A Q&A with Nicolas Aubourg, Head of Performance at the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA)
Register for engage again and the co-located RAIN RFID Tyre Expo
Whether you are a devout motor sports fan or just care about the quality of the roads you drive on, FIA is an organization to know.
FIA or The Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile is the hub of everything motor-related: from racing events to automobile associations. Its Head of Performance, Nicolas Aubourg, will present a keynote address on September 9 at engage again and Tyre Expo virtual conference sharing his insights and updates on the use of RFID in tires.
Ahead of his upcoming keynote address, Aubourg took some time to answer questions about his leadership role at FIA and how RFID plays a part in the exciting world of car racing and other motor sports.
Here is what he had to say:
Q. What’s your role and responsibilities as Head of Performance at FIA?
I’m Head of Performance at FIA. I’m the point of reference on performance in all the FIA championships, from Formula 1, Formula E to Cross Country, Endurance, WRC and Hill Climb and many others. With my Team, we simulate, model and optimize race cars to support the elaboration of the future technical rules so that FIA can be an accelerator for innovation in safety and sustainability.
Q. How has tire traceability using RFID changed the way FIA operates? What’s the benefit and why has it become such an important topic?
We use RFID technologies especially for tire identification. For environmental, cost, sporting and technical reasons the tires are constrained by technical rules and the quantity each competitor can use is limited. Thanks to RFID technology, we ensure a quick and reliable identification of each tire used in a competition and thus, we can then check that our rules are fulfilled by all the competitors.
Q. As a major global brand, what’s the biggest challenge – or opportunity – facing FIA in regard to technologies like RFID?
We would like to apply the RFID technology to some other parts of the cars. Engines, gearboxes, rims, monocoques … for the same reasons as tires ( sustainability, cost and sporting), the usage of many other parts is also constrained. The technical challenge is in finding the good case that would definitely fix the RFID tag to the car part and protect it from aggressive environments (high temperature and pressure, friction, contact with oils…)
Attend Nicolas Aubourg’s keynote address 9 September at 17:00 CET / 11:00am EDT
About engage again
engage again is scheduled for September 8 – 9 and is a virtual two-day event to discuss and present cutting-edge traceability and supply chain strategies that demonstrate best practices in the Automatic Data Collection industry.
About the RAIN Alliance RFID Tyre Expo
The RAIN RFID Tyre Expo will feature presentations and discussion forums centering on how RAIN RFID can help members of the tire industry improve their business processes and product traceability by using RAIN RFID. Learn technology basics, see use-cases and join discussion groups to get your questions answered.