Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology is an innovative application of modern science and technology in various aspects of society. As one of the top ten technologies with the greatest potential for development in the 21st century, the development of RFID technology has brought enormous market value. RFID technology has been widely applied in various fields such as retail, logistics, and manufacturing. In the aviation industry, due to the joint efforts of aircraft manufacturers, component suppliers, and airlines, RFID technology has penetrated into various links of the aviation supply chain system. However, overall, RFID technology started relatively late in the aviation industry, and its application in China's aviation industry started even later. Conducting research on RFID technology in the aviation field is of great significance.

Application layout of radio frequency identification technology in the aviation field

The application of RFID technology in the aviation field can be classified into three main directions, including aviation manufacturing, aviation operation and maintenance, and airport management.

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Figure 1 RFID application layout in the aviation field

1.1 Application in aviation manufacturing

In the field of aviation manufacturing, especially for host manufacturing enterprises, there are many types and quantities of components, tools and fixtures; The process route is complex and varied, with a long production cycle. The finished product needs to go through a series of processes such as component processing and assembly. Many parts may require dozens of processes to be produced, involving numerous workshops and outsourcing manufacturers. The production process is complex in composition. To maintain production, a series of scientific cooperation is required, including raw materials, equipment, fixtures, warehouses, operators, etc., involving various departments and suppliers of the enterprise, and the production process organization is extremely complex.

RFID technology can be applied in the field of aircraft manufacturing operations and process tracking. By using RFID technology, the system can automatically collect production data and equipment status data, providing real-time data for production managers on all aspects of the enterprise's business process. Combined with the process characteristics and related process and quality indicators of each process equipment, online monitoring and analysis of production information such as process parameters and equipment operating parameters of each important production link can be carried out, helping enterprises achieve automation and information integration of semi-finished and finished product processes, warehouse inbound and outbound management, automatic real-time tracking of the supply chain, sales and after-sales service feedback, enabling enterprises to grasp process information in real time and supervise and manage enterprise business. By adopting RFID technology, the level and efficiency of the aviation manufacturing industry can be greatly improved. By establishing intelligent warehouses, real-time and timely inspection and verification of materials in the warehouse can be carried out, which plays an important role in reducing risks caused by human factors, controlling material costs, and further enhancing the economic benefits of aviation manufacturing enterprises.

1.2 Application in Aviation Operations and Maintenance

1) Aviation material management

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The increasing variety and quantity of aviation materials have led to an increase in the difficulty and complexity of aviation material management. Aviation material management is different from general materials in that it is relatively expensive in terms of price. If aviation materials are not adequately supplied, it will inevitably have a negative impact on aviation maintenance, and the vicious cycle caused will be difficult to make up for. The storage of aviation materials should be controlled within an ideal limit. Too much aviation materials will inevitably lead to financial chaos for airlines, which will have a negative impact on the overall development of the aviation industry. Therefore, in the management of aviation materials, multiple factors need to be considered to achieve ideal control.

The use of RFID technology can achieve unique identification of aviation materials. Aviation materials can be uniquely identified based on their name, model, and part number. The RFID tags equipped with aviation materials have uniqueness, achieving one-to-one correspondence with aviation materials. Firstly, the name, model, part number, quantity, storage location, and other information of the aviation materials should be entered into the tag through RFID reading and writing devices. Finally, the tag should be installed on the packaging of the aviation materials and bound to the storage location tag for easy retrieval in the future. Implement inbound management, inventory management, and outbound management of aviation materials.

2) Maintenance management

In the development process of the aviation industry, maintenance is a core part. The complexity of aircraft systems determines that modern aviation maintenance requires the use of a large number of maintenance tools and ground support equipment. Effective control of these tools and equipment has become a material prerequisite for normal maintenance work, directly affecting the efficiency and effectiveness of maintenance, and reflecting the maintenance management ability and level of aviation maintenance enterprises. How to efficiently control these tools and equipment is a major issue faced by aviation maintenance enterprises. The research on the application of RFID technology in aviation maintenance tool management has been relatively in-depth, and related commercial hardware products have also emerged, providing conditions for efficient maintenance tool control.

