WEBINAR SERIES #4 EPC/RFID STANDARDS AND RFID STUFF YOU NEED TO KNOW

WEBINAR SERIES #4 EPC/RFID STANDARDS AND RFID STUFF YOU NEED TO KNOW

STANDARDS AND RFID An Overview of GS1 Standards Identify, Capture, Share Serialization Basics and EPC The Next Level of Visibility Serial Number Assignment and Management Moving from UPC to EPC A checklist 2

OVERVIEW OF GS1 STANDARDS IDENTIFY, CAPTURE, SHARE

GS1 SYSTEM OF STANDARDS 4

IDENTIFY 5

CAPTURE 6

SHARE 7

EPCglobal STANDARDS FRAMEWORK Certificate Profile Pedigree *Discovery Services Object Name Service (ONS) Share EPC Information Services (EPCIS) *Core Business Vocabulary (CBV) Application Level Events (ALE) Discovery Configuration & Initialization (DCI) Low Level Reader Protocol (LLRP) Reader Management (RM) Capture Tag Protocol UHF Class 1 Gen2 Tag Data Standard (TDS) Tag Protocol - HF Class 1 Gen2 Tag Data Translation (TDT) Identify Data Standards Interface Standards *Standards in Development 8

VISIBILITY AND GS1 STANDARDS Tag Data Standard Tag Data Translation 9

WHAT DO THESE STANDARDS MEAN TO YOU? Tag Data Standard Defines the Electronic Product Code Also specifies the user memory contents of Gen 2 RFID Tags In more detail, the Tag Data Standard covers two broad areas: The specification of the Electronic Product Code, including its representation at various levels of the EPCglobal Architecture and it correspondence to GS1 keys and other existing codes. The specification of data that is carried on Gen 2 RFID tags, including the EPC, user memory data, control information, and tag manufacture information. Tag Data Translation Concerned with a machine-readable version of the EPC Tag Data Standards specification Readily used for validating EPC formats as well as translating between the different levels of representation in a consistent way Largely INVISIBLE to user 10

WHAT DO THESE STANDARDS MEAN TO YOU?!! YOU should ensure any tag encoding software you implement to encode tags or any third party doing the encoding on your behalf has practical experience using these standards. It is strongly advised to deploy some verification process before roll out. 11

VISIBILITY AND GS1 STANDARDS UHF Gen2 Air Interface Protocol HF Gen2 Air Interface Protocol Low Level Reader Protocol Reader Management Application Level Events 12

WHAT DO THESE STANDARDS MEAN TO YOU? Standards enabling interoperability of the technology across vendors and solutions Cell phones adhere to similar technology standards allowing an iphone to call and receive calls to and from a Blackberry device Mainly INVISIBLE to the user!! YOU want to ensure that you purchase hardware and software that are certified to these standards to ensure interoperability and compliance 13

VISIBILITY AND GS1 STANDARDS EPC Information Services Standard Core Business Vocabulary Std. 14

WHAT DO THESE STANDARDS MEAN TO YOU? Electronic Product Code Information Services (EPCIS) Provides a data model and two interfaces for capturing and querying EPC event data Core Business Vocabulary (CBV) Provides a list of common business terms for use within the EPCIS data model to provide context to the EPCIS event These standards together establish a common means to capture and SHARE the NEW data that is provided by serialized identification products captured en masse by RFID tags Things to consider:!! YOU want to develop a data capture and sharing strategy as a part of an implementation plan!! YOU should look for software used to capture RFID reads that is EPCIS/CBV certified. http://www.gs1us.org/partners/solution_partners/epcglobal_us_vendor _selection_planning/gs1_epcglobal_certification 15

THE IMPORTANCE OF STANDARDS: HELPING BUSINESSES WORK MORE EFFICIENTLY Identification standards provide the foundational element for communication about people, places and things Interface standards provide interoperability among technology solutions - chosen by YOU! Data standards provide for a common communication language within and across organizations so data can be captured, shared and understood to realize business benefits Standards provide one way of doing something making things faster and easier for all! 16

SERIALIZATION BASICS AND EPC

BAR CODE REFRESHER Most familiar bar code identifier is the Global Trade Identification Number (GTIN) Identifies a class of trade item (not an instance); i.e., identifies a SKU Composed from GS1 Company Prefix assigned by GS1 to a company Item Reference assigned by a company to a product Indicator Digit assigned by a company to a product, 0 for a consumer packaging unit, non-zero for a related non-consumer unit (e.g., a case) Check Digit calculated from the rest to catch keying errors Occurs in several forms: UPC-A (12 digits) North America Only EAN-13 (13 digits) Rest of World ITF-14 (14 digits) Cases and other nonconsumer packaging 18

