Big Brother Might Be Watching...

If the plans of technology designers come true, some day tiny electronic tags will come attached to almost every part, component, and tool found in hangars and on aircraft. These radio frequency identification or RFID tags (see story on page 14), promise to revolutionize the way items that need to be tracked are stored, located, installed, and disposed of. Already, large retail companies like Wal-Mart and Target are bringing RFID to their warehouses, to enhance efficiency and boost productivity.

RFID offers interesting uses to the aviation industry, and we will probably see simple tracking of pallets of ordinary parts such as filters tracked by inventory systems. As the pallet passes through a portal in the parts room, the inventory computer sends a query to the RFID tag, which responds with some identifying information, and the inventory system is quickly updated.

That kind of application is just the tip of the iceberg. With a little thought, many other uses come to mind, limited only by the imagination and the financial resources of those who would employ this technology. Imagine these scenarios:

 

 

• As the pallet of, say, fuel filters enters the parts room, the inventory computer realizes that a mechanic had been waiting for one of those filters and quickly sends that mechanic an instant message that appears on his cellphone/personal digital assistant.

   

   

• Life-limited parts contain embedded RFID tags with unique "identities." When the part reaches the limit of its useful life, it is destroyed and the its unique identity also dies, rendering that part completely un-reusable. Duplicating a "dead" part identity is nearly impossible, and this helps prevent the proliferation of fake parts.

   

   

• Mechanics carry RFID tags on their employee identification badges and a hangar-wide system tracks their movement, job by job. This could help drive great improvements in maintenance efficiency, although employee unions might have something to say about this kind of personnel tracking.

   

   

• Mechanics' individual tools could be tagged so that the toolbox would set off an alarm if a tool isn't returned. It could, however, be annoying to have a roundup of rollaways announcing that various sockets and wrenches are missing. Perhaps a simple red light, with a message sent to a manager to highlight the missing tool before the shift ends.

   

   

• Calibrated tools would be tagged with current information and they would signal their calibration status prior to use. Or imagine a torque wrench that can measure its own accuracy, thus cutting calibration costs while also signaling the hangar computer system that it is good to go.

   

   

• With widespread installation on individual parts, a hangar could be wired to read the aircraft's status as it taxied up. The aircraft's maintenance health system would update the hangar computer with any new problems and at the same time report on the actual status of the parts or components that are causing the problem. This would enable the maintainers to get a jump on getting the aircraft back in the air.

   

   

• Eventually sensors on each part could be tied to the RFID tag so that parts could signal that they have been properly installed or that they are coming apart prematurely. "Torque below spec on #4 attach bolt," a component might report.

These are just some ideas that RFID technology could enable. We may yet see some of these ideas implemented, but it will take time for technological changes like these to become accepted in the field.

Join Us at the STAR Symposium

On a more achievable basis, there is a development in technology that you can take advantage of right away.

On November 7 to 9, we are launching the Aviation Maintenance Software Technology and Resource Symposium, which will be held at the Pointe South Mountain Resort in Phoenix, Arizona. (For more information, go to www.STARSymposium.com.)

The purpose of the STAR Symposium is to showcase technology solutions for aircraft maintenance providers (airlines, MROs, corporate flight departments, small and large maintenance shops, and any provider of aircraft maintenance, refurbishment, paint, and avionics services). Solutions range from large enterprise resource planning systems to standalone PC-based maintenance shop management programs to wireless handheld devices and other products that can help make your maintenance operation more efficient and profitable.

We invite you to join us at the STAR Symposium in Phoenix.