Back in the year 2000, when the aero-domains came around, it was considered by some a futuristic but others a totally and utterly crazy idea, to suggest that aircraft engines, seats, spare parts or individual passenger bags could have their own IP addresses or perhaps even a domain name, and, the aero-domain initiative would be the "glue" where the aviation industry rules meets Internet. Nor could they see what we are witnessing today - the fact that soon baggage will be monitored and tracked using RFID and the aero-domain, saving airlines and passengers a lot of trouble and cost over the bags that get lost.

We already know that that Airbus's brand new A-380 passenger aircraft will have passive RFID chips on removable parts such as passenger seats, life vests, and brakes. But how will the mechanic in a remote hangar know what part is tagged and when to replace it? This is where the Internet comes to play, the Internet of Things that is.

The Internet's Domain Name System (DNS) allows for the tracking of things other than Internet addresses and became key element of the Internet of things. In practice, that means that RFID or any other ID technology, that providers for accurate tracking and tracing of things such as spare parts, inventory, goods shipments , could be effectively teamed with the aero-domains to benefit from industry agreed standards and conventions while creating a secure and reliable system for the aviation business community.

EU Commission Viviane Reading said in her recent speech at Cebit said about the Internet of Things that "such a phenomenal development, hard to imagine not long ago, should open up tremendous opportunities for both economic prosperity and the quality of life of citizens.". This applies to all industry sectors and for example in air transport "... the innovative marriage of RFID tags, sensors, Galileo, 4G networks, Wi-Fi and artificial intelligence, will create an 'intelligent infrastructure' that has the potential to dramatically reduce congestion and pollution, and enhance security, passenger monitoring and comfort."

And what does this mean for the aviation community and aero-domains? The aero-domain was created as a place where the air transport policy and internet policy can meet. Aviation business applications require a communications platform that's both more intelligent and more secure than business sectors such as consumer retailing, because of the potential complex nature and sensitivity of the data exchanges and security regulations. As a dedicated aviation community resource it can and does develop its own policies on using the aero-domain, with the involvement of industry, by ensuring that relevant standards are in place to operate industry specific domain naming structures and underlying networks, and work to create a low-cost infrastructure for further exploitation of ID technologies such as RFID in aviation business.

Hans-Peter Oswald https://www.domainregistry.de/aero-domain.html

About the Author

Author is CEO of ICANN accredited registrar Secura