IT S ALL GTINS UPC-A (12 digits) North America Only EAN-13 (13 digits) Rest of World ITF-14 (14 digits) Cases and other nonconsumer packaging Bar Code Symbol GTIN-12 GTIN-13 GTIN-14 614141999996 5012345678900 10614141999993 GS1 Key 00614141999996 05012345678900 10614141999993 Padded to 14 Digits (01) 10614141999993 GS1 Element String 19

IT S ALL GTINS (01) 10614141999993 GS1 Element String (GTIN only) Allocate a Serial Number Serial Number Allocation (01) 10614141999993 (21) A342 GS1 Element String with Serial Number EPC Tag Data Standard DataMatrix DataBar GS1-128 Gen2 RFID Serialized GTIN Bar Code or RFID Tag 20

EPC ENABLED RFID What is EPC and how does it relate to RFID? RFID is considered to be another, more powerful data carrier, like the barcode The Electronic Product Code (EPC) is the identification structure that is carried in a RFID tag, like the UPC in a barcode: Your GTIN plus a serial number is encoded into a tag in an EPC format Consists of a header value, a manager number, item reference, serial number Structure will allow for efficient capture, sharing and discovery of data about objects in the physical world across supply chain partners 21

ELECTRONIC PRODUCT CODE + 1732050807 = EPC Company Code Product Code Unique Serial Number Every item has distinct serial number New business processes based on tracking individual things Identifiers other than the GTIN, such as SSCC, GRAI, GIAI and GLN have a similar EPC structure 22

EPC AS ENCODED INTO AN RFID TAG ( EPC BINARY ENCODING ) Added instructions for reader Header Filter Value Partition Value EPC Manager Number Item Reference Serial Number Header Defined in Tag Data Standard Registered by EPCglobal Assigned by EPC Manager Number Owner identifies the structure of the information encoded on the RFID Tag, including the type of EPC (SGTIN vs SSCC vs...) and the RFID-specific encoding length (96 vs 198) Filter Value an instruction for the Reader to select or mask out certain types of RFID tags Partition Value Reader instruction designating where the Company Prefix ends and the item reference begins. EPC Manager Number (GS1 Company Prefix) identifies entity responsible for maintaining the subsequent partitions of the EPC Item Reference and Serial Number The item references is variable-length and assigned by the EPC Manager to a specific product; the serial number is assigned by the EPC Manager to a specific instance of that product. 23

TRANSLATE YOUR U.P.C. TO A GTIN TO AN EPC, THEN ENCODE IN BINARY FOR RFID TAG GTIN: 00614141007349 SGTIN EPC: urn:epc:id:sgtin: 0614141.000734.12345203886 EPC as encoded in an RFID tag: 48 2 5 0614141.000734.2345203886 U.P.C. GTIN SGTIN EPC EPC binary encoding (for RFID) 614141 = U.P.C. Company Prefix 00734 = Item Reference (assigned by company) 9 = Check Digit (calculated via algorithm) Note: Item reference length varies based on length of U.P.C. Company Prefix. Add your indicator digit, a zero. Then change your U.P.C. Company Prefix to a GS1 Company Prefix by adding a preceding zero to your U.P.C. Company Prefix. In this example: 0 = Indicator Digit 0614141 = GS1 Company Prefix 00734 = Item Reference (assigned by company) 9 = Check Digit (calculated via algorithm) urn:epc:id:sgtin: = EPC URI Header 0614141 = Company Prefix 000734 = Item Reference (Indicator Digit + Item Reference) 12345203886 = Serial Number (assigned by EPC Manager Number Owner) 48 = Header 2 = Filter Value 5 = Partition Value 0614141 = Company Prefix 000734 = Indicator Digit + Item Reference 12345203886 = Serial Number Note: each data field is shown in decimal above, but on the tag they are encoded in binary Note 2: This is INVISIBLE to the user, your software system or a third party who may be encoding for you are the entities that really care! Tag Data Standard is available for download at www.epcglobalinc.org 24

SERIAL NUMBER ASSIGNMENT & MANAGEMENT

IMPORTANCE OF SERIALIZATION Serialized identifiers help RFID readers sort and count without human intervention Scanning a barcode is a serial process, so counting is automatic (one at a time past the scanner) Humans supplement the barcode for counting RFID readers are fast, but stupid (Did I read 100 items or the same item 100 times?) Serialized identifiers improve our ability to track specific items or shipments as they move between physical locations What did I see? Was it the same one I saw an hour ago or a different one? 26

