Uniqueidentification labels or UID labels are part of the US Department of Defense(DoD)?s serialization tracking programs (SNTs). These UID labels are the DoD?smarking methodology to identifying items uniquely. This UID labelingmethodology will facilitate the DoD to keep track of all info about defenserelated and embedded items starting from their acquisition, repair, till thedeployment phase.

All tangible assets issued on or afterJanuary 1, 2004, need to have UID labels, UID nameplates, and UID tags on themto be UID compliant. Contractors supplying government furnished itemswere instructed to complete the registration for UIDlabeling by May 2006. The DoD has set a target of completing UID label markingon all tangible as well as embedded items by Dec 31, 2010. In the initialstage, 80% of the markings will be on UID labels or nameplates and rest 20%will be direct part marked in the initial period.   

As per the Department of Defensemandate, those items whose Unit acquisition cost is $5,000 or more, areserially managed, is mission essential or is a controlled inventory, DoDmandated serially managed embedded item or designated by the Program office forpermanent identification require UID labels on them.

It might be pointed out that, all UIDmarkings/labels/data plates must meet the conditions set forth in Mil-Std-130standard. As per the Military Standard, the UID labels used should last thelife of the part and preferably through any refurbishment or rebuild process. Theconditions include how the data is formatted, what the minimum marking requirementsare and what the quality of the data matrix MRI code must be in the UID labels.

Components of UID labels

The DoD hasclearly instructed what should be included on the UID labels. They arediscussed briefly in the following.

2-Dimenasional data matrix code

Productinfo of the particular item has been to be represented in a 2-D data matrixcode. Regulatedby Mil-Std-130 cell size, the info written on this code can be readmulti-directionally. This code takes up less space but holds much more data and also has built-in error correctionfeature. Both square and rectangular shape of 2-Ddata matrix code is available.

Construct 1

UID labelsdesign have a Construct 1 format which is required when UID marking is doneusing only an enterprise identifier (CAGE, Duns#) and a serial number.

Construct 2

When a part number must be included inthe UID labels along with the enterprise identifier and serial number, thisformat is required. Usually These items have three data elements unlike the onerequired incase of Construct 1.

Additional text

Besides thecode format, textual info about the item is also required to be included as perthe Mil-Std?130 standard. This textual format is not encoded into the 2-D data matrixcode, but it is allowable in part or whole.