Summary Chapter 17 Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) Katherine Chen Imagine a world in which everything was tagged and tracked. You would be able to locate animals throughout a farm, gain an accurate knowledge of a retail store s inventory, or even track items throughout their lifetime in the supply chain. This is becoming reality through radio frequency identification (RFID) technology. Complete inventories can be tagged with RFID tags and these tags can be read by an RFID reader to identify objects. To add to this, instead of being bottlenecked by having to identify one product at a time, you would be able to read and track hundreds of objects all at once and all with minimal human intervention. Because of the many possibilities that can be achieved through the use of RFID, the technology has seen widespread use throughout several different industries. Figure 1: RFID Tags. Perhaps you ve seen these on consumer items. [1] Introduction RFID is emerging as a technology to be used for identifying and tracking goods and assets. There are three major components to RFID: Transponder (tag) The tag is made up of two components: a microchip and an antenna. The chip stores information relevant to the tag and provides the logic of how the chip reacts to an RFID reader. The antenna allows for communication between the tag and the RFID reader. Transceiver (reader) The reader uses its antennas to send and receive information to and from RFID tags. The reader also passes on this information to a computer for filtering. Reader interface layer (middleware) A host computer receives the information from the readers. It then may run middleware in order to filter the data received. This data is sent to other software systems for further processing.
RFID tags are placed on items or pallets that are to be identified and/or tracked. These tags store information that can be used to uniquely identify the item. RFID communication is able to transfer data wirelessly to and from these tags through the use of radio-frequency electromagnetic fields. Thus, the reader is able to read the data contained in these tags and pass it along to software systems for processing. Figure 2: The major components of RFID. [2] A Brief History It may be surprising that RFID technology has at least been around since World War II. An early version of RFID was utilized in World War II by aircraft to identify whether other aircraft were Allied or German planes. RFID first started being commercialized in the 1970s. The first U.S. patent for an active RFID tag with rewritable memory was granted to Mario W. Cardulla on January 23, 1973. RFID continued seeing more widespread uses in industries in the 1980s. For example, RFID was used in the agriculture sector which involved the tagging of dairy cows in order to monitor the dosage of hormones and medicines given to individual cows. Automated toll payment systems were also developed for use on roadways. [3] In 1998, researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Auto-ID Center started a new era of RFID. The Auto-ID started researching improvements in global solutions for identifying and tracking objects. Their goals involved developing open standards for RFID, reducing the cost of RFID tags, and optimizing networks for data storage. [4] Thanks to the Auto-ID center, RFID became more economically viable and affordable for pallet tagging and for tagging high-end items. In 2003 the MIT Auto-ID Center closed and was succeeded by the Auto-ID Labs and EPCGlobal. The goals of EPCGlobal is to create a worldwide standard for RFID and to promote the use of RFID tags until the widespread adoption of the tags drops the cost to 5 cents per tag. Today, passive RFID tags can be as low as 7 cents per whereas specialized active RFID tags can cost $100 or more. [5] The decreasing cost of RFID tags has led to a greater adoption of RFID technology than ever before.
