IT News Archives | Site Search | Advertise on IT Direction | Contact | Home

Aircraft manufacturers testing RFID tags

November 14, 2006

Aircraft manufacturers Boeing and Airbus are working on a series of programs to install RFID (radio frequency identification) tags on aircraft parts to accelerate the process of airplane inventory management. The idea is to reduce inherent flight delays in airports.

"These RFID tags will enable ground crews to better analyze the remaining life span of specific aircraft parts without having to open access panels or do visual inspections," said Kenneth Porad, RFID program manager at Boeing.

For the past couple of years, RFID tags have had a wide range of applications in other industries. This particular project isn't a first for any of the two companies.

Five years ago, Boeing began tagging aircraft tools and stowe-away boxes with RFID microchips that contained history, shipping, routing and customs information. Airbus did the same for its ground equipment and aircraft tools in 2002.

In March 2006, Boeing launched a new program to tag time-controlled, life-limited parts and replaceable units on its 7E-7 Dreamliner aircraft. The smart labels contain a microchip that stores data such as part and serial numbers, manufacturer codes, country of origin, date of installation and maintenance or various inspection details.

Boeing's Porad said that before the company started using RFID tags, ground crew members had to visually inspect parts and check serial numbers one-by-one. To find out when a certain part was last inspected, ground-crew personnel had to look up written records.

Porad was speaking at the RFID Journal Live Conference in Toronto last week.

Porad added that "in the old days, Boeing used to stamp numbers on steel plates that were affixed to aircraft parts. This proved to be very expensive in the long run because new plates had to be produced when part numbers changed.

Compounding the problem, and unlike RFID tags, the plates themselves could not contain any information, except some serial numbers. Under the RFID program, inspection crews armed with handheld readers that send out radio waves simply have to pass the devices over RFID tagged parts.

The tags then send the data back to the microchip. The readers have a range of about 10 feet. "It's a read and write technology that can allow personnel, based on security clearance, to input data," Porad said. "This is particularly useful, because service history will be contained in the tag as the part goes through its normal life cycle" added Porad.

The Boeing 7E7 will have some 2,000 parts with RFID tags, each tag worth at least $15 to $20. The plane's first flight is expected in 2007.

For its part, Airbus is conducting similar testing with its A-380 Super Jumbo airliner. The plane will have 10,000 RFID tags and is expected to take flight in May 2007.

The RFID tags will cut a substantial portion of time dedicated to ground inspection, both companies say. For instance, Porad said two crew members normally take up to 30 minutes to carry out the required inspection of onboard passenger lifejackets. "With the hand held readers and RFID tags, this now only takes six minutes."

As a whole, RFID tagging will help eliminate errors in tracking a part's origin and will assist repair crews in determining the part's specific application, according to Art Smith, president and CEO of Electronic Product Code global (EPCglobal) Canada, a non-profit organization developing industry standards for electronic products.

"Many times, manually-written serial numbers on service logs can be easily misinterpreted. An electronic trail can precisely tell the repair crew which part should go where."

The RFID tags being installed in the Dreamliner cover a one to four inch square area and contain up to 64,000 bits of data. The passive tags transmit signals at 860 to 960 megahertz when activated by an Ultra-High Frequency (UHF) reader.

The ceramic-covered tags mounted on the jet engines will be able to handle temperature ranges from -40 degrees to 649 degrees Celsius. Meanwhile, work is also progressing on the testing of active RFID tags. While passive tags only transmit data when activated by readers, active tags can be programmed to send out signals at pre-determined intervals of when alarms are set off, according to Smith.

"These will be event-driven devices, and with the help of IP network technology, it will further improve aircraft part maintenance" added Smith. For example, parts with active RFID tags can immediately send out signals when temperatures or stress levels exceed certain allowable limits.

Porad said Boeing and now FedEx are testing how active tags can monitor conditions on an MD-10 air freighter. The battery-powered RFID tags will contain a 915 megahertz microchip and will be readable from 200 feet.

Source: IT World Canada