12 millimeters long. We believe this antenna is the world's largest RFID antenna."
http://www.mysan.de/article52544.html


Tagging animals www.cybertime.net/~ajgood/pets.html