In-Flight Active-Tag Test Successful, Says Boeing

In addition, Porad says he wants the FAA's policy to be national, covering all types of planes. He notes, however, that even if the FAA puts restrictions on how or when active tags could be used, some type of policy statement will act as a building block and open doors. "Anything we can get from [the FAA] is a step forward," he says.

If the FAA decides active tags can be carried on planes, it would open up a number of potential applications for Boeing, FedEx and hundreds of other companies that build and maintain planes or use them to transport goods. Linking the tags to sensors would allow active tags to provide environmental data showing the temperature, shock, gravity force or other conditions to which airplane parts are exposed during flight. Active tags linked to sensors could also be used to track the temperature of perishable goods in transit. In addition, if tags for tracking purposes remained attached to reusable carts, products or other assets onboard a plane, this would save shippers the trouble of having to remove the tags prior to a flight and reissue them after the plane lands.

None of the 40 tags aboard the MD-10 failed to function properly during the test period. While all parties—Boeing, FedEx and Identec—expected or hoped for this result, one goal of the test was to ascertain whether extreme temperatures, such as those found in the vicinity of the landing gear, would cause tags to fail. There was also some question as to whether fluctuations in altitude could detrimentally impact tags placed in nonpressurized portions of the plane. No such detrimental impacts were reported.

The 90-day in-flight test was the first in a two-stage active tag test Boeing and FedEx had planned. The second part of the test, scheduled to run from mid-August to mid-September, was involve the encoding data to and reading data from 10 Identec tags using demonstration software developed by Silverstroke, a German provider of auto-ID middleware and application software.

These tags were attached to parts on the place at the beginning of the 90-day in-flight test, but were not among those transmitting data. The goal of this 30-day software test was to prove the software would work as expected. However, just two days after the 90-day test wrapped up, Porad received a call from FedEx, saying the MD-10 carrying the tags had been called in for heavy maintenance, where it would remain until October 2. (The FedEx team had known maintenance had been planned to take place soon, says Porad, but had not anticipated it happening before mid-September.)

Conferring with FedEx, Identec and Silverstroke, Porad decided to cancel the software test. "The FAA only really cared about the first 90 days," he says. "The second part is no technical challenge." Porad says the tags will soon be removed from the MD-10 and returned to Identec.