Airbus Signs Contract for High-Memory RFID Tags

MAINtag and Tego indicate they have a market-ready 32-kilobyte tag, and that they are working with customers in other industries to use it. Indeed, Airbus tested prototype 32-kilobyte tags from Tego early last year (see Tego Launches 32-Kilobyte EPC RFID Tag). The results of those tests, according to Airbus, helped the company to gain confidence in the technology, such as read and write abilities, and also validated its use cases for the tags made with Tego's high-memory chips.

According to both Airbus and MAINtag, Airbus did not sign the contract for Tego's 32-kilobyte tag due to pricing reasons, and because the aircraft manufacturer's initial requirements requested only 4 kilobytes of memory. As time goes by, Nizam says, Airbus would eventually purchase tags with more than 8 kilobytes of memory. "Having more memory doesn't hurt us, if it's available," he explains.

"Four kilobytes is a good start for us," says Paul Antoine Calandreau, who is responsible for flyable parts in Airbus' value chain visibility program, "and 8 kilobytes puts us in the comfort zone for the future."

The contract with Airbus stipulates that MAINtag will provide two designs of its so-called FLYtag, which can be utilized on metal parts. One version, intended for use on smaller aircraft parts, is circular in shape, with a diameter of about 0.5 inch; the other is rectangular, approximately 0.75 inch wide and 1.75 inches long. The tag read ranges will vary based on the environment and its form factor, with the smaller tag having a shorter read range, according to Bruno Lo-Re, MAINtag's CEO. However, both tag designs exceed the performance requirements set forth in the Airbus contract.

"This contract is historic for RFID," Lo-Re says, "because it's the first for a worldwide, open-loop application that includes high-value passive tags."