SERIALIZATION BUSINESS PROCESSES Commissioning assigning serial numbers to product How to allocate serial number? What data carrier / format? Recording the chosen serial number Picking/Packing Recording serial numbers picked/packed Hierarchy: item-to-case, case-to-pallet serial numbers Shipping/Receiving Recording serial numbers shipped/received Verification of serial numbers received (probably not for apparel) In-store Tracking individual items Reporting serial numbers moved to sales floor, purchased Afterwards Using serialized observations ( visibility data ) to analyze the supply chain (transit time, dwell time, in-store visibility, etc) 27

ELECTRONIC PRODUCT CODE + 1732050807 = EPC Company Code Product Code Unique Serial Number Every item has distinct serial number New business processes based on tracking individual things 28

SERIAL NUMBER ASSIGNMENT SEQUENTIAL Absolute requirement: two items having the same GTIN must have different serial numbers for all time Conceptually, it s easy: Serial 1 Print GTIN + Serial Serial Serial + 1 29

SERIAL NUMBER ASSIGNMENT MULTIPLE PRODUCTS (STILL SEQUENTIAL) Initialize Serial[GTIN] for all GTINs Determine product GTIN Print GTIN + NextSerial[GTIN] NextSerial[GTIN] NextSerial[GTIN] + 1 Serial Number Assignment DB GTIN NextSerial[GTIN] 00614141123452 253 00614141999996 429 00614141111112 395 Important to back up this database, to avoid duplicates in case of failure! 30

SERIAL NUMBER ASSIGNMENT SEQUENTIAL WITHIN RANGES Serial Number Assignment DB GTIN NextSerial[GTIN] 00614141123452 1001 00614141999996 2001 00614141111112 5001 Master DB could be: - Manual (spreadsheet) - On-line service -Commercial product Mfr lines could be: - Internal (different mfr lines) - External (contract mfr) GTIN 00614141999996 Serial range 0001-1000 GTIN 00614141123452 Serial range 0001-1000 GTIN 00614141999996 Serial range 1001-2000 31

SERIAL NUMBER ASSIGNMENT LEVERAGE THE TID TID is an identifier specific to the RFID chip itself Tell us which integrated circuit designer and which part number is associated with that RFID chip Some RFID tags have a TID Serial Number A unique number burned into each RFID chip when it s manufactured Made up of the TID, plus a serial number Different for every single RFID chip by chip vendor At least 80 bits long (possibly as long as 176 bits) must compress to fit in SGTIN-96 Unrelated to the GTIN of the item to which the tag is attached Idea: Use the TID Serial Number as the product serial number GTIN TID Serial Number EPC 32

SERIAL NUMBER ASSIGNMENT LEVERAGE THE TID Downstream parties don t have to (and usually won t) know how the serial number was constructed It just looks like a random unique number Because TID Serial is different for every RFID chip, it s automatically unique within the GTIN, too Pros: No databases needed Supports multiple manufacturing sites Very simple encoding rule Cons: Difficult to change later Leads to long serial number requiring a larger tag - one that is not prevalent in the market today Not all RFID tags have serialized TIDs (It s optional) 33

SERIALIZATION CONSIDERATIONS Each serial number assigned for a given GTIN must be globally unique In some cases, more than one system is responsible for allocating serial numbers for a given GTIN: A given product may be tagged on more than one manufacturing line within the same company A manufacturer may delegate tagging to more than one contract manufacturer Downstream parties (retailers) may need to allocate serial numbers for products that are received without serialization Damaged tag Tag was never applied in the first place Must determine how to achieve uniqueness in the above situations with the constraint of using 96-bit tags 34

MOVING FROM UPC TO EPC

A CHECKLIST Understand all parties that may require encoding serial numbers for your organization Your own manufacturing lines Contract manufacturers Retailers (in exception processing scenarios) Service Bureaus Understand your requirements for serialization when other parties will also be commissioning serialized GTINS for your product Choose a serialization method Sequential assignment Sequential assignment within blocks Structured assignment Existing serial number Derive from RFID TID Double check that the encoding is correct!!! 36

TOOLS TO HELP Free tools are available for encoding & decoding: http://www.epcglobalus.org/default.aspx?tabid=501 Implementation Guideline for managing serialization (work group effort COMING SOON) EPC Adoption Roadmap http://www.epcglobalus.org/default.aspx?tabid=456 37

QUESTIONS?