[06/25/08]
Lufthansa Technik is the world market leader in the Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) of commercial aircraft, their engines and components.
Lufthansa Technik recently selected Motorola's RFID solution to help Lufthansa Technik to track aircraft parts for repair and maintenance.
Motorola (www.motorola.com) is world leading RFID solution provider after acquired Symbol Technology.
RFID has been in use for some time in other business sectors such as the clothing and retail industry. The high technical demands encountered in aviation, however, call for significant modifications and engineering expertise. The devices have to survive radical, short-term temperature fluctuations without damage, and must withstand rapid changes in air pressure.
The UHF RFID transponder receives and reflects ultra-high frequencies, enabling two-way communication even at a distance of 30 to 50 cm and without visual contact, including through cabin wall panels. These transponders were also modified further to work when affixed to metal housings.
The use of RFID technology greatly simplifies many routine logistical processes in the maintenance and repair of aircraft components. With the help of the RFID transponder, it is possible to locate and identify any given object and verify its modification status at all times - without having to access a central database - via the simple transmission of radio waves. Such systems always consist of at least two components: the transponder, or RFID tag, which is located in or on the object that needs to be communicated with, and a reading device to identify it. The reading device can identify any nearby device bearing a transponder. The passive UHF tag delivers its information by backscattering the emitted carrier wave, and draws the energy required to do this from the incoming radio signal. This means that the tag does not need its own power source and can thus function entirely passively.
After a successful trail at its Hamburg location, Lufthansa Technik decided to implement the Motorola RFID solution in all of its facilities, including one major maintenance centre in Frankfurt as well as maintenance stations at all of the larger German airports, as well as an additional 50 stations worldwide.
Currently it's a time-consuming task to manually record use of the parts and re-order parts. The human error of data entry could cause disruption to schedules if wrong parts are ordered or accidentally delivered. With the RFID solution, RFID UHF tags will be attached to documents with the aircraft parts. Lufthansa Technik will use Motorola MC9090-G RFID handheld readers and XR480 fixed RFID readers to read data from RFID tags. The movement and deployment of the parts can be tracked and the collection of data on the parts used and verifying their authenticity is automated. This helps to reduce the error like manual data entry and delivery errors. As a result, the total repair time can be significantly reduced, according to Lufthansa Technik.
Page 1 | 2 |
|