RFID technology can be used for the management of maintenance tools, achieving real-time visualization of tool management. Paste electronic tags that input tool information before tool storage. Each time a tool is borrowed or returned, all tools only need to pass through the recognition area of the reader to complete the information exchange of all tools, which can play a significant role in "tool surplus management".

3) Management of life-saving equipment

After the oxygen generator is installed on the aircraft, it often requires a large number of manual regular inspections to prevent equipment from exceeding its expiration date. Before using RFID technology, staff must open the panel above the seat to check the date of the oxygen generator. Therefore, in practical applications, to avoid exceeding its expiration date, many oxygen generators are replaced before they expire, which indirectly reduces the service life of the equipment and increases operating costs. The application of RFID technology can help companies know the expiration date of each oxygen generator. Similarly, life jackets have the same control requirements and management pain points, and the use of RFID technology provides a good technical means to ensure the management of life-saving equipment.

Delta Air Lines has been piloting RFID technology since 2011. Using ultra-high frequency electronic tags to manage ten Boeing 757 aircraft. After actual trial and comparison, Delta Air Lines has obtained the following data: Before using RFID technology, each time the date of checking the oxygen generator, the panel above the seat must be repeatedly opened, and it takes an engineer about 8 hours to complete the inspection of the entire aircraft. After using RFID technology and a dedicated handheld device, the information on the oxygen generator tag can be directly read through the panel, and the inspection of the entire aircraft can be completed in just 2 minutes by one engineer.

1.3 Application in Airport Management

1) Airport baggage management

Airports and airlines are committed to using RFID to enhance baggage tracking, allocation, and transmission. Compared with traditional baggage barcode management, RFID baggage management systems can remotely read tags, with faster recognition speed and more accurate results, enabling airport baggage handling systems to track baggage more accurately and help with timely delivery.

Las Vegas McCarran International Airport is used as a key hub by Allegiant Airlines, Southwest Airlines, and American Airlines, and is also the largest operating base for Allegiant and Southwest Airlines. McCarran International Airport is also the first airport in the United States to use RFID systems to manage all luggage.

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Figure 2 Airport luggage management

2) Electronic ticket

Electronic tickets are the electronic form of paper tickets. It stores the ticket information in the booking system and can perform operations such as issuing, voiding, refunding, and transferring tickets like paper tickets. Passengers do not need to obtain traditional paper tickets, as long as they present their ID card and electronic ticket order number, they can directly obtain their boarding pass and board the plane at the dedicated counter of the airport airline one hour before departure, thus avoiding the embarrassment of being unable to board due to lost or forgotten tickets.

3) Vehicle monitoring, command and dispatch within the airport

The on-site vehicle monitoring, command and dispatch system based on GPS/BDS/GLONASS, RS, RFID, GIS, network technology and database technology has been widely applied in large airports at home and abroad. In particular, RFID has been successfully applied to airport cargo management, achieving real-time, accurate, and complete recording and tracking of goods. It can comprehensively and efficiently strengthen the management of production, transportation, and sales processes, and provide various user-friendly functions such as querying, statistics, and data analysis. Each shipment can have complete information set up within the network, and the content, routes, and logs of cargo tracking and management can be easily understood at a glance.

4) Security management

The application of RFID in security prevention mainly includes airport security management, employee management, and vehicle management at intersections. RFID technology can send warning signals to individuals on the blacklist when passing through checkpoints, and quickly indicate the location of their luggage, so that management personnel can promptly and accurately locate the luggage and take relevant actions to better prevent terrorist incidents. Each electronic tag has a unique set of numbers that cannot be modified and are encrypted to manage sensors and intrusion detection equipment, such as creating, deleting, modifying sensor properties, and moving sensors. Airports can standardize the scope of activities for each staff member based on their position and identity, and then place electronic tags of the above information on their work cards. RFID technology can identify whether the employee has entered an unauthorized area, in order to better manage the employee.