The IEEE has begun work on a new standard, IEEE P1902.1, otherwise known as the RuBee visibility network protocol.

RuBee is a bidirectional, on-demand, peer-to-peer, radiating, transceiver protocol operating at wavelengths below 450KHz.

The protocol works in "harsh environments" with networks of many thousands of tags and has an area range of 10ft to 50ft.

Despite their high functionality, including an incredibly thin design, RuBee radio tags have a proven battery life of 10 years or more using low-cost, coin-size lithium batteries. The RuBee protocol works with active and passive tags that have no battery.

The IEEE Standard for Long Wavelength Wireless Network Protocol will provide for asset visibility networking that fills the gap between the non-networked, non-programmable, back-scattered RFID tags widely used for asset tracking and the high-bandwidth radiating protocols for IEEE 802.11 local area networks and IEEE 802.15 personnel area and data networks.

The standard will offer a real-time, tag-searchable protocol using IPv4 addresses and subnet addresses linked.

Individual tags and tag data may be viewed as a stand-lone web server from anywhere in the world.

Each RuBee tag, if properly enabled, can be discovered and monitored over the web using popular search engines or via the Visible Asset's .tag Tag Name Server.

RuBee networks and tags are distinguished from most RFID tags in that they are unaffected by liquids and can be used underwater and underground.

They are expected to have many applications in healthcare, agriculture, government and retailing.