Benefits Barcode technology is the current dominant technology in the broad automatic identification technologies category. RFID would seem like a natural successor to barcodes. However, UPC barcodes are currently very prevalent in industries most notably in retail. Instead of RFID replacing barcodes, both technologies are likely to co-exist in the near future. Yet more and more companies are likely to see increased use of RFID tagging because of certain benefits RFID provides. These benefits include: Being able to identify every object with a unique serial number. Items will be able to be tracked all the way back to where they were produced, and this information could perhaps be applied in situations such as for targeted recall. Companies will also have better inventory control by being able to utilize serialized data and by tracking each item individually. Increased security on items. Since entire inventories can be tagged, the ability to track and know the location of the item is at all times would allow for anti-theft measures to be put in place. Being able to read multiple RFID tags at once. This means that RFID enables a reduction in processing time through the supply chain because of being able to read multiple objects at once instead of having to scan one item at a time. No line of sight requirement needed to read an RFID tag. An item would not have to be oriented a certain way like barcode technology requires for scanning of the UPC. Since RFID tags utilize radio waves, the tag does not even need to be visible and can actually be hidden inside the item. Minimizing labor costs. Since RFID technology can be automated to detect items as soon as they arrive near the reader, this eliminates the need for human labor costs that have traditionally be used for scanning purposes. This also reduces the rate of errors that human intervention usually introduces. Longer range for reading an RFID tag. Whereas a barcode has to be scanned in close proximity, the RFID tags that are usually used in a supply chain can be read from a range of 20 to 30 feet. Other RFID tags, such as the battery-powered tags, have a long read range of 300 feet. [5] Durability. RFID tags are more durable than barcodes and can sustain functionality even through harsher environments. Also the durability of RFID tags means that tags can last for a long period of time and thus consistently be reused. Data can be written onto RFID tags. Not only can data be read from the tag, but data can also be written into the tag by a user. Critical information can be stored directly onto the tag, allowing for data to be accessed even in situations where a central database cannot be easily accessed. An RFID tag can store up to several kb of data. [4] Although RFID brings certain advantages over barcodes, RFID technology will likely not be a complete replacement for barcodes. A few reasons for these include: It may be advantageous to have multiple sources of data on an object (e.g. have both an RFID tag and a barcode on the same object). RFID tags are more expensive to implement than barcodes. RFID labels cannot be generated and distributed electronically (e.g. printing out an airline boarding pass received through email).
Implementing an RFID system is more complicated than a barcode system and the system would likely require maintenance throughout its lifetime. RFID systems generate a large volume of data that need to be filtered in order to create useful information. Despite these disadvantages, a comprehensive RFID program for retail companies is predicted to generate a savings of 10 to 16 percent. [2] Non-retail companies are also able to utilize the benefits of RFID in order to become more efficient and generate savings. Applications The possibilities for the implementation of RFID are endless. Thus it may come as no surprise that a wide range of industries are implementing RFID technologies. Retail In 2003 Walmart issued a mandate requiring its top 100 suppliers to apply RFID tags to their pallets and cases of goods. Although this announcement led to a spike the sales of RFID, the technology did not penetrate as deeply as Walmart had hoped. However, this push of RFID technology by the retail giant did simulate the growth of RFID. Due to their belief that their suppliers were not seeing sufficient benefits, Walmart stopped the RFID tagging requirement after the 2008 and 2009 economic recession. The view of the use of RFID technology in retail along with the technology itself has improved since the Walmart mandate in 2003. Walmart decided to go in a different direction for RFID item-level tagging for internal use in the stores themselves. Tagging items such as clothes would allow the retail store to keep track of the inventory mix (e.g. different shirt sizes) and reduce outof-stock items. [8] Other retail stores such have American Apparel, Macy s, and Bloomingdale s have also started tagging their clothes. American Apparel saw a fourteen percent increase in sales and had 99 percent inventory accuracy through RFID. Retailers attribute the better view of current inventory stock to allow them to [reduce] their need for inventory adjustments, cut transportation costs, and [increase] sales. [9] Figure 3: How Walmart s electronic product code system works. [10] The strong momentum of item-level RFID adoption in retail is likely to continue. In a survey done by Accenture in 2011, RFID item-level tagging was already in use by over half of the companies
