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NASA, Intermec Partner to Send RFID Into Space
According to Schramm, NASA supplied Intermec with samples of aluminum-lithium alloys, the material from which the space shuttle's external tank is made. Intermec then used laser bonding to apply Data Matrix patterns to the samples. Also set to be tested in MISSE 6 are nanocodes, or chemical bar codes. The materials and tags that are still readable after long-term exposure to space, Intermec says, will be certified for use on future space vehicles and added to NASA's part-identification requirements.
"The samples are 'coupons' made of different types of material and marked with different types of direct part marking [DPM] technologies, so that many unique combinations of materials and DPM marking technologies are included," explains Huseby. "The coupons are exposed to the hostile environment of space to determine which DPM marking methods work best for each type of material,"
NASA has been working for years on testing and developing the technology and materials needed to identify and track parts and supplies for its fleet of spacecraft. During the MISSE 1 and 2 experiments, deployed on the station in August 2001, Schramm says the Data Matrix samples held up well to the exposure to space. RFID technology, he adds, is promising because of its ease of use in an environment where every part, and all supplies and equipment, must be carefully tracked and accounted for. "We like RFID," he says.
One challenge for NASA researchers, says Schramm, is improving inventory control without creating extra work for the astronauts. The protective gear and clothing, particularly the heavy gloves worn by astronauts outside the space vehicles, "aren't conducive to pushing buttons and handling scanners," Schramm says. The agency expects, however, that astronauts will find RFID interrogators easy to operate in space.
In the long term, NASA and Intermec see broader commercial—and earthbound—applications for the auto-ID technologies the experiments will advance. In particular, Schramm envisions the potential use of such technologies in anticounterfeiting efforts across a range of industries and with a variety of goods, from aerospace parts to construction materials to cultured pearls.
"Both NASA and Intermec have substantial patent portfolios in the area of scanning and imaging," says Huseby. "We are exploring opportunities to pool our technologies, and perhaps cooperate on some research projects that could have commercial product implications in the future."
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"The samples are 'coupons' made of different types of material and marked with different types of direct part marking [DPM] technologies, so that many unique combinations of materials and DPM marking technologies are included," explains Huseby. "The coupons are exposed to the hostile environment of space to determine which DPM marking methods work best for each type of material,"
NASA has been working for years on testing and developing the technology and materials needed to identify and track parts and supplies for its fleet of spacecraft. During the MISSE 1 and 2 experiments, deployed on the station in August 2001, Schramm says the Data Matrix samples held up well to the exposure to space. RFID technology, he adds, is promising because of its ease of use in an environment where every part, and all supplies and equipment, must be carefully tracked and accounted for. "We like RFID," he says.
One challenge for NASA researchers, says Schramm, is improving inventory control without creating extra work for the astronauts. The protective gear and clothing, particularly the heavy gloves worn by astronauts outside the space vehicles, "aren't conducive to pushing buttons and handling scanners," Schramm says. The agency expects, however, that astronauts will find RFID interrogators easy to operate in space.
"Both NASA and Intermec have substantial patent portfolios in the area of scanning and imaging," says Huseby. "We are exploring opportunities to pool our technologies, and perhaps cooperate on some research projects that could have commercial product implications in the future."
