RFID in Aerospace - Taking off with Spec 2000
Posted by Patrick Sweeney on Fri, Jun 19, 2009
Written by Kevin MacDonald
This week the Air Transport Association (ATA) made a major step forward by approving the RFID addition to the Spec 2000 data sharing standards. Up through now, airlines, airports and manufacturers have been working on a wide variety of projects in baggage tracking, airplane work in process tracking, tool tracking and cart tracking. With the addition of RFID to Spec 2000, the industry can now better track Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) activities and make flying safer and maintenance cheaper.
Keeping Part History Information with RFID
On any given airplane there are up to 200,000 serialized, replaceable parts. Traditionally, these parts had to be individually inspected and maintained, and the maintenance record was kept on the part itself with a metal stamp. The stamp indicated the maintenance dates and helped the MRO staff understand how many maintenance cycles a part had endured. With the new Spec 2000 definition, RFID readers will first give birth to the part and allow it to keep rich information about the part and its maintenance. For example, if a part needed to be cleaned and overhauled, that information will be stored on the tag, and the full maintenance record for the part travels with the part. It creates a much richer data experience for the MRO staff, and it allows the whole industry to share information quickly and efficiently.
High Memory RFID Tags Required
The advent of the Spec 2000 RFID requirements for aerospace require enhanced RFID technologies. In order to store the maintenance records, high memory tags are required. In some cases up to 16 kilobites of information will be carried with a part, and the tag will need to be capable of storing that much data. Some tag and silicon vendors are beginning to offer high memory tags that will work with the specification, but more are due out soon. Tag availability will likely grow like the metal mount tag market has grown. Just two years ago, metal mount tags were rare and expensive, now there are dozens of vendors offering high quality products at reasonable and declining prices. We are at the beginning of the high memory tag market within aerospace.
ODIN has been working extensively with Airbus and other aerospace suppliers and industry participants. We look forward to the wider adoption of RFID and the promise it has for cutting costs and increasing safety in the aerospace industry. Let us know how you are adopting RFID and it may become part of the next blog.
More on the Airbus A350 Program can be found here.