(retailers and their suppliers) surveyed. Forty-eight percent of the retailers that had not implemented RFID item-level tagging were thinking seriously about piloting the technology in the near future. [9] Supply Chain Figure 4: RFID can be utilized in all these parts of the supply chain. [11] In the market of fast moving consumer goods (FMCG), products are counted several times throughout the supply chain. RFID speeds up the process because of being able to automatically read multiple RFID tagged items instead of having to manually scan each item individually. Products can thus be tracked easily in each stage of the supply chain. Since RFID tags can store more information than barcodes, more data can be reaped from the item to optimize the production process. During the shipping process, cargo units can be tagged and tracked as cargo leaves or enters a warehouse. Thus, companies can utilize tracking of products in real-time. This allows for better inventory tracking and management of all the products that are in storage or being shipped to a different location. RFID in the distribution phase also provides the benefits of inventory tracking which allows for more efficient and accurate dispatching of products to the retail store. Agriculture Agriculture was one of the earliest industries to see widespread use of RFID tags. Animals are tagged with RFID in order for individual animals to be able to be tracked and identified through the commercial livestock production cycle. These chips are usually either tagged onto the ear or embedded under the skin. RFID implemented onto livestock is used to maintain and monitor animal health. For example, a feeding system can be implemented which tracks which individual animals have already received feed for a certain meal animals that had not already eaten would be given food while animals that tried to receive food multiple times would be rejected. Also, an RFID livestock identification system would allow for disease outbreaks to be traced back to the origin for containment Figure 5: A sheep with an RFID tag attacked to its ear. [6] or eradication of the disease. In 2005 Canada moved away from a mandatory tracking system using bar codes to using RFID for tracking all cattle that move away from their farm of origin are required to have RFID tags. In Australia, RFID tags are mandatory for all cattle, sheep, and goats that are sold. [6]
Public Transportation Figure 6: RFID transponder inside a vehicle used for electronic toll collection. [6] RFID has been in use for public transportation services. A notable implementation is the use of RFID transponders for electronic toll collection. RFID implementations for electronic toll collection have less of an error rate than other implementations (e.g. barcode or camera license plate recognition), which can often be inaccurate due to visibility issues. This automated system allows for the charging of tolls to a vehicle without the requiring the vehicle slow down. Some public transportation systems have been embedding their travel cards with RFID chips. Cards that employ RFID technology are called smart cards. For example, Atlanta s public transportation uses Breeze cards that utilize RFID for a touch and go system where a user can scan their card to a reader that then automatically deducts the cost of the fare from the user. Chromaroma has taken this one step further by collecting data from the use of London transportation s Oyster cards and provided a gamification of the transportation process. Several countries, including nations in the European Union, the United States, Japan, Australia, China, and several others, currently use e-passports. These e-passports, or biometric passports, are paper passports that also have RFID chips inserted into them. The standards for e-passports are established by the International Civil Aviation Organization s (ICAO) Doc 9303. Some data that can be contained inside an e-passport s RFID chip include the passport owner s digital photograph, fingerprints, and the same information that is printed in the paper passport. [6] These e-passports are used to increase passport security and prevent counterfeit passports. NFC Perhaps you have seen commercials where two phones are tapped together in order to transfer data and files from one phone to another. These phones are using a highly refined version of RFID called near field communication (NFC). NFC is a set of standards for short-range wireless technologies that utilize radio waves for communication. The range for communication with NFC is from being in direct contact with each other to less than a few inches. Today over a hundred smartphones, tablets, and feature phones contain NFC technology. Some notable smartphones that utilize NFC technologies include LG Nexus 5, LG G2, Samsung S4, Samsung S5, HTC One, and Motorola Moto X. Figure 7: The N-Mark trademark is the universal symbol for NFC. [7] NFC enables these phones to proceed in either one- or two-way communication. Two phones or other NFC-enabled devices that are tapped against each other can transfer data such as photos, videos, contact information, and web links. There are also NFC tags or stickers that can be tapped with a phone in order to transfer information from the tag to the phone. For example in 2011, Isis Mobile Wallet was rolled out by three major wireless phone companies (Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile) as a mobile payment system in which a user could tap their mobile device to a payment terminal to pay through credit card. Indeed, you can currently visit
