RFID enabled handheld solution for aerospace MRO operations track and trace

In aerospace maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) industry, tracking and tracing the aircraft components using radio frequency identification (RFID) technology can tremendously improve operational efficiency, safety, security, and customer satisfaction. MRO works are performed at both process and operation levels. Due to the mobility requirement, the operation-level track and trace is usually implemented with mobile handheld device (MHD). To cope with the inherent constraints of mobile device including unreliability network connectivity and limited processing power, a MHD system design robust over network failure is proposed. To facilitate the information exchange and data synchronization between MHD and backend systems, an Integrated RFID Information Management and Synchronization (IRIMS) system is proposed. A prototype for the proposed MHD and IRIMS systems is implemented and the testing results confirm the effectiveness of the proposed designs.