Animal ID 101 Technical Overview

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Animal ID 101Technical Overview

• Dale A. Blasi
• Kansas State University

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Presentation Outline

• Introduction
• Automatic Information and Data Capture
  technologies
• Radio Frequency Identification (RFID)
• ISO Standards
• Conformance/Performance
• Alternative radio frequencies

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Mainstream Adoption of RFID to Begin in 2008
496 managers plans for RFID in next two years
www.amrresearch.com
Supply Chain, September 2005 Vol, 25, No. 9
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• Wal-Marts RFID projections
• 6.7 Billion Labor costs reduced by 15
• 600 Million Monitoring on-shelf availability
• 575 Million Asset tracking, vendor fraud
• 300 Million Tracking gt1 billion pallets, cases
• 180 Million Reduced inventory and annual
  costs of carrying that inventory
• Total pre-tax savings 8.35 Billion

RFID Journal Sept. 15, 2003
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Why is Visual ID not Sufficient by Itself?

• Does not identify animals as unique individuals
  that correlate back to a single herd
• Does not indicate herd of origin
• Does not meet the international requirements as
  a valid form of identification
• Does not facilitate the recall or collection of
  information in an accurate and timely manner

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Why Electronic ID? (eID)

• Provides the linkage necessary for converting
  data into accessible and useable information with
  greater accuracy and timeliness

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Bar Codes Locational Specificity
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What is Radio Frequency ID?

• Sister technology to barcodes
• Radio waves vs light waves
• Reads through non-metallic materials
• Does not require line-of-sight
• Withstand harsh environments

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Components of an Electronic ID System

Transponder receives signal
Transponder is charged with enough energy to send
back an identifying response
Reader broadcasts signal through antenna

Software Decision Making
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What is ISO?

• ISO International Organization for
  Standardization
• Derivation of Greek isos, meaning equal
• Worldwide federation of national standards bodies
  from _at_ 140 countries.
• Developed in 1947, ISO is a non-governmental
  organization

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ISO Standards What are They?

• Standards are documented agreements containing
  technical specifications or other precise
  criteria to be used consistently as rules,
  guidelines or definitions of characteristics, to
  ensure that materials, products, processes and
  services are fit for their intended purpose.

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ISO Standards What They Are Not

• ISO standards have no legal status of their own
• International standards provide a template for
  member bodies to develop their own standards.
• Regulators may adopt standards unchanged, or
  modify to suit local conditions or requirements
• The intent is to produce standards that are
  internationally compatible, consistent and clear

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• ISO 11784 Agricultural Equipment Radio
  Frequency Identification of Animals Code
  structure
• ISO 11785 Agricultural Equipment Radio
  Frequency Identification of Animals Technical
  concept

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ISO 11785

• Transponders (tags) meet req. set forth by clause
  6 of the international standard
• Tranceivers (readers) are in conformance provided
  they meet the req. set forth by clause 6 and
  annex A, provided the latter is applicable
• Clause 6 sets forth the activation field and
  frequency (134.2 13.42 x 10-3) and defines the
  timing sequence for both HDX and FDXb air
  interfaces

• ISO does not have the responsibility of
  determining compliance with ISO standards

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Half duplex (HDX) and Full duplex (FDX)

• ISO 11785 permits either one-way at a time signal
  transmission (HDX) or simultaneous two-way signal
  transmission.
• It is necessary to have the combination of the
  two systems into one reader in order to be an
  ISO-compliant reader.
• Combining both systems slightly deteriorates
  their performance.
• FDX functions better without the interruption of
  the activation field, necessary for HDX

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Full duplex (FDX)

• As soon as the FDX transponder has received
  sufficient energy, it starts transmitting its
  code.
• FDX transponders keep repeating code during
  activation.

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Half duplex (HDX)

• HDX transponder equipped with a capacitor
• The capacitor is charged by the voltage which
  develops over the antenna in the activation field
• As soon as a 3dB decay in the activation field is
  detected, it waits one additional millisec and
  begins to transmit its contents
• Frequency shift keying
• Binary 1 124.2 kHz 0 134.2 kHz

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Components of an Electronic Identification (RFID)
System
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TRANSmitter/resPONDER

• Passive vs active
• Data carrying options
• Data read rates
• Programming options
• Physical form
• Costs

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Passive vs Active Transponders

• Passive
• No internal battery
• Lighter
• Less expensive
• Virtual unlimited operational life
• Active
• Internal battery- finite lifetime
• Read/write devices
• Greater size/cost
• Greater communication range
• Higher data transmission rates