your local Toys R Us or CVS Pharmacy store and pay for your purchase with your NFC-enabled devices! The Inner Workings of RFID Earlier we discussed the three major components of RFID. Let s delve deeper into the inner workings of RFID. Passive, Battery-assisted passive, and Active RFID Tags There are three types of RFID tags in terms of drawing a power source passive, battery-assisted passive, and active. Figure 8: Passive tags vs active tags. [13] Passive. Passive RFID tags do not contain their own power source. Instead, the tag s microchip is activated by absorbing energy from the radio wave electromagnetic field emitted by an RFID reader. This means that the reader has to send out a relatively strong signal in order to power on the passive tags. After activation, the tag will briefly emit radio waves containing information stored in its memory that are then received by the receiver. The sending of a signal to the receiver by a tag is called backscattering. Due to not containing a battery, the lifespans of passive tags are virtually unlimited and these tags are usually smaller and cheaper than other types of RFID tags. Also the range of transmission for passive tags are shorter (usually up to six meters away) and have a smaller memory capacity than active tags. [4] These are the tags that are inexpensive enough to be used on disposable goods and in situations where a huge volume of items need to be tagged, such as in item-level RFID tagging systems. Battery-assisted passive (BAP). Battery-assisted passive, or semi-passive, tags contain a small battery. Like passive tags, the battery-assisted passive tag s microchip is activated by a reader. However, the tag does not need to harvest as much energy from the reader s radio waves since the tag is mainly powered by the battery instead. The stored battery improves performance of the tag over passive tags. Some of the performance benefits include longer read/write ranges (over 100 meters), greater data storage capability, and the ability to use monitoring sensors. Not having the tag continually powered on provides a longer battery life (up to 5 years) over active tags. [12] Semi-passive tags are more expensive than passive tags but less expensive than active tags. Active. Active RFID tags also contain a battery as a power source for the tag s microchip. Unlike the other tags though, active tags are not activated by readers but are instead periodically transmitting signals. While active tags have the same benefits of semi-passive
Data Storage tags as mentioned above, active tags can actually initiate communication to the reader depending on if certain conditions are met. Active tags are more expensive than passive or semi-passive tags, and active tags have a shorter battery life than semi-passive tags. Due to its relatively high cost, active tags are usually used on high-value assets such as large containers for transportation. There are three main ways data is programmed onto a tag s chip. Read-only (Class 0 tags). These tags are manufactured already programmed with unique information. This is often compared to license plates, as an RFID system can look up information about the item with this data just like a DMV can look up information about the car owner through the license plate. [2] This information stored in the tag cannot be changed. Read-Write (Class 1 tags). A user can program their own data onto a tag or overwrite the information currently on the tag. These tags are more expensive than read-only tags. Write Once Read Many (WORM). This is a part of Class 1 tags. These tags are similar to read-write tags except that users can write information only once onto a WORM tag. Afterwards, the tag can be read multiple times. Tags can contain different amounts of data depending on how they were manufactured. Active tags usually have a greater capacity for storage than passive tags. Frequency Bands Different types of RFID systems operate at different radio wave frequencies. The frequency used is highly dependent on the application and requirements of the RFID system. The most common bands used in RFID systems are the low frequency, high frequency, and ultra-high frequency bands. Low frequency band (LF). The low frequency band ranges from 120 KHz to 150 KHz. RFID systems in this band have a read range of 10 cm and slow data speeds. Some RFID implementations in this band involve animal identification and factory data collection. [6] High frequency band (HF). The high frequency band works at 13.56 MHz. RFID systems in this band have a read range of 10 cm 1 meter and have low to moderate data speeds. [6] RFID systems using this band are less prone to interference from water or metals in the environment. [4] Smart cards are an example of an implementation of RFID in this band. Ultra-high frequency band (UHF). The ultra-high frequency band works at 433 MHz or the range from 850 MHz to 950 MHz. Due to the band s higher frequencies, RFID systems using the UHF band have a read range of 1-12 meters, or, if needed, can be boosted even higher with batteries. [5] [6] Also, signals in this band have moderate to high data speeds. [6] However, ultra-high frequency signals are more likely to suffer interference and cannot pass through metal or water. RFID implementations in this band include systems that require the tracking of many items at once, such as inventory tracking for transportation services, or systems that require a longer read range, such as electronic toll collection. [14] Although standardization is being worked on for the three main radio frequency bands, some countries use different parts of the radio spectrum than other countries for RFID. The low frequency and high frequency bands are generally the same for most countries. However, for ultra-
