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Avonwood is
RoHS Compliant
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Chek Lap Kok Airport
Hong Kong's new Chek Lap Kok Airport's catering services deal
with 55,000 in-fight meals every day for some 38 airlines. Similarly,
Malaysia's new Sepang Airport in Kuala Lumpur handles 35,000
in-flight meals daily. Both these airports use CEGELEC AEG's
automated in-flight catering systems to simultaneously handle
and manage hundreds of catering trolleys from inbound and for
outbound flights, as do London's Heathrow and Taipei's Chiang
Kai Shek International Airports.
At the heart of such automated systems are a series of Eureka
311 Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) Systems involving
over 700 miniature radio tags and 135 tracking antennas which
provide tracking data throughout the process to CEGELEC AEG's
control software. |
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The Eureka 311 Tag
Each Eureka 311 Tag is a miniature radio frequency transponder.
It is normally in a quiescent state, but when it comes within
range of the radio frequency field produced by an interrogating
antenna it is activated and transmits its identity back to the
antenna. Using low frequency inductive coupling, the tag can
function through most non-conducting materials, allowing tag
operation in very difficult or harsh environments. A long-life
lithium battery maintains the tag's stored identity and provides
the small amount of power needed to transmit data from the tag. |
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System Operation
On a flight's arrival all trolleys are unloaded and returned
to the Catering Centre, where they are loaded onto an extensive
power and free conveyor system. This is done using equipment
"coat hangers" that usually carry two or four trolleys
depending on size. Each hanger contains a Eureka 311 Tag providing
a unique identifier, which is used to track the trolleys along
the conveyor system via the several dozen antennae which activate
and receive data from the tags.
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At the push button control station, operators identify the
types of trolley and their content for the control system,
which automatically routes hangers to either meal, bar or
kit stripping stations. Once empty, the trolleys are again
automatically routed to an automatic trolley washer before
storage in large buffer areas ready for replenishment.
For outbound flights, the system automatically provides the
airlines with the relevant trolleys made ready for return
to the aircraft.
Conclusion
By using Eureka 311 Active RFID Tags to uniquely identify
each trolley carrier the complex logistical task of trolley
management is simplified and automated.
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