"Getting RFID Into The Skies"

Thursday, June 10, 2004

Getting RFID Into The Skies
Testing the technology within the aviation industry is progressing rapidly
as carriers and manufacturers seek to spot potential problems.
By Tony Kontzer 
Information Week
   
   
Testing of radio-frequency identification in the aviation industry is
progressing at a feverish pace as carriers and manufacturers try to spot any
potential problems in using the technology to improve everything from the
parts supply chain to baggage handling. 

At this week's Global Aviation RFID Forum in Atlanta, FedEx and Delta Air
Lines said they're planning to begin additional RFID pilot tests next month,
while Boeing and Airbus S.A.S. said they would be jointly issuing
requirements to their suppliers within a year dictating the use of passive
13.56-MHz RFID tags on aircraft and engine parts--in time to make the
technology an integral part of their next-generation aircraft: Boeing's 7E7
and Airbus' A380. Unlike active RFID tags, which have onboard batteries and
constantly emit signals in search of a reader, passive tags have no
batteries and yield information only when scanned by a reader. 

FedEx and Boeing recently completed a 90-day joint test in which 40 parts on
a FedEx plane--parts ranging from wheel wells to hydraulic pumps to smoke
detectors--were tagged with passive 13.56-MHz RFID chips and transmitters
and then read at the conclusion of flights. "There was no deterioration in
the tags, and the data collected was 100% accurate," Butch Ford, manager of
engineering support for FedEx, told the airline and supplier execs gathered
at the forum. Next month, the companies will begin an identical 90-day test,
this time with passive 915-MHz RFID tags, which can be read from much
further away. 

Delta plans to launch concurrent tests next month. One will involve placing
passive tags at both 13.56 MHz and 915 MHz on 30 engine parts on an
in-service commercial airline; the other will use active 915-MHz tags to
track parts inventory at a few selected ground repair shops. Martin
Kangiser, Delta's general manager of material services, said parts
information is collected and entered with 99.5% accuracy, but that still
results in hundreds of errors a month that then have to be corrected. The
in-flight test is intended to determine how RFID tags hold up under the
intense conditions aircraft engines face, including temperatures in excess
of 500 degrees, while the inventory test will determine whether gains in
efficiency and data accuracy warrant further investment. 

Similarly, Delta says that 99.3% of the bags it handles arrive at the proper
destination on schedule--but that still translates to 800,000 misplaced bags
a year, Jim Logue, system manager for ramp and baggage strategy development,
told the forum attendees. That's why the airline conducted a just-completed
pilot in which it used active 915-MHz RFID tags to monitor bags moving
between Atlanta and Jacksonville, Fla. The airline didn't collect data on
how the test affected baggage delivery, but instead wanted to see how the
tags would hold up through the baggage-handling process. Logue said valuable
lessons were learned--such as where to place the RFID tag on the baggage
label to minimize potential damage--but that the price of RFID technology
still needs to come down to consider a systemwide deployment. Still, that's
not far off. "It's in the ballpark." 

Meanwhile, the airline and supplier execs at the forum got an update from
the Federal Aviation Administration, which has been examining the impact of
passive 13.56-MHz RFID tags on avionics equipment to ensure the technology
won't threaten airline safety. John Dimtroff, national policy maker for
electromagnetic effects, said he plans to issue a policy memo on the
technology by the end of the year. "I know industry is anxiously waiting to
get this approved," he said. "RFID tracking of parts is a wonderful idea,
but my concern is ensuring that people fly safely."


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