high frequency bands, European Union countries use a range from 865 to 868 MHz while North American countries use a range from 902 to 928 MHz. [14] Electronic Product Code (EPC) Whereas barcodes have Universal Product Codes (UPC), RFID technology uses Electronic Product Codes (EPC) to identify each tag. When a reader scans a tag, the tag sends back its unique EPC number no two tags have the same EPC. A database can then retrieve or update information on the item based off the EPC. EPC was created as a solution to identification that better utilized the emergence of the Internet, digitization of information, ubiquity and low cost of computing power, and globalization of business. [2] EPC was developed by the MIT Auto-ID Center to be able to identify every single object ever created in the world. While not specifically created for RFID technology, EPC fits the RFID scheme of being able to identify an abundance of objects being tagged with RFID. EPCGlobal regulates the standards for EPC. Currently, most supply chains in the U.S. conform to the EPC Generation 2.0 protocol. [2] UPC versus EPC Figure 9: Comparing the structure of UPC codes versus EPC codes. [2] A UPC contains eleven digits subdivided into four categories. The first part is a single digit that indicates the numbering scheme for the rest of the numbers in the UPC. The second part is composed of five digits to identify the manufacturer. The third part is also composed of five digits that identify the item number. The last part is a single checksum digit to insure that the UPC was read correctly. The UPC is limited in that it only stores information on the manufacturer and the product code. An EPC also contains four parts. However, it is able to store more information by being able to utilize 96 bits. The first three parts are similar to a UPC. The EPC header relegates information about the EPC scheme. The next part is the EPC Manager which identifies the manufacturer or company. The third part identifies the object class. The fourth part the serial number is different from the UPC though. It allows each RFID tag to have a unique number and identifies the particular item with the specific tag. Four Stages of RFID Network Deployment RFID deployment on a system is a long and complex undertaking. The implementation of RFID should be based on what the implementing company hopes to accomplish with RFID and the
circumstances that surround the deployment. There are four main stages (the four P s) for RFID network deployment: planning, physics, pilot, and production. [2] Planning Figure 10: The four stages of an RFID Network Deployment. [2] Planning is the most critical step on deploying a successful RFID system. You should take several months planning the ins and outs of the system this includes researching to understand the technology, considering the stakeholders involved, accessing the areas of impact from RFID, and budgeting for the system. Think about the end-game in mind when planning the system. How would an RFID system impact your organization? RFID s impact can be broken down into three different workflows: business processes, physical infrastructure, and systems and technology. Business processes. Map out the business processes from end to end and think of how RFID would improve them. Deploying RFID without a change in anything would make RFID just an expense without any improvements. Some non-inclusive situations in the business process that can be improved with RFID involve: Tasks that involve human labor for reading a label or scanning a barcode. Settings that have high data errors that occur from human intervention. Situations that can benefit from real-time data tracking. Inventory counts that need a high degree of accuracy. Areas where items are counted one at a time instead of all at once. Physical infrastructure. Think about how the physical infrastructure has to change to accommodate the changes in the business processes with RFID. You should consult engineers, electricians, and property managers about changes to your organization s physical infrastructure. RFID systems require new hardware, including antennas, readers, routers, etc. that need to be installed, powered, and configured. The RFID system needs a network for the transfer of data to a central application for processing. Items to be tagged should be known ahead of time. Also known beforehand should be where these items will be scanned and tracked.
Conflicts may occur in which other systems already in place may generate radio waves which would interfere with RFID signals. These conflicts will need to be solved. Systems and technology. A well-functioning system utilizing RFID should be able to make sense of the overabundance of data that is collected (billions of reads in a typical warehouse). After all, a profusion of data with no meaning to it would not be very useful. The system should then be able to utilize the data to make improvements in the organization. RFID readers send collected data to a reader interface. This reader interface helps manage the supply of data by running middleware software which allows for the filtering of data. The data is then sent to other software that can further process and make sense of the information. Figure 11: The role of middleware in an RFID system. [15] The data collected should be able to be transmitted to other companies that interact with your organization. This