RFID

1. RFID Cow Jewelry – or – Revolution Travis Sparks http://www.cs.unc.edu/~sparkst

2. Overview • What is RFID? • How RFID Works • Current Applications • Future Applications • Potential Research • Discussion

3. What is RFID? • Radio Frequency Identification • The use of radio frequency tags to identify real objects. What does it mean to identify something?

4. Identification • Assign IDs to objects • Link the ID to additional information about the object • Link the ID to complementary info • Find similar objects

5. Identification Examples • Bar Codes • License Plates • Social Security Numbers • Student ID • Serial Numbers • Car Keys • Database Keys

6. How Does RFID Work? • 3 Components • Transceiver – Tag Reader • Transponder – RFID tag • Antenna

7. IC or microprocessor RFID Tag Transceiver Tag Reader antenna antenna RFID Hardware Magnetic / Inductive Coupling

8. RFID Tag Transceiver Tag Reader antenna RFID Hardware Propagation Coupling IC or microprocessor antenna

9. Types of Tags • Passive Tags • No battery • Low cost • Active Tags • On-board transceiver • Battery – must be replaced • Longer range • High cost

10. Types of Tags • Read Only • factory programmed • usually chipless • Read / Write • on-board memory • can save data • can change ID • higher cost

11. Real Tags

12. Real Tags

13. Real Tags

14. Data Transfer • Amplitude Modulation (AM) • Frequency Shift Keying (FSK) • Phase Shift Keying (PSK)

15. Frequency Shift Keying • Fc/8/10 • 0’s are the carrier divided by 8 • 1’s are the carrier divided by 10 • Count clock cycles between changes in frequency • Slows the data rate • Provides for a simple reader design • Fair noise immunity

16. Phase Shift Keying • One frequency • Change the phase on the transition between a 0 to 1 or 1 to 0 • Faster data rate than FSK • Noise immunity • Slightly more difficult to build a reader than FSK

17. Data Encoding

18. Multiple Tags? • What happens when multiple tags are in range of the transceiver? • All the tags will be excited at the same time. • Makes it very difficult to distinguish between the tags.

19. Collision Avoidance • Similar to network collision avoidance • Probabilistic • Tags return at random times • Deterministic • Reader searches for specific tags

20. Frequency Ranges • Low – 100-500 kHz • short range, low data rate, cost, & power • Intermediate – 10-16 MHz • medium range and data rate • High – 850-950 MHz & 2.4-5.8GHz • large range, high cost, high data rate • needs line of sight

21. Frequency Ranges • 8 total ranges around the world • No standards … yet

22. Power • Cost • Bandwidth • Line of Sight • Lifespan • Range Frequency Frequency Trade-Offs

23. Current Applications • Livestock Tagging • Wild Animal Tracking • Electronic Article Surveillance (EAS) • Automated Toll Collection • Animal Husbandry • Vehicle Anti-Theft

24. More Applications • Passive / Secure Entry • Airline Baggage Tracking • Postal Package Tracking • Time and Attendance

25. Who’s got an RFID tag with them right now?

26. Security • RFID used to grant entry to secure areas • Tracks time and movement of people • Dynamically change access codes • Provide automated entry

27. Bobby has an old fashioned ear tag for identification. Livestock Tagging Meet Bobby the Cow

28. Bobby’s Part of a Herd

29. Bobby Needs His Shots • All of Bobby’s herd need their shots • Each one needs to be recorded • Why use RFID tags instead of the old-fashioned tags? • cows get dirty • herds can be large

30. Tracking Penguins http://www.beitec.com/penguin.htm

31. Automated Toll Collection

32. Package Tracking Picture courtesy Texas Instruments

33. Potential Applications • Smart Grocery Store • Smart Kitchen • Smart Sitterson

34. Smart Grocery Store • Every item in the store already has a bar code. • Why not use an RFID tag? • Speed up checkouts

35. Smart Grocery Store • Several carts this full in early evening could seriously slow down the checkout process. • How much do cashiers cost?

36. Smart Grocery Store • Add an RFID tag to all items in the grocery. • As the cart leaves the store, it passes through an RFID transceiver • The cart is rung up in seconds.

37. RFID UPC Artist conception courtesy Motorola

38. Smart Groceries Enhanced • Track products through their entire lifetime. Diagram courtesy How Stuff Works

39. Smart Fridge • Recognizes what’s been put in it • Recognizes when things are removed • Creates automatic shopping lists • Notifies you when things are past their expiration

40. RFID Chef • Uses RFID tags to recognize food in your kitchen • Shows you the recipes that most closely match what is available • RFID Chef Movie Distributed Systems GroupETH – Zurich, Switzerland

41. Smart Sitterson • Tag locations throughout Sitterson • User walks around with handheld and transceiver • RFID tags point the handheld to a webpage with more information about their location or the object of interest

42. Other Future RFID Applications • RFID in the Euro by 2005http://www.eetimes.com/story/OEG20011219S0016 • Xerox PARC Page Detectionhttp://www2.parc.com/red/members/back/papers/UIST_RFID.pdf • RFID in people?

43. RFID’s Advantages • Passive • wireless • Store data on a tag • Can be hidden • Work in harsh environments • Low cost?

44. RFID’s Disadvantages • Lack of standards! • Short range • Cost

45. Open Discussion • What identification systems exist that could be enhanced with RFID? • What new identification systems are only feasible using RFID?

46. References RFID Chefhttp://www.inf.ethz.ch/vs/res/proj/rfidchef/ AIM Global Networkhttp://www.aimglobal.org/technologies/rfid/what_is_rfid.htm Texas Instruments RFID Solutionshttp://www.ti.com/tiris/default.htm Interaction Design InstituteRFID Whitepaperhttp://people.interaction-ivrea.it/natasha/rf/RFID_research.pdf Auto-ID Centerhttp://www.autoidcenter.org/

47. RFID Cow Jewelry – or – Revolution Travis Sparks http://www.cs.unc.edu/~sparkst