Re: FAA to require transponders on all aircraft passengers

[Bill Stewart <stewarts@ix.netcom.com>]

>At 3:21 PM 8/3/96, David Lesher wrote:
>>They are going to hang one of these on EVERY bag?
>>At what per-unit cost?
Probably low enough, at least if they can reuse the tags
(should be easy to find them, since they're transponder-equipped.)

My guess about how they'll be used is to replace the bar-code
stickers used by many baggage-handling systems - they'll stick
one on at checkin, corresponding to the number on your ticket,
track them when they load them on the plane (so they know
that all the bags correspond to people expected to get on the plane,
as well as knowing the bags are getting on the correct plane),
and track the tickets to make sure that all the people expected 
to get on the plane actually do get on (I think they use bar-code
readers or OCR today, and that'll probably continue.)

Tim> "bag escrow" will allow other agencies--such as DEA--to sniff

Also useful for the baggage checkers at the baggage claim, 
who'll be able to check that your baggage tag belongs to your
ticket, and that nobody sneaks baggage out unchecked,
either stealing it or trying to pick up the contraband.
Of course they'll _have_ to check all the bags to collect
the transponders.

David>>THEN think of the RFI problems.....

Tim> The RFI problems are actually the least of the concerns, 
Tim> given the "code space" technology which is possible.

The RFI issue isn't just telling one transponder from another,
it's interference with the airplane's electronics.  The devices
will be a bit quieter than your laptop, since they presumably
only broadcast in response to polls - probably quieter than
pagers but noisier than digital watches.


                                Bill


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