ULTRASONIC INTRINSIC TAGGING FOR UNIQUE ITEM IDENTIFICATION

Ultrasonic intrinsic tagging (UIT) is a robust, counterfeit-resistant technology for uniquely identifying an item. A UIT advantage is that an item may remain unaltered. For example, attachment of a foreign object or placement of a mark or signature on an item is not necessary. Other desirable UIT features are signature uniqueness, durability, and non-intrusiveness. Operation initially requires acquisition of a reference signature at a specific location on the object. The fundamental principle employs scanning an ultrasonic field over a small surface area of an object at the tag site and amplitude mapping the response acquired from the object microstructure at a depth such as 1 mm. Subsequent signature readings collected any time thereafter are then compared to the reference for validation. A material volume within the object and along the surface thus becomes a tag of the object and is intrinsic to the object. This paper will provide the principle of operation, signature uniqueness and stability, the ability to uniquely identify an object out of a population of identical items, and the flexibility to obtain signatures from a range of selected part shapes.