RFID Technology

NCTT 2005 Summer Conference

Warren Hioki

Community College of Southern Nevada

What is RFID?

• Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) is a method of storing and retrieving data through electromagnetic transmission to an RFID transponder, also known as an “RFID tag.”

RFID: An Emerging RF Technology on Center Stage

• Yr 2003: $1.1 billion industry

• Yr. 2004: $2.5 billion industry

• Yr 2005-2006: $5.5 billion industry

A Global Internet of Things

• RFID employs a numbering scheme called EPC (for "electronic product code") which can provide a unique ID for any physical object in the world.

• “In the future, everything of value will be on the Internet,” says John Foster, Software CTO for Sun Microsystems.

• Growth in technology will be outside the realm of the PC and network, a “Megatrend” according to Fowler.

The Wal-mart Effect

• When Wal-Mart speaks, the retail industry listens

• Wal-Mart issues 2005 RFID Mandate to top 100 suppliers

• 12,000 other Wal-Mart Suppliers must follow suit

Others Follow Suit

• Target• Sears/Kmart• Albertsons• American Express• Visa, Mastercard• Home Depot• 7-Eleven Inc.• Coca-Cola• Robert Bosch Tool

• DOD, DOE, DOT, DOH, FAA

• Agriculture Industry• Gaming Industry• Automotive Industry• Athletics• Pharmaceuticals• Libraries• Semiconductor

Industry

What’s Being Tagged?

• People• Animals• Credit Cards• Grocery Items• Department Store Items• Cars, Trucks, Trains, Boats• Airline Luggage• Hospital Wrist Bands• Tools• Boxes, Crates, Pallets

• Casino Chips• Euro Notes• Test Equipment• Soccer Balls• toilets• Trees• Birds, Fish, Shell Fish• Keyless Entry/Exit Doors• Museum Artwork• Weapons and Ammunition

History• 1920s: RFID was developed at MIT as a way for robots

to "talk" to one another• 1939: RFID technology was used extensively by the

British in WWII as a way to track planes and other vehicles with IFF (identification of friend or foe) transponders

• 1948: “Communication by Means of Relflective Power,” a Landmark paper by Harry Sockman

• 1950s: D.B. Harris “Radio Transmission Systems With Modulatable Passive Repsonder

• 1952: F.L. Vernon’s “Application of the Microwave Homodyne

• 1960s: R.F. Harrington advances theory with “Field Measurements Using Active Scatterers”

RFID History (cont)

• 1970s: Explosion of RFID research and inventions (Los Alamos Labs, Raytheon, Northwestern University, RCA, Fairchild)

• 1980s: Worldwide Implementation and deployment of RFID in transportation, personnel access, and agriculture

• 1990s: Expansion of RFID into retail, electronic toll collection, fuel dispensing, parking and building access, etc.

• 2000s: RFID has become ubiquitous and mainstream; Retail giant Walmart slaps RFID mandate on over 100 of its top suppliers; Target and other retailers follows suit

– http://www.aimglobal.org “The History of RFID Shrouds of Time”

RFID Components

• Antenna• Reader (Interrogator)• Transponder (Tag)• Host Computer• Software

RF Control Circuits Circuits

HostComputer

RS232InterfaceorInternetto Host

RFIDTransponder(Tag)

RFID Reader

RFID Tags

• Active Tags: (Read/Write) Contain a micro chip, an on-board power source for data transmission to the reader, and an antenna

• Semi-active Tags: Same as active tag but power source requires a “wake-up field” from RFID reader to turn on

• Passive Tags: (Read Only) Contain a micro chip and an antenna

Figure 1: An Ant Playing with RFID Chips (Courtesy of AIM)

Figure 2: Passive RFID Tag Architecture (Courtesy of AIM)

Tag Antennas

• Antennas are typically built into the chip

• ½ wavelength in length• Single dipole• Dual dipole• Loop• Patch

Dual Dipole Antenna

Dipole Antenna

EPC Class SpecificationEPC Class Definition Programming

Class 0 Read Only passive tags

Programmed as part of the semiconductor manufacturing process.

Class 1 Write once, read many passive tags

Programmed once by the customer then locked.

Class 2 Re-writable passive tags

Can be reprogrammed many times.

Class 3 Semi-passive tags

Class 4 Active tags

Class 5 Readers NA

http://www.impinj.com/page.cfm?ID=aboutRFIDStandards: RFID Standards

EPC Code StructureEPC

TYPEHEADER

SIZEFIRST BITS

DOMAIN MANAGER

OBJECT CLASS

SERIAL NUMBER

TOTAL BITS

64-bit type 1

2 1 21 17 24 64

64-bit type 2

2 10 15 13 34 64

64-bit type 3

2 11 26 13 23 64

96-bit + 8 00 28 24 36 96

8 28 24 36

2 21 17 24

2 15 13 34

2 26 13 23

96-Bit Format

Type 1 64-bit format

Type 2 64-bit format

Type 3 64-bit format

EPC Field Definition

• Version No.: Defines EPC structure type

• Domain Manager: Defines mfg. number

• Object Class: Defines product number

• Serial No.: Serial number of object

Error Control

• May or may not be used• CRC-16: G(x) = X16 + X12 + X5 + 1

(ISO/EIC 3309)• Reader to tag computation on all n bits of

the packet. 1’s Complement stored on tag

Signal Measurement (Inductive Coupling)

http://www.rfid-handbook.de/rfid/measurements.html

Modulation Technique –a reader to tag command

http://www.rfid-handbook.de/rfid/measurements.html

Function of the Reader

• Provided energy to the tag

• Provide a carrier signal for the tag to modulate and resonate back to the reader

• Detect the modulated signal from the tag and decode its data

• Transmit detected data to host computer

Examples of RFID Readers

Functions of the Tag

• Untilize the electromagnetic energy provided by the reader

• Detect and decode the reader signal

• Resonate the carrier signal sent by the reader

• Modulate the resonated signal sent back to the reader

Layout considerations

Challenges facing RFID• Standardization• Costs• Training• Data Security• Long-term electromagnetic radiation• Issues of Privacy and Ethics

– California Senator Debra Brown (2003) “How would you like it if, for instance, one day your realized your underwear was reporting on your whereabouts?”

References

• Special thanks to Tomas E. Grajales, Vice President of R&D of Dynasys Technologies Inc. for providing the use of all Axcess Inc. slides.

• Toward a Global “Internet of Things”: :http://java.sun.com/developer/technicalArticles/Ecommerce/rfid/

• The Use of RFID as a Replacement for Traditional Bar Coding: http://www.andrew.cmu.edu/user/cjs/tech.html

• Shrouds of Time, RFID History http://www.mindcontrolforums.com/news/shrouds_of_time.pdf

• RFID Timeline: http://people.interaction-ivrea.it/c.noessel/RFID/RFID_timeline.pdf#search='application%20of%20the%20microwave%20homodyne%20and%20vernon‘

• RFID Handbook: http://www.rfid-handbook.de/index.html

• CASPIAN http://www.nocards.org/welcome/index.shtml

• RFID A Week Long Survey: http://people.interaction-ivrea.it/c.noessel/RFID/RFID_research.pdf

• RFID White Paper: http://www.rmsomega.com/documents/RFID_White_Paper_ScanSource_000.pdf

• RFID Standards: http://www.impinj.com/page.cfm?ID=aboutRFIDStandards

• Electronic Product Code (EPC): http://www.zebra.com/id/zebra/na/en/index/rfid/faqs/epc_rfid_technology.html

• Destron Technologies Cattle Tags: http://www.destronfearing.com/pipdf/tx12102fdx_b_cattletag050702.pdf