Apr 29, 2013RFID technology firm Tego has released a new dual-memory (DM) 8-kilobit EPC Gen 2 ultrahigh-frequency (UHF) RFID chip, as well as tags made with the new chip. The company has also modified its TegoView software to manage the chip and tag data, timed with the announcement of the new ATA Spec 2000 standard. The new chip allows users in the aerospace industry to attach a tag to an aircraft part and permanently write that item's birth record data on one section of the chip's memory, as well as write and rewrite data on the other section, in order to help track the component as it is manufactured, shipped and maintained. The dual-memory chip, according to Timothy Butler, Tego's president and CEO, was designed to enable users to exceed the new ATA standard for dual-memory tracking at a reasonable cost, by providing more memory space than required to simply meet the standard's specifications.
Airlines for America (A4A), formerly known as the Air Transport Association of America (ATA), announced on Wednesday, Apr. 24, that it had ratified and published the new standard—specifically, ATA Spec 2000, Chapter 9-5, 2013, which lists standard formats to exchange information regarding aircraft parts between airlines and their suppliers. The goal is for an electronic system with mobile data records to enable those in the aircraft part supply chain to view or share data without the need for paperwork.
Tego co-authored the standard with the ATA for the records management of parts used on and in aircrafts. Aerospace parts are often tracked via high-memory passive EPC Gen 2 UHF RFID tags that store data beyond a unique identifier, such as maintenance and inspection records. This new standard spells out which types of data are necessary, including a birth record that should be locked and unalterable, and a lifecycle record consisting of data tracking the life of a tagged item as it is inspected, repaired and exposed to varying environmental conditions. This information, stored in the tag's rewritable memory, is intended to indicate that item's condition throughout its lifespan. There are some 2-kilobit chips available that offer dual-record or DM functionality, the company reports, but these would just meet the standard and not provide users with the ability to write and store additional data beyond what is required. For example, the locked memory would typically consume half a kilobit, and additional data stored on the tag by the manufacturer could require most of the remaining 1.5 kilobits. So if an industry member wished to add additional data, such as a life vest's intended seat location or inspection record, the memory limit would have already been reached. Therefore, Tego has designed its new dual-memory chip specifically to allow users to meet and then exceed those requirements.
"Tego is the only company with a dual-memory chip designed to meet the ATA Dual Record standard," Butler explains. "Other companies have chips, but they... simply have up to 2 kilobits of birth record and user memory that may or may not hold all the information required in the dual-record specification."
Tego produces high-memory chips used in multiple industries, as well as for tagging flyable parts in the aerospace sector. These include a high-memory 8-kilobyte chip, released in 2011, that features multi-record memory (MM) capacity to allow multiple parties to write to it. However, the cost of Tego's 8-kilobyte chip, as well as that of a tag made with that chip, is still relatively high for some items that may be of lower value, but still need to be tracked, such as life vests or oxygen canisters. In contrast, Butler says, Tego's 8-kilobit dual-memory chip can allow users to do more, because it has a greater amount of memory than the other versions, yet is less expensive than the 8-kilobyte model, which contains more memory than would be necessary for most aerospace applications and is more frequently utilized by other industries for storing data, such as sensor recordings.
In aerospace, however, multiple members of the supply chain, including original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), airlines and manufacturers, may each wish to have their own set of data on the tag. An OEM may have its own serial number, Butler notes, that it could store, or other proprietary data that would have value to that company but not others. The new 8-kilobit dual-memory chip will enable this functionality.
Tego's new dual-memory chip is available as part of its TegoTag line of passive EPC Gen 2 RFID tags, including the Nemo, Primo, Largo and Halo models. The Nemo and Primo tags are two of the smallest high-memory tags, measuring 0.36 inch by 0.56 inch (9 millimeters by 14 millimeters) and 0.50 inch by 1.96 inches (12.5 millimeters by 49 millimeters), respectively. The Largo tag is the largest of the group, measuring 0.88 inch by 1.96 inches (22 millimeters by 49 millimeters). All three are designed for use in high-temperature, pressurized and nonpressurized areas, with a maximum exposure temperature of 220 degrees Celsius (428 degrees Fahrenheit). The Halo, which comes with two different attachment types, measures 1 inch by 6.125 inches (25.4 millimeters by 155.6 millimeters) and is designed for use in pressurized areas on assets requiring greater distance on metal, or for application to composites rather than metal. All four tags are available for the aerospace industry in a DM or MM configuration, but versions featuring more than 8 kilobits of memory are available if customers specially require them.
Prices depend on the form factor and volume of tags ordered. Tego not only provides its high-memory chips, but also tags and TegoView software enabling users to read and write to the tags using any UHF handheld reader. The TegoView software has been updated to meet the dual-memory requirements of the ATA standard as well. Several major aerospace companies have been testing the new dual-memory tag, Butler reports, and the firm is now taking orders from customers (such as inlay manufacturers) for the 8-kilobit chip. As the industry has been awaiting the release of the new ATA standard, he says, "I think there is a strong pent-up demand" for RFID tags to track aircraft components.
According to Butler, there have been two obstacles to growth in the high-memory RFID tag market within the aerospace industry: clarity regarding the standards and technology that can meet or exceed those standards.
Tego will exhibit its new dual-memory chip and tags, as well as its TegoView software, at its booth (116) at RFID Journal LIVE! 2013, to be held from Apr. 30 to May 2, in Orlando, Fla.