can be accomplished by using global standards (e.g. using EPC numbers). The system could also associate EPC numbers with numbers that are established in an already existing data infrastructure. Various changes in the IT infrastructure are needed in order to accommodate RFID. The RFID system should be configured and integrated into existing applications. These applications should be able to take advantage of serialized data. Then, the RFID system needs to stay maintained throughout its lifetime. Also large amounts of data from RFID reads need to be stored and associated with a database. After you ve analyzed the impact of RFID in your organization, you can plan the implementation of an RFID system. You should be able to develop an implementation model and design a deployment plan. Physics Radio waves follow the laws of physics. Since RFID tags and readers utilize radio waves to send signals to each other, an RFID system needs to take into account how physics affects these signals in particular, how the environment affects communication. Full Faraday Cycle Analysis. The goal of this analysis is to be able to design an RFID system in an environment full of other electromagnetic waves that could potentially interfere with the RFID s radio waves. The two parts of this cycle first analyzes the ambient electromagnetic noise (AEN) and then does radio frequency path loss contour mapping (PLCM). [2]
Product compatibility testing. This testing checks for the compatibility of an item with being able to send RFID radio wave signals that are recognized. Not all products are compatible. For example, metal and liquids greatly interfere with radio waves metal reflects waves and liquids absorb them. Thus, a metallic canned object containing liquids might not be very suitable for tags that emit radio waves highly susceptible to interference by metals and liquids. This testing also checks for items that are placed in the area of the tag or reader that could interfere with the radio wave signals. Pilot Figure 12: How different materials affect UHF radio wave signals. [16] Select hardware for the long term. RFID hardware components should be tested to find the most suitable ones for use in the organization. It is advisable to use quality RFID hardware instead of bargain parts as the long-term support and maintenance cost of these bargain parts may outweigh the short-term savings. The start of an organization-wide RFID deployment should begin with a pilot stage. In this pilot stage, most companies start with a one- or two- location RFID trial implementation to test out kinks in the system. This allows a company to deploy and test RFID in the environment before full RFID implementation. Although the cost of deploying a pilot stage may cost anywhere from $50,000 to $1,000,000, being able to trial an RFID system in a relatively small setting before undertaking company-wide deployment may save the company hundreds of thousands of dollars in the long run. [2] The steps in the pilot stage involve: Planning. Setup and installation. Testing and redesign. After the completion of the pilot state, the trials in this stage should have small but fully functional RFID systems. The costs, benefits, and impact of these systems should be analyzed through these trials before participating in a full company RFID implementation. After all, these pilot trials will become the basis for the larger rollout of a full RFID system. This leads to the next stage the scaling up of the system in the production phase. Production After the pilot phase, you should have already implemented a working RFID system in a small setting. The problem in the production phase is figuring out a way to scale the system into full
company-wide deployment. The complexity of the system grows exponentially as the system grows larger more RFID readers have to be added, the network has to grow bigger, and more data is to be collected. The production phase is similar to the pilot phase in that you are deploying more RFID nodes into the company s system. However, in this phase you should be thinking about the big picture. Tasks in the production stage include: Managing the RFID network. This is the most complex task of the production stage. The RFID readers need to be configured optimally and stay correctly configured. Then the RFID network needs to be designed with the physics components (e.g. radio wave communication) in mind. Since this is at the core of the system, any errors in the RFID network might be disastrous to the organization. Integrating RFID into existing systems. An RFID network will most likely produce an abundance of data that outweighs the amount of data produced in your current system. Thus, the organization s existing systems should be adapted to be able to process and take advantage of this data. Thankfully, many current major software vendors for inventory, enterprise resource planning, and warehouse management have adapted their applications with additions that allow for RFID system integration. Educating users to work with the newly adopted system. Employees that work in the environment of the RFID system need to learn to adapt accordingly. They should be trained in the usage of RFID, what behaviors impact the success of RFID, and common issues that could occur in the RFID system. For example, workers should know that parking a forklift in between a reader and its tags could potentially interfere with the communicating radio wave signals. Allowing for system interaction with outside partners. After the organization feels confident that