RFID: a mechanics dream

Radio frequency tagging has reached the motor vehicle manufacturing industry but not just as a guide to warehouse parts: the latest tags are actually attached to components inside a working car.

The intelligent system, created by researchers at the University of Cambridge's Institute for Manufacturing in England, has the potential to enable cars to point out to mechanics what parts need servicing.

The system allows the car to tell garage staff about the status of its components in seconds by using electronic tags inside its engine and other areas.

Radio frequency identification (RFID) tags, each with its unique identification number, are attached to various car components. To check its servicing needs, the car is driven at low speed over a 1 m² servicing pad that is fitted with an ultra-high frequency reader and four antennae.

As the car passes over the pad, the reader transmits the ID number from the electronic tags to a computer. By cross-referring this information with a computerised database, mechanics are able to identify those parts that needed to be checked for wear.

"Ultimately, motorists could be driving into a garage over the same sort of sensor which would instantly tell both the driver and the garage staff which parts needed replacing and which might be good for several thousand miles more," Prof Duncan McFarlane, of the Institute for Manufacturing, said.

"But there are potentially great benefits beyond this as well. When the car is sent to be scrapped, for example, RFID tagging could be used to identify which parts still have a useful life left in them. The system will tell the car producer whether separate parts can be re-used, recycled or need to be disposed of in landfill. It will also highlight which parts need improving for a longer life."

In conjunction with the necessary software, it could be used to speed servicing and even to identify parts that can be recycled when the vehicle reaches the end of its life.

Combining such information from many cars would have the further advantage of pinpointing parts of a vehicle that need redesigning. And in those rare cases that a faulty batch of cars reaches dealers' showrooms, the technique could instantly single out what models need to be recalled, before they are sold.