[LINK] Expert advise sought please...

[Roger Clarke]

At 23:57 +1100 18/1/08, Geoffrey Ramadan wrote:
>FYI. RFID solution for parts tracking being developed by Boeing.
>http://www.rfidjournal.com/article/articleview/3850/1/1/
>"Boeing Approves Intelleflex Chip, Weighs Higher-Memory Fujitsu Tag
>With the silicon needed for a 64-kilobit parts tag finally ready, the
>company is getting closer to achieving its vision for a parts-tagged plane.
>[Also 512bit tags for things that generate limited history]

Interesting, but I find the application curious.

One of the important uses of parts-identifiers is and will be to 
enable investigations into accidents (e.g. a 777 crash-landing at 
LHR).

In many such cases, components will be missing (e.g. crashes into 
jungles and oceans, disastrous crashes into open areas, and maybe 
even yesterday's accident).

If the component is missing, so is the data contained in a chip 
that's integrated into the component.

So it will be essential (and, to my understanding, is already a legal 
requirement) that the operator maintain and have accessible by 
investigators the full maintenance record of all controlled 
components on the aircraft.

So, if there's a full record outside the aircraft, what are the 
benefits of a full record integral to the aircraft itself?

Okay, maybe the aircraft is stranded in a remote location and needs 
repairs and replacement parts.  But the telecommunications facilities 
used to communicate the order could just as readily be used to 
extract the repair record from the operator's central database in the 
first place, rather than depending on an appropriate reader being 
available at the remote location.

I'm not for a moment decrying the use of RFID tags for aircraft 
components.  But I'm querying the benefits of carrying much more than 
an identifier.


-- 
Roger Clarke                  http://www.anu.edu.au/people/Roger.Clarke/

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Visiting Professor in Info Science & Eng  Australian National University
Visiting Professor in the eCommerce Program      University of Hong Kong
Visiting Professor in the Cyberspace Law & Policy Centre      Uni of NSW