Airbus Issues RFID Requirements, Expands RFID Usage

Within the RFID requirement, Airbus specifies that the tag's memory be organized according to ATA Spec 2000 chapter 9-5 and Annex 11 (see ATA Approves RFID Data Structures for Spec 2000). As the aircraft goes through its evolution, Nizam says, the exact parts to be tagged will become clear. "Then the question will be: What kind of tags are commercially available for these specific parts?" he adds.

That's why Airbus is working closely with its suppliers to help them meet the requirements. It is also working with manufacturers of both low-memory (512 bits) and high-memory (minimum 4 kilobytes) tags. Airbus specifies that the tag memory must be sufficient to store all maintenance information for a minimum of 12 years following the part's first delivery. In addition, it requires that high-memory tags have a minimum capacity of 4 kilobytes—though it can be higher, depending on what is needed.

In order to help suppliers select the proper memory size, Airbus has provided a table illustrating the amount of memory required for a range of maintenance cycles, as outlined in ATA's Spec 2000. Based on the number of maintenance cycles a supplier anticipates for a particular part, that supplier can select the minimum required memory.

What's more, Nizam reports that Airbus is moving forward steadily on its company-wide rollout and implementation of a wide variety of RFID-based applications to be used on the ground and in the air to improve business processes and reduce operational costs. Notably, the company expects to soon begin tagging in-cabin items such as seats and life jackets on long-range aircraft made in Toulouse, France, and to deploy a tool-tracking application in Filton, England.

RFID Tags for Configuration Management in Long-Range Aircraft
In early 2008, Airbus conducted RFID trials that involved the tagging of in-cabin items on its A330 and A340 long-range aircraft family, and determined that RFID would help speed up and streamline the company's configuration-management processes. As part of configuration management, an aircraft manufacturer goes through a procedure called attestation, in which it must confirm that what has been installed matches the design requirements. To do so, an aircraft maker must physically check which items were installed on board a particular aircraft.