Radio-frequency identification
Radio-frequency identification (RFID) is the use of an object (typically referred to as an RFID tag) applied to or incorporated into a product, animal, or person for the purpose of identification and tracking using radio waves. Some tags can be read from several meters away and beyond the line of sight of the reader.
Radio-frequency identification involves interrogators (also known as readers), and tags (also known as labels).
Most RFID tags contain at least two parts. One is an integrated circuit for storing and processing information, modulating and demodulating a radio-frequency (RF) signal, and other specialized functions. The second is an antenna for receiving and transmitting the signal.
There are generally three types of RFID tags: passive RFID tags, which have no battery and require an external source to provoke signal transmission, active RFID tags, which contain a battery and can transmit signals once an external source ('Interrogator') has been sucessfully identified, and battery assisted passive (BAP) RFID tags, which require an external source to wake up but have significant higher forward link capability providing greater range.
There are a variety of groups defining standards and regulating the use of RFID, including: International Organization for Standardization (ISO), International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), ASTM International, DASH7 Alliance, EPCglobal. (Refer to Regulation and standardization below.)
RFID has many applications; for example, it is used in enterprise supply chain management to improve the efficiency of inventory tracking and management.
History and technology background
In 1945 Léon Theremin invented an espionage tool for the Soviet Union which retransmitted incident radio waves with audio information. Sound waves vibrated a diaphragm which slightly altered the shape of the resonator, which modulated the reflected radio frequency. Even though this device was a covert listening device, not an identification tag, it is considered to be a predecessor of RFID technology, because it was likewise passive, being energized and activated by electromagnetic waves from an outside source.
Similar technology, such as the IFF transponder invented in the United Kingdom in 1915, was routinely used by the allies in World War II to identify aircraft as friend or foe. Transponders are still used by most powered aircraft to this day. Another early work exploring RFID is the landmark 1948 paper by Harry Stockman, titled "Communication by Means of Reflected Power" (Proceedings of the IRE, pp 1196–1204, October 1948). Stockman predicted that "... considerable research and development work has to be done before the remaining basic problems in reflected-power communication are solved, and before the field of useful applications is explored."
Mario Cardullo's device in 1973 was the first true ancestor of modern RFID, as it was a passive radio transponder with memory. The initial device was passive, powered by the interrogating signal, and was demonstrated in 1971 to the New York Port Authority and other potential users and consisted of a transponder with 16 bit memory for use as a toll device. The basic Cardullo patent covers the use of RF, sound and light as transmission media. The original business plan presented to investors in 1969 showed uses in transportation (automotive vehicle identification, automatic toll system, electronic license plate, electronic manifest, vehicle routing, vehicle performance monitoring), banking (electronic check book, electronic credit card), security (personnel identification, automatic gates, surveillance) and medical (identification, patient history).
An early demonstration of reflected power (modulated backscatter) RFID tags, both passive and semi-passive, was performed by Steven Depp, Alfred Koelle, and Robert Freyman at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in 1973. The portable system operated at 915 MHz and used 12-bit tags. This technique is used by the majority of today's UHFID and microwave RFID tags.
The first patent to be associated with the abbreviation RFID was granted to Charles Walton in 1983.
The largest deployment of active RFID is the US Department of Defense use of Savi active tags on every one of its more than a million shipping containers that travel outside of the continental United States. The largest passive RFID deployment is the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) deployment across 72 facilities implemented by ODIN who also performed the global roll-out for Airbus consisting of 13 projects across the globe.
Current uses
In 2010 three key factors drove a significant increase in RFID usage: decreased cost of equipment and tags, increased performance to a reliable 99.9% and a stable international standard around UHF passive[clarification needed]. At RFID Journal Live 2010 in Orlando, Airbus detailed 16 active projects being conducted by ODIN technologies, IBM and - most recently added to the team - CSC. The two other areas of significant use are financial services for IT asset tracking and healthcare with more than 60% of the top medical device companies using passive UHF RFID in 2010. RFID is becoming increasingly prevalent as the price of the technology decreases. The Japanese HIBIKI initiative aims to reduce the price to 5 Yen[citation needed] and in March 2010 a Korean laboratory successfully created a printed chip using carbon nanotubes that would halve the price of a passive UHF RFID tag to about three cents by late 2011. (4 eurocents). In January 2009 Envego announced a 5.9 cent tag,
Payment by mobile phones
Since summer 2009, two credit card companies have been working with Dallas, Texas, based DeviceFidelity to develop specialized microSD cards. When inserted into a mobile phone, the microSD card can be both a passive tag and an RFID reader. After inserting the microSD, a user's phone can be linked to bank accounts and used in mobile payment.
