N15A-T005 TITLE: Innovative Physics-based Modeling Tool for Application to Passive Radio Frequency Identification System on Rotorcraft

TECHNOLOGY AREAS: Air Platform, Ground/Sea Vehicles, Materials/Processes

OBJECTIVE: Develop an innovative, simple-to-use, low cost and computationally efficient tool that can maximize the accuracy and reliability of the onboard Passive Radio Frequency Identification (pRFID) tag/reader antenna system used to track rotorcraft dynamic components in an enclosed multipath metallic rotorcraft environment.

DESCRIPTION: The use of an on-board pRFID tag/reader antenna system provides the ability to track accurately, in near real-time, various serialized parts/components/assemblies after they have been installed on Fleet aircraft. Information gleaned from the tags will enable health and usage monitoring (HUM) of life-limited parts. It will also enhance configuration management control, complete and accurate repair, and maintenance history, while lessening the workload burden on Fleet personnel. As a result, the fast maintenance turnaround can translate into improved aircraft availability and lower life cycle costs. Multipath radio frequency (RF) propagation characteristics in the rotorcraft environment are complex. Some components will be within metallic enclosures adding to the complexity of a system design. A significant loss in pRFID tag read range is to be expected in the rotorcraft environment due to large broadband noise caused by a plethora of surrounding electromagnetic sources. The antenna signal may also come from multiple paths due to reflections from metal enclosures, obstacles or tightly packed bodies thereby causing destructive interference and signal fading. Furthermore, the data transmission effectiveness for the pRFID system is severely limited as a result of a lack of supplied power and attenuation.

In the rotorcraft environment, it is important to understand the RF propagation in a variety of multiple connected, confined, reflective spaces for evaluating the RF reader antenna coverage, RF signal path and tag readability (signal response). The free-space characteristics of a pRFID tag performance changes drastically by the host rotorcraft environment as well as by the surface on which the pRFID tag is mounted. Thus, not only may pRFID properties (e.g. read range, volume coverage) be affected, but also the performance of signal processing algorithms that rely on an assumed behavior of the pRFID. It is imperative, then, to be able to predict the behavior accurately for a given pRFID tag in its actual installation and expected operational environment, rather than just in free space.

Finding an optimum pRFID tag/antenna reader system arrangement without a physics-based model would require numerous time consuming and labor intensive trial-and-error measurements, involving different positions of reader antenna and tag configurations, which can vary significantly with only a slight change in the relative location, position or orientation of the antenna. If the metallic environment of the rotorcraft is simple, then various commercially available physics-based computational electromagnetics (CEM) codes could be used for such analysis. However, this is impractical for a complex electrically large metallic environment coupled with extremely low power transmittance.

We are seeking an innovative, physics-based, low cost, simple-to-use, and computationally efficient tool to provide accurate field predictions (both near and far field) of the total radiated electric field from various pRFID tags at reader-antenna locations. The tool should also aid in the optimal design and placement of the reader-antenna considering multi-path effects, various constraints and the expected operating environment of a rotorcraft.

PHASE I: Develop and demonstrate the feasibility of a physics-based modeling tool for efficiently and accurately predicting effectiveness of pRFID operations on large rotorcrafts in complex environments. Effort will also investigate the formulation of the tool for determining the optimal placement of a reader-antenna for effective and reliable tag readability for a given system configuration.

PHASE II: Fully develop the methodology selected in Phase I and incorporate it into a prototype tool which includes a suitable graphical user interface (GUI). Demonstrate the accuracy, robustness and computational efficiency of the tool.

PHASE III: Finalize the design and generate a fully functional modeling tool ready for integration and operational testing, and conduct performance validation and verification. Transition the modeling tool into a commercially available software product for use in rotorcraft by government agencies and industry.

PRIVATE SECTOR COMMERCIAL POTENTIAL/DUAL-USE APPLICATIONS: The tool can be used to optimize pRFID tag systems for health and monitoring of parts needed for complete and accurate maintenance and repair as well as configuration management control on both commercial and military helicopters.

REFERENCES:
1. Jin, J. & Riley, D. (2009). Finite Element Analysis of Antennas and Arrays, John Wiley & Sons.

2. Nagel, J. R., Richards, A. M., Ananthanarayanan, S., & Furse, C. M. (2008). Measured Multiuser MIMO Capacity in Aircraft.

3. Bekkali, A. & Matsumoto, M. (2009). RFID Indoor Tracking System Based on Inter-Tags Distance Measurement, Wireless Technology, Lecture Notes in Electrical Engineering, Springer Science, 41-62.

4. Becker, B., Huber, M., & Klinker, G. (2008). Utilizing RFIDs for Location Aware Computing, Ubiquitous Intelligence and Computing 5th International Conference Proceedings, Oslo, Norway, Springer, 216-228.

KEYWORDS: Antenna; Computational Electromagnetics; Multipath; Rfid; pRFID; signals

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