their RFID system and infrastructure are working well, they should allow for the sharing of their information with associating organizations so that the interactions between companies can reap the benefits of RFID. This allows for a more streamlined and efficient interaction process. For example, companies that deal with inventory management can allow for easy visibility of their inventory to their partners. Companies that deal with asset tracking can use RFID data to show real-time visibility of items to their interacting companies. After the production phase, your organization should have a fully functioning company-wide integrated RFID system in place. The system will still require maintenance and possibly have to be adapted to future changes in the business structure. However, hopefully with proper planning, testing, and deployment of the RFID system, the costs for maintenance and adaptation will be severely reduced! Concerns Privacy With RFID technology contributing to the surge of tracking and big data, it also contains all the privacy concerns that are associated with tracking and big data. The main two privacy concerns with RFID are:
Consumers might not know that they are buying products tagged with RFID. Since the tags do not become deactivated after purchase, consumers may unknowingly have others gather sensitive data from the tags. The identity of a consumer may attained by linking their credit card or loyalty card to the unique number contained in the RFID tag of the purchased item. The clipped tag was developed by IBM as a solution to these consumer privacy problems. Before an item is sold, the RFID tag on the item can be read at a relatively long range. After pointof-sale though, part of the tag can be torn off by the consumer. This greatly reduces the read range (less than a few inches) of the tag. Thus, the consumer can see that the RFID tag has been modified to have a very short read range but he or she still has the ability to use the tag for returns. [6] Security Closely related to privacy is the concern of security and preventing the unauthorized access reading of RFID tags. This concern was partially raised when the United States Department of Defense adopted RFID tags for its supply chain. However, protecting consumer privacy was also a part of the concern. For example, the encryption of RFID chips on United Kingdom s e-passports was found to be broken in 48 hours. This exposed security flaws in the e-passports and criminals could steal data while the passports were being mailed without having to break into the seal of the envelope. Passports were soon developed to have their RFID tags shielded by aluminum shield to make the long-range transmission of data harder to read. [6] A method of security for RFID tags used involves shortening the read range of the RFID tags. However, readers that manage to get within the read range can still gain unauthorized reading of the tags. A second security method implemented utilizes cryptography. The interested reader on these methods of cryptography can look up information on rolling codes and challenge-response authentication (CRA). [6] Figure 13: Clipped tag to increase consumer privacy. [17] Figure 14: E-passport. [18]
References [1] How RFID Works, http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/gadgets/high-techgadgets/rfid.htm, accessed: April 26, 2014 [2] Sweeney, Patrick J., RFID for Dummies, Wiley, Hoboken, N.J., 2005 [3] The History of RFID Technology, http://www.rfidjournal.com/articles/view?1338/, accessed: April 26, 2014 [4] RFID: An Introduction, http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa479355.aspx, accessed: April 26, 2014 [5] RFID Frequently Asked Questions, http://www.rfidjournal.com/faq/, accessed: April 26, 2014 [6] Radio-frequency identification, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/radiofrequency_identification, accessed: April 27, 2014 [7] Near field communication, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/near_field_communication, accessed: April 27, 2014 [8] Did Wal-Mart Love RFID to Death?, http://www.smartplanet.com/blog/pure-genius/didwal-mart-love-rfid-to-death/, accessed: April 27, 2014 [9] Item-level RFID: A Competitive Differentiator, http://www.vilri.org/docs/accenture_vilri_item-level-rfid.pdf, accessed: April 27, 2014 [10] Wal-Mart Radio Tags to Track Clothing, http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/sb10001424052748704421304575383213061198090, accessed: April 27, 2014 [11] Benefits of Implementing RFID in Supply Chain Management, http://www.rfidarena.com/2013/11/14/benefits-of-implementing-rfid-in-supply-chainmanagement.aspx, accessed: April 27, 2014 [12] Comparison of Intelleflex Semi-passive BAP, Active, and Passive RFID, http://www.intelleflex.com/products.semi-passive-vs-active-rfid.asp, accessed: April 27, 2014 [13] Active RFID vs. Passive RFID, http://atlasrfid.com/auto-id-education/active-vs-passiverfid/, accessed: April 28, 2014 [14] Which RFID Frequency is Right for Your Application?, http://blog.atlasrfidstore.com/which-rfid-frequency-is-right-for-your-application, accessed: April 28, 2014 [15] Roussos, George, Networked RFID: Systems, Software and Services, Springer, London, 2008 [16] BOMBPROOF RFID - Smart RFID tag manufacturing makes reading next to metals and liquids a reality, http://www.rfidarena.com/2013/6/6/bombproof-rfid-smart-rfid-tagmanufacturing-makes-reading-next-to-metals-and-liquids-a-reality.aspx, accessed: April 29, 2014
[17] Privacy-enabled RFID labels for product tracking, http://www.gizmