radio frequency identification (rfid) separating the hype from the reality anthony furness technical...

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID)

Separating the Hype from the Reality

Anthony Furness

Technical Director, AIM UK

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RFID - Brief History (After Landt, J 2001)*

* Landt, J (2001) Shrouds of Time – The history of RFID, An AIM Publication

1940 – 1950 Radar refined and used, major World War II development effortRFID invented – Stockman, H – “Communication by Means of Reflected Power Proc IRE October 1948

1950 - 1960 Early explorations of RFID technology, laboratory experiments

1960 - 1970 Development of the theory of RFID and start of field trials

1970 - 1980 Acceleration in RFID development and very early adopters of RFID. First US patent for active RFID appears – Cardullo, MW (1973) – Enter too US government systems and Los Alamos public sector transfer initiative (1977)

1980 - 1990 Commercial applications for RFID enter mainstream

1990 - 2000 Emergence of standards for RFID, greater visibility and uptake – significant developments stimulated by the MIT introduction of Electronic Product Code (EPC) - ISO/IEC JTC1/SC31/WG4 responsible for international RFID standards

2000 - Continuing commercialisation and promotion of RFID, hype and misunderstanding, new radio-based variants of RFID and European and international promotion of RFID and the Internet of Things


Devices the size of a grain of rice – chip, but not the device

Can be read at any distance – no, and range depends upon a number of factors Consume no energy – no, energy consumption dependent on the type of device, passive devices consume energy from interrogation source Cost next to nothing – no cost dependent upon type – passive devices still cost more than the target 5 cents

Can communicate with one another – not so unless they are active devices with two-way communication capability

Any number can be read at time – not so and certainly not simultaneously – readability depends upon a number of factors

No standards – no, well over 100 standards, including international standards

RFID - the nature of hype – mainly focused on tags


Tags cannot operate near metal or water – performance in respect of proximity to any materials requires some understanding of electromagnetic theory and practice and of tag and systems design

Tags can be read without line of sight – depending upon the nature of materials and conditions between reader and tag – again requires some understanding of electromagnetic theory and practice and of tag and systems design RFID Systems to costly – depends upon how appropriate RFID is to the application and well an application for RFID has been designed, bearing in mind the need to justify on economic as well as technical grounds of device, passive devices consume energy from interrogation source

RFID - the nature of misunderstanding – mainly focused on tags


Fast, automatic or semi-automatic data entry Accurate data entry Immediacy of information Additional, process related benefits when effectively applied Identification linkage, options and dividends Radical process improvements, when effectively applied. Fast returns on investment for well defined and implemented

applications Opportunities for object-linked innovation

The RFID Data Carriers and Systems benefits key features:


Versatile identification and data carrier technology

Electronic data capture technology, complementary to other automatic identification and data capture (AIDC) technologies Radical, beneficially disruptive technology when effectively applied

Revolutionary in its relevance to sectors of industry, commerce and services – wide ranging applications

Significant standards development at international level

On-going developments – Internet of Things – the reality!

RFID is important for a number of reasons:


RFID Essential System Elements

Interrogator (Reader / Encoder)

Radio frequency carrier + coding for communication management purposes

Modulated radio frequency carrier - data carried on signal, in this case amplitude modulated

Communication Channel

RFID

MiddlewareTag

Host Information Management

System – Applications

software

Application Commands

Application Responses

Antennas

Tags representing two different categories of chip-based RFID

Wide range of products:TagsReader / interrogatorsSoftware and Services

Applying RFID Effectively requires understanding of…



RFID

Middleware



software

Tag

Antennas

Effectively applying RFID is about better understanding what happens between these antennas and the nature of this depends upon many factors – frequency, power, modulation, encoding, materials and conditions between antennas – practicalities!

Tag


…air interface



RFID

Middleware



software

Tag

Antennas

Establishing the best approach to source and channel encoding, and subsequent modulation, followed by appropriate decoding


..encoding/decoding


ISO/IEC 18000 Series Standards

Spectrum Frequency Standard

Low frequency < 135kHz 18000-2

High frequency 13.56MHz 18000-3

UHF 433MHz 18000-7

UHF 860-960MHz 18000-6

UHF (Microwave) 2.45GHz 18000-4

Part 1 – Reference architecture & definition of parameters All these have been publishedNational and international agencies specify and govern spectrum usage

… frequencies & Air Interface Standards ISO/IEC 18000



…RFID Spectrum usage

Dominated by EPC ISO 18000-6CGen 2 -based developments – products and infrastructure

Significantly influenced by NFC and communication -based developments – products and infrastructure

