The Application In Aviation Industry

Published Date: 02 Nov 2017

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) is an innovative technology that is gradually being used in business and industry. It provides massive economic benefits for both business and consumers while simultaneously potentially constituting one of the most invasive surveillance technologies threatening consumer privacy.

RFID technology offers benefits to the Aviation industry. In the aviation industry, the pressure to provide better customer service has never been greater. There is many complaints by the customers of mishandled baggage, reflected in the increasing passenger numbers and congestion, cost pressures and tougher security regulations, making it more difficult to track and trace bags. It can be solved by applying the RFID technology to help address this and there is still hope that the technology could soon become the solution to lost luggage. In Civil aviation baggage handling application, the RFID tags are used to enhance the ability for baggage conveyance, tracking and dispatching, so as to improve the luggage management and this would increase the customers’ satisfaction. As a result, it can improve the quality of the service.

This essay reviews RFID applications in aviation industry which ensures effective management of baggage tracking and delivery, also providing customized and personalized services to the honorable customers. RFID system provides tangible and intangible benefits like efficient baggage handling and improved services to honorable customers will outweigh the costs.

Operation of RFID System

RFID is an automatic identification technology widely used to identify, track, and detect various objects. It allows an object or person to be automatically identified at a distance using an electromagnetic exchange. An RFID system comprises tags and a reader-writer that includes an antenna and scanner. The RFID tag, an electronic label attached to objects used to store data, contains a small integrated circuit microchip and antenna encapsulated in a protective shell. The RFID reader-writer antenna and scanner reads or sends data to and from RFID tags through radio frequency.

In detail, RFID refers to the use of radio waves to identify objects. The microchip is used to store object information such as a unique serial number. The antenna enables the microchip to transmit object information to a reader, which transforms the information on the RFID tag to a format understandable by computers. The RFID is measured by enhancing a significant improvement over the traditional barcode, which needs to be read by scanners and can be removed away if the paper product labels are torn or damaged.

It can also facilitate inter-organizational Ecommerce initiatives such as continuous replenishment or vendor-managed inventories.

Application in aviation industry

There is a great potential for the application of RFID in aviation industry. Major aviation industry players, such as International Air transport Association (IATA), Airbus or Boeing have recognized the potential huge savings and benefits of such technology being incorporated on a large scale basis.

Most RFID applications have to be integrated into existing systems such as bar-coding, however they can also be developed to match isolated requirements and to work in standalone and simple systems. Aviation customers for this technology range from airport shareholders, operators and investors to isolated aviation consultants, either one of them with the same target: achieving outstanding performance in their respective fields of actuation.

In addition, the increase in passenger and baggage volumes, plus the development of global alliances and dual transfer flights, all create huge challenges to airlines and airports. This is especially true for an airline handling over 2 billion passengers per year. This puts an extra load to the existing baggage handling system, which relies on an aging Barcode system. The airline, therefore, requires a highly efficient method to handle the increasing passenger and baggage volumes, and RFID technology has drawn the attention of the airline.

Application of RFID to airport luggage control with updated data can improve the quality of the service, in order to enhance the customers’ satisfaction. It is a proven concept; technology is available and standards are in place. RFID technology is certainly a weapon to make airports and airlines more competitive, providing more pleasure to customers.

Application in Baggage handling

RFID tags were far more accurate than bar codes when applied to baggage handling operation. It could reduce the need for manual inspection and routing by baggage handlers by inserting RFID tags in luggage labels. A network of readers placed along conveyor belts could read the tags’ routing information and provide feedback to a system that could then locate the bags onto the precise path. Automatic routing could eliminate the number of misrouted bags, minimizing costs and enhancing customer satisfaction. The design and implementation of a prototype system for baggage handling in the airport to improve the management and tracking of passengers’ luggage while as a side effect enhancing airport security.

Passenger Baggage Sorting: The inability to obtain high read rates of barcode, once the baggage tags having barcode have experienced some measure of handling. Some RFID tag systems tested resulted in read-rates in excess of 98% for both originating and transfer baggage.

Containers: Passenger baggage containers or universal loading devices (ULDs) are used to store many individual pieces of luggage and are loaded as a single unit. The process of sorting luggage by destination and container positioning, besides supporting minimized ground turn-around time, is important to support the security procedure of passenger bag matching and also for operational efficiency.

Passenger/Baggage Matching: This necessitates ensuring that only boarded passengers’ baggage is loaded onto the aircraft. Similarly, if a multi-flight segment passenger decides to terminate their journey prior to the final destination, the container with that person’s baggage needs to be located and removed from the aircraft so as to locate and remove the passengers’ baggage.

Cargo: Large size cargo parcels would require larger read volumes and hence could render some technologies inadequate for cargo but adequate for passenger baggage. As such, only an RFID system with enough flexibility and performance features to allow achievement of cargo and passenger baggage sorting requirements would be a realistic option for most of the aviation community.

Baggage/Cargo/Container Tracking and Locating: The application of RFID for tracking and rapid locating of baggage cargo and containers not only would be more time and labour efficient but also more accurate. It can offer the opportunity for: centralized monitoring; continuous or near-continuous surveying; automatic event logging; and more rapid finding of items when retrieval is mandatory.

Verification/Authentication: Certain passenger’s baggage is screened and considered to be cleared for loading onto the aircraft. Consequently, it is imperative that the process should be able to accurately verify that the bag in question definitely is the bag that has been deemed to be cleared for loading. Moreover, RFID baggage tags and RFID tickets provided to the passenger would allow identification/matching of the person who checked the baggage on departure with the person who retrieved the baggage upon arrival. This would virtually eliminate stolen luggage at arrival halls as well as providing the air carrier with logged proof in the event of the later falsified claims against the baggage delivery process.

Application of RFID cards

By tracking the location of passengers with the RFID cards, customized services can be offered to increase the customer satisfaction and create a positive impact on the sales turnover. Through reading the information on the RFID embedded card of the premium passengers, they can be greeted in the language they prefer, and they can be offered their favourite newspaper and drinks once they enter the premium passenger lounge. This RFID cards can also be tracking devices to help the airlines better understand their passengers’ profiles. By tracking which duty-free shops passengers visit, which restaurants they prefer etc., the cards can be a source of information for the customer relationship management system, which in turn can allow for custom-made programs to enhance business performance and improve customer loyalty. The efficacy of RFID not only depends on the technology itself, but also largely on the airport’s ability to use the International Air Transport Association(IATA) standard, to recognize how the solution can work best to suit their own operational needs and through strong collaboration with RFID providers and airlines.

Advantages of RFID application

It can improve baggage tracking and delivery: To ensure better services, especially in terms of service delivery. Improvement in baggage tracking and baggage delivery has been identified as key business drivers.

On the other hand, it can improve security: The additional functionality of RFID allows information to be changed at different points in the airline system. This makes it possible to hold bags for security checking and release them for loading when checked, provided the RFID system is linked to the baggage reconciliation systems.

Also, it can provide better services to premium customers: To initiate a new Frequent Flyer Program (FFP) experimental project for premium members based on RFID technology in order to provide customized and personalized services.

Besides, it can ensure better services: RFID will be used to track passenger progress through airports, reducing the number of passengers arriving late at the gate and in doing so ensuring that planes leave on time.

Limitation of RFID application

Privacy

By applying the RFID applications in aviation industry, it may incur the privacy problem. For example, as the owner of the baggage will not essentially be aware of the presence of an RFID tag and the tag can be read at a distance without the awareness of the individual, it becomes probable to gather sensitive data about an individual without permission. Most concerns revolve around the fact that RFID tags affixed to baggage remain functional even after the baggage have been taken back and thus can be used for surveillance and other purposes unrelated to their supply chain inventory functions.

Data flooding

A large amount of data may be generated by applying RFID in baggage or cargos. As a result, there will be a lot of information generated into the database. It may delay the network of the identification process. Event filtering is required to reduce this data inflow to a meaningful depiction of moving goods passing a threshold. Various concepts have been designed, mainly offered as middleware performing the filtering from noisy and redundant raw data to significant processed data.

Conclusion

As one of the leading airline, this airline needs to stay competitive by offering highest quality of passenger services and services level. One of the key preferences for the airline is to offer excellent service to its clientele and differentiate itself by implementing RFID technology to tag the passengers’ baggage in phase one, and also the passengers themselves during later stages. The adoption of RFID technology for the baggage sorting and handling along with the global supply chain provides a Win-Win-Win for the three main stakeholders, the airlines, the airports and the passengers. It provides benefits such as enhanced safety and quality control, increased customer satisfaction.

By applying the RFID technology in aviation industry, it can improve the overall passenger service level by improving the tracking of mishandled baggage. The RFID technology tracks and records the baggage location when it is delivered to the wrong terminal or flight. This will enable more responsive and faster delivery of mishandled baggage.

On top of these benefits, this innovative technology will also enhance the speed and accuracy of baggage handling, especially when dual flight transfer is required. Passengers will be better informed, and the baggage delivery status can be tracked easily. All these functions set passengers’ minds at ease and in return increase the passenger satisfaction toward the airline. With the increasing transparency of baggage handling process and a reduced baggage claiming record, the RFID project will help the airline to build a strong brand image and set new standards of passenger service.

Furthermore, the baggage tagging initiative is also expected to reduce the overall operating cost other than the savings associated with baggage claims. With an improved efficiency in baggage handling and tracking, the reduced number of baggage claims will free customer service resources to carry out more important activities like customized services for frequent travelers. Enhanced baggage handling will improve the resources planning capability and strengthen the decision-making capabilities of the airline. The swift tracking function of the RFID system will help the airline to identify areas of failure, and can help to identify the problem caused by other carriers or airports. By feeding the information to IT tools like dashboards, it can help the airline to manage its global productivity and performance, and allow making necessary changes and decisions efficiently and effectively.

The result and logging of performance can contribute to key service level measurement. It can assist the airline to plan for the resources allocation on one hand and become a key reference for negotiating the contract with ground handlers on the other hand.

On the other hand, RFID technology can improve the security management for airline and airport. The airline can add different security levels into the baggage tag, together with the tracking mechanism; any misplaced bag can be identified and located immediately. The system and information logged could become key references for security audit. The overall transparency of information can help both the airlines and the airports to enhance and optimize the baggage handling process. The result and logging of performance can contribute to the key service level measurement.