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Data Carrying Options

• Identifier
• Numeric/alpha-numeric string for ID purposes
• Simple lookup number
• Portable data files
• Decentralized database
• Increased tag complexity usually accompanied by
  an increase in the data memory of the device
  which, in turn, generally reflects an increase in
  cost

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Data Read Rates

• The higher the frequency, the higher the data
  transfer rates

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Physical form
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Transponder cost

• Complexity of circuit function
• Construction and memory capacity
• Manner in which the transponder is
  packaged

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Reader/Interrogator/Scanner
Functions

• Transmit and receive RF signals
• Contain a control unit to execute commands
• Incorporate an interface to transfer data
• Receives commands from the host computer
• Responds to software commands from the host
  computer

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Readers can differ considerably

• Depends upon the type of transponders being
  supported
• Intended function
• Handheld vs stationary
• Sophisticated functions
• Signal conditioning
• Parity error checking and correction

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Challenges/Issues RFID

• Environment
• Read range
• Contention

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Factors that affect Reader Range

• Power available to the reader
• Power available within the tag to respond
• Antenna characteristics and size
• Competition from other devices emitting electric
  signals

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Dielectric Materials

• Materials that freely
• Conduct radio energy
• Absorb it
• Detune it
• Reflect it
• Liquids and metals present the biggest challenges

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Anti-contention/collision
Defined Term(s) used to denote an event when
two or more transponders compete for attention
from the reader at the same time resulting in
potential misreading.
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Evaluation of RFID Hardware

• Driven by
• Producer questions
• Pilot project needs and findings
• Alternative technologies to ISO
• Confidence in products for export

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International Committee for Animal Recording
(ICAR)

• Primary mission
• Standardize procedures and methods used in
  recording of livestock data
• Establish test procedures for the approval of
  equipment and methods for recording data
• Based on general agreement with ISO (Resolution
  ISO/TC 23/SC 19 N 113, No. 45 August, 1996),
  ICAR has been developing procedures to verify
  compliance of RFID systems with the standards and
  the user requirements

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Categories for the Testing of Identification
Devices
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ICAR Transceiver Reader Conformance Test

• 2.1 Physical appearance
• 2.2 Frequency of activation field (134.2 kHz
  10-4)
• 2.3 Field strength of activation field
• 2.4 Functional test
• 2.5 Timing of the activation field

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ICAR Transponder Conformance Test

• Resonance frequency of 50 transponders has to be
  in accordance with ISO 11785 (134.2 kHz 3 kHz)
• Transponders read out with a reference reader,
  return signal is demodulated and converted to
  basic bit stream, fed directly into a computer
  and stored in a test file
• Received bit pattern
• ID code
• Country code
• Data block flag
• Reserved field
• Animal bit
• CRC - check

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Performance Parameter Considerations

• Read range x orientation (tag trolley)
• Read speed (belt reader)
• Resonance frequency (KHz)
• Tag response mVolt (134.2 KHz)
• Pull apart force (newtons)
• Practical Animal Mgt. scenarios

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Figure 2. Repeat measurement of figure 1. Stick
antenna is 3 m from the transmitting antenna in a
horizontal orientation perpendicular to the face
of the transmitting antenna. Peak measured power
of -43.92 dBm occurred at 134.1875 kHz. Room
lights were turned on.
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Read Distance of Four eID Tags as Influenced by
Reader
50 tags were randomly selected to represent each
manufacturer
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Analysis of Performance of FDX-b Transponders

• Manufacturer Resonance Freq Tag
  Response (mVolt)
• A 129.0 30
• A 128.7 23
• B 124.0 no response
• B 125.0 no response
• C 131.0 23
• D 134.0 79
• D 133.9 78
• D 134.6 80
• E 135.2 39
• E 135.6 39
• E 135.0 40

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Practical Animal Management Scenarios

• Speed
• Collision
• Read distance
• Orientation

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Bryant et al., 2005
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Radio Frequency Spectrum
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ISO 14223-1

• Radiofrequency identification of animals
  Advanced transponders
• Backend compatible with ISO 11784/11785
• Application of advanced technologies
• Facilitates the storage and retrieval of
  additional information,
• Implementation of authentication methods
• Reading of data of integrated sensors and misc
  technologies

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Animal ID Resources
www.beefstockerusa.org
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Dale A. Blasi Professor/Beef Specialist Kansas
State University dblasi_at_ksu.edu