The Royal Air Force (RAF) of UK is conducting a trial to determine the effectiveness of latest RFID technology in the operations of its Harrier jump jets. The RFID project aims at reducing maintenance cost and enhance operations of the military jets.
As part of the trial, QinetiQ, the British defense technology company is deploying TG800 and TG700 W series 433 MHz active tags, at the Cottesmore station. The UK-based Wavetrend Technologies is providing these tags.
The tags bear unique ID numbers and carry the data of the items to which they are attached. The information collected by the tags is stored on the server. The readers are connected to tags through Ethernet cables. However, they use a Wi-Fi connection to relay their tag reads to a central server.
The trial will go on until November this year. During the trail, active RFID tags would be implemented in some 1,200 high value and critical items. It includes 500 pieces of role-dependent equipment containing fuel tanks, missile launcher, 400 line replacement units and 300 pieces of test equipment used to determine if aircraft parts are operating properly.
The RAF sees multiple advantages of RFID projects. It expects besides improving the ability to locate parts and equipment, the system would allow Harrier IPT to decrease inventory requirements.
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