The Potential of RFID

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The Potential of RFID

• Glenn Bittle
• Wednesday, 20 May 2005

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Agenda

• What is RFID?
• What can RFID do?

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What is RFID?

• Technology not new
• But applications are
• A technology that allows an object to be uniquely
  identified without line-of-sight contact
• What objects do I want to know about?

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Electromagnetics 101

• Low cost, wireless communications devices (tags)
• Tags consist of
• A computer chip for storing data
• An antenna for receiving and transmitting data to
  applications

Memory(EEPROM)
Reader
Reader Antenna
RFantenna
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Types of Tags - Terminology

• Powered or un-powered
• Passive or active
• Or semi-passive
• Simple transmitters or read/write capable

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Readers (usually at choke points)
Fixed Readers
Handhelds
Integrated Smart Antennas

• Printers

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Barcode vs. RFID
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Agenda

• What is RFID?
• What can RFID do?

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Retail applications
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Think about what it is

• What is the object that we are interested in?
• When / How will we read it?
• What action do we want to take based on data
  returned?

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Livestock is pretty topical right now
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Automatic drafting (sorting)

• Record data that impacts returns
• Health, weight, body characteristics
• Read tags to trigger actions
• E.g. drafting gates dependent on weight

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But what if there is a crisis?

• Livestock Identification System
• Northern Territory, Australia uses RFID to track
  cattle over their lifespan
• Tracing avian influenza
• With the recent transfer of Avian flu to pigs,
  the government of Thailand has given top priority
  for implementation of an RFID identification and
  trace-back system for its pig industry
• Tracking of hogs to prevent/trace foot and mouth
  disease
• Taiwan is trialling RFID tags and readers in a
  national identification program for its hog
  industry, covering 20,000 hog producers and 16
  million hogs.

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Ports and border controlOperation Safe Commerce
Tamper Evident Tape Seal
CSD Fixed Reader
2.4GHz Door Sensor
one, not both
Potential Container Security Device (CSD)
RFID eSeal
ISO PAS 17712 Bolt Seal
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United States Department of DefenseIn-transit
total asset visibility

• Tracks
• Sustainment shipments from depot to supply
  activity
• Deployments from installations to tactical
  assembly areas
• Facilitates
• Positioning of material handling equipment
• Inventory control and distribution of assets
• Reports
• Web-based, shipment status records and customised
  reports
• Nodal Sites give Near Real Time visibility of
  movements

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Crime reduction

• Chipping of Goods Initiative
• Anti-theft tags inserted into laptops and other
  high value consumer products
• Assists in prevention and tracking
• Internet of Things

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Asset Location and Tracking

• Libraries in Singapore
• Speed lending, reduce losses
• Singapore National Library
• Legal files in California
• Eliminates misplacement and reduces search time
• 12000 files tracked in Marin County CA, U.S.
• Masterpieces in Rotterdam
• Reduce the cost of tracing the movements of works
  by Rembrandt, Renoir, Picasso and other masters.

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People tracking - 1

• Approved standards for human implant of an RFID
  tag
• U.S. FDA standards
• Allow individual access to healthcare and welfare
  services
• SARS doctors and nurses
• Industrial Technology Research Institute, Taiwan
• Prison inmates
• Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction,
  U.S.
• Trial tracking of 44000 inmates
• Mexico City Police
• Track officers if kidnapped

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People tracking - 2

• ID Cards
• Plans for China
• 43 million ID cards in South Africa
• 11 million smart cards in Malaysia Tag implants
  for Police
• RFID student badges
• California
• Reduce truancy and prevent security breaches in
  school
• Tourism and .
• Visitor movements and trigger personalised
  multi-media responses
• Miami Museum of Science Planetarium , U.S.

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Transportation

• Baggage Tracking
• Hong Kong Airport Authority
• Financial payment system
• Hong Kong Transport Department
• Includes buses, subways, minivans and taxis
• Expanded to access recreational facilities and
  self-service kiosks
• Usage recording
• Tolls

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In closing

• Challenges
• Costs
• Standards
• Privacy
• Opportunities
• Risk mgmt
• Asset mgmt
• Service delivery

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Thank you

• Questions?