Significantly influenced by SS-based developments – products and infrastructure



ReaderCircuitry

Matching circuitry

Rectifier & Detector circuitry

Clock – Logic – Decode – Memory - I/O circuitry

Antenna Design

Attention that follows will be confined to antenna considerations

Tags require between 10-40 µW to read – receiving 100-120 µW

TagCircuitry

…Tag and System design



Increased complexity generally means:

• Greater circuit complexity

• Greater data transfer requirements

• Greater power requirements (active vs passive powering)

• Greater cost

Increased cost

Increased complexityModulation CircuitryRectifier /AC clamp

(Passive device)Clock GeneratorPower-On reset

Control logic(incl Anticollision)

Security logicMemory select/data

transfer controlInternal

logic/microprocessor

Memory

Elements within the chip

Energy harvesting associated with passive (battery-less) RFID devices generally insufficient to meet higher complexity needs

…developments in tag technology



Near Field Communication Phone acts as tag emulator Phone is also a tag reader Phone is also a tag writer

Re-writable paper and variants Physical (PR) and chemical (CR) rewrite mechanisms Integral RFID

RFID Sensors and wireless sensor and actuator networks (WSANs) Machine-to-machine (M2M) capability

…systems development and and Integration:


DB ServerDB Server

Sensed data

Sensor networks

Sensor networks

Monitoring and management

Source: NIA, Korea, 2006.


…levels of Identification and data carrier requirements

Transportation

Large Containers

Unit Load “Pallet”

TransportUnit

Package

Item Item Item Item Item Item

Package

RFID having an increasingly

significant role to play



Standards, other than air interface

Enterprise System

Security

Internet of Things

Component ofInternet of ThingsInternet accessible dataand processes supportinglocal request & response modeswith subscriber authentication

Local DataRepository

Common Platform

Data EncodingData Decoding

SensorProcessing

DataManagement

Process

Data RepositoryCapture Interface

Internal OperationalDatabase

Data RepositoryQuery Interface

Data RepositoryAccess ProcessName Server

Local Cache

Name ServerRoot Resolver

Name ServerResolver

Name ServerResolver

Name ServerResolver

Recur

sive

Recursive

Recursive

Name ServerResolver Recursive

Rec

ursi

ve

Recursive

Name ServerInterface

ISORegistration

Authority

New FormatUIIs

Legacy

Unique ItemIdentifiers

DataDictionary

MessageStandards

RFID Format

Sensor Commands& Responses

Data Commands& Responses

Network ManagementFunctions

Health & Safety

Radio RegulationsConformancePerformance

Air Interface

Sensor

RFID Tag

RFID Interrogator Smart Card

Near Field Communication

Other mobile phone

Device Interface Device Management

Data ManagementInterface

GRIFS an EU funded project to identify RFID standards

First deliverable identified 125 standards

http://grifs-project.eu/db/



Process Focus

Process

Process supportPersonnel

Equipment / asset support

Utilities

Materials

Information / data

Information / data update

Knowledge and decision support

Focused Process Output

Knowledge and support

Exploiting identifiers in other processes for information gathering, statistics, management, control and decision support

IIDs

PaID

SSPIDs

ASIDs

UTIDs

MIDs

IIDs – Information identifiers, PeID – Process entity IDs, SSPIDs – Process Support Personnel IDs, ASIDs – Asset IDs, UTIDs – Utility IDs, MIDs – Materials IDs, LIDs – Location IDs, EIDs – Event IDs (time stamps)

LIDs

EIDs


…processes and RFID attributes that can enhance performance


Internet Connected

The Internet – Endpoint computers

Object-connected entities without embedded computers

CASAGRAS Inclusive Model – Internet connected

Application Layer :WebEmailsMessaging

Specific Domains for IoT?Specific application structure for the IoT?

Interrogator / Gate way

device


device

Host Information

Management System

Host Information

Management System

Actuators

Actuators

Wider area communications and Networks

Physical interface zone

ID + Additional Item-attendant dataSensory data carriers

Networked data carriers


device

Host Information

Management System

Actuators

Further layers of Data Capture Technology

Internet +

…how it relates to new concepts – such as…


…The Internet of Things


YES – and more!

Especially for: Systems Integrators Systems suppliers Advisors and Consultants Users who want to have full control over their projects

For those new to RFID an awareness briefing that explains in simple terms much of the technical underpinning can go a long way to approaching RFID effectively and asking appropriate questions of vendors, systems integrators

Is all this understanding really necessary to apply RFID effectively?


To apply RFID effectively requires awareness, education, training in

RFID practicalities and business assist for those that are new to

RFID

…RACE Network RFID can help

Thank you for your attention

Questions?

www.race-networkrfid.org


radio frequency identification (rfid) separating the hype from the reality anthony furness technical...

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