Dairy Queen in conjunction with Vivotech has also begun using RFIDs on mobile phones as part of their new loyalty and rewards program. Patrons can ask to receive an RFID tag to place on their phone. After activation, the phone can receive promotions and coupons, which can be read by ViVOtech's specialized NFC devices.
Similarly, 7-Eleven has been working alongside MasterCard to promote a new touch-free payment system. Those joining the trial are given a complimentary Nokia 3220 cell phone – after activation, it can be used as an RFID-capable MasterCard credit card at any of 7-Eleven's worldwide chains.
Nokia's 2008 device, the 6212, has RFID capabilities also. Credit card information can be stored, and bank accounts can be directly accessed using the enabled handset. The phone, if used as a vector for mobile payment, has added security in that users would be required to enter a passcode or PIN before payment is authorized.
Transportation payments
Governments use RFID applications for traffic management, while automotive companies use various RFID tracking solutions for product management. Many of these solutions may work together in the future, though privacy regulations prevent many initiatives from moving forward at the same pace that technology allows.
Car-sharing
The Zipcar car-sharing service uses RFID cards for locking and unlocking cars and for member identification.
Season parking tickets
Following a successful pilot, Housing & Development Board (HDB) Singapore called two tenders in 2006 to implement RFID to replace the paper Season Parking Ticket (SPT). The successful tenderers have distributed RFID tags to SPT holders since March 2007
Hospital operating rooms
In 2008, ClearCount Medical introduced the SmartSponge System,[38] the first RFID-based system approved for use in the operating room. The system, consisting of an electronic reader and high frequency RFID-tagged disposable gauze, sponges, and towels, is designed to improve patient safety and O.R. efficiency. The system aims to reduce or eliminate the most common and costly surgical "never event", unintentionally retained foreign objects in surgery. The system automatically provides a device-reconciled count by directly matching the unique identifier on each tagged item both entering into and then out of the surgical case. The system also provides a reusable wand which may be used to scan the patient as an additional safety measure or to assist in locating misplaced sponges.
Product tracking
RFID use in product tracking applications begins with plant-based production processes, and then extends into post-sales configuration management policies for large buyers.
IT asset tracking
In 2008 more than a dozen new passive UHF RFID tags emerged to be specifically mounted on metal. ODIN technologies of Ashburn, Virginia, produced a benchmark which showed varying performance of metal mount tags, with the greatest read distance being just over 25 feet in real-world conditions. In 2010 there are more than 60 metal mount specific RFID tags.[clarification needed] Members of the financial service industry, including Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Morgan Stanley, Citigroup, Fidelity and others, are purported to have tagged more than one million assets.
At the same time new integrated circuits (ICs) were introduced by Alien, Impinj and NXP (formerly Philips) which proved much better performance and use of the IT asset tracking application increased. The largest adopter to date appear to be Bank of America and Wells Fargo – each with more than 100,000 assets across more than a dozen data centers.
- High-frequency RFID or HFID/HighFID tags are used in library book or bookstore tracking, jewelry tracking, pallet tracking, building access control, airline baggage tracking, and apparel and pharmaceutical items tracking. High-frequency tags are widely used in identification badges, replacing earlier magnetic stripe cards. These badges need only be held within a certain distance of the reader to authenticate the holder. The American Express Blue credit card now includes a HighFID tag. In Feb 2008, Emirates Airline started a trial of RFID baggage tracing at London and Dubai airports.
- BGN has launched two fully automated Smartstores that combine item-level RFID tagging and SOA to deliver an integrated supply chain, from warehouse to consumer.
- UHF, Ultra-HighFID or UHFID tags are commonly used commercially in case, pallet, and shipping container tracking, and truck and trailer tracking in shipping yards.
- In May 2007, Bear River Supply began utilizing Intelleflex Corporation's ultrahigh-frequency identification (UHFID) tags to help monitor their agricultural equipment.
- In Colombia, "Federación Nacional de Cafeteros" uses an RFID solution to trace the coffee.
- Purdue Pharma currently uses RFID to track shipments of the painkiller OxyContin
- In Berlin, Germany, the Berliner Wasserbetriebe (water treatment facility) Uses RFID systems from Psion Teklogix and Elektroniksystem-und-Logistik-GmbH (ESG) to identify and track its 60,000 assets.
Transportation and logistics
- Logistics and transportation are major areas of implementation for RFID technology. For example, yard management, shipping and freight and distribution centers are some areas where RFID tracking technology is used. Transportation companies around the world value RFID technology due to its impact on the business value and efficiency.
- The North American railroad industry operates an automatic equipment identification system based on RFID. Locomotives and rolling stock are equipped with two passive RFID tags (one mounted on each side of the equipment); the data encoded on each tag identifies the equipment owner, car number, type of equipment, number of axles, etc. The equipment owner and car number can be used to derive further data about the physical characteristics of the equipment from the Association of American Railroads' car inventory database and the railroad's own database indicating the lading, origin, destination, etc. of the commodities being carried.
- Aerospace applications that incorporate RFID technology are being incorporated into Network Centric Product Support architecture. This technology serves to help facilitate more efficient logistics support for systems maintenance on-board commercial aircraft.
- Baggages passing through the Hong Kong International Airport are individually tagged with "HKIA" RFID tags as they navigate the airport's baggage handling system, which improves efficiency and reduces misplaced items.
Passports
The first RFID passports ("E-passport") were issued by Malaysia in 1998. In addition to information also contained on the visual data page of the passport, Malaysian e-passports record the travel history (time, date, and place) of entries and exits from the country.
Other countries that insert RFID in passports include Norway (2005), Japan (March 1, 2006), most EU countries (around 2006) including Spain, Ireland and UK, Australia, Hong Kong and the United States (2007), Serbia (July 2008), Republic of Korea (August 2008), Taiwan (December 2008), Albania (January 2009), The Philippines (August 2009).
Standards for RFID passports are determined by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), and are contained in ICAO Document 9303, Part 1, Volumes 1 and 2 (6th edition, 2006). ICAO refers to the ISO/IEC 14443 RFID chips in e-passports as "contactless integrated circuits". ICAO standards provide for e-passports to be identifiable by a standard e-passport logo on the front cover.
In 2006, RFID tags were included in new US passports. The US produced 10 million passports in 2005, and it has been estimated that 13 million will be produced in 2006. The chips inlays produced by Smartrac will store the same information that is printed within the passport and will also include a digital picture of the owner. The US State Department initially stated the chips could only be read from a distance of 10 cm (4 in), but after widespread criticism and a clear demonstration that special equipment can read the test passports from 10 meters (33 ft) away, the passports were designed to incorporate a thin metal lining to make it more difficult for unauthorized readers to "skim" information when the passport is closed. The department will also implement Basic Access Control (BAC), which functions as a Personal Identification Number (PIN) in the form of characters printed on the passport data page. Before a passport's tag can be read, this PIN must be entered into an RFID reader. The BAC also enables the encryption of any communication between the chip and interrogator.
Security expert Bruce Schneier has suggested that a mugger operating near an airport could target victims who have arrived from wealthy countries, or a terrorist could design an improvised explosive device which functioned when approached by persons from a particular country if passengers did not put their cards in an area close to their body (high liquid and saline content) or in a foil-lined wallet.
Some other European Union countries are also planning to add fingerprints and other biometric data, while some have already done so.
Schools and universities
School authorities in the Japanese city of Osaka are now chipping children's clothing, back packs, and student IDs in a primary school. A school in Doncaster, England is piloting a monitoring system designed to keep tabs on pupils by tracking radio chips in their uniforms.] St Charles Sixth Form College in west London, England, started September, 2008, is using an RFID card system to check in and out of the main gate, to both track attendance and prevent unauthorized entrance. Similarly, Whitcliffe Mount School in Cleckheaton, England uses RFID to track pupils and staff in and out of the building via a specially designed cards. In the Philippines, some schools already use RFID in IDs for borrowing books and also gates in those particular schools have RFID ID scanners for buying items at a school shop and canteen, library and also to sign in and sign out for student and teacher's attendance. These schools are Claret School of Quezon City, Colegio de San Juan de Letran, San Beda College, University of Santo Tomas and other private schools.
Museums
RFID technologies are now also implemented in end-user applications in museums. An example was the custom-designed temporary research application, "eXspot," at the Exploratorium, a science museum in San Francisco, California. A visitor entering the museum received an RF Tag that could be carried as a card. The eXspot system enabled the visitor to receive information about specific exhibits. Aside from the exhibit information, the visitor could take photographs of themselves at the exhibit. It was also intended to also allow the visitor to take data for later analysis. The collected information could be retrieved at home from a "personalized" website keyed to the RFID tag.
Social retailing
When customers enter a dressing room, the mirror reflects their image and also images of the apparel item being worn by celebrities on an interactive display. A webcam also projects an image of the consumer wearing the item on the website for everyone to see. This creates an interaction between the consumers inside the store and their social network outside the store. The technology in this system is an RFID interrogator antenna in the dressing room and Electronic Product Code RFID tags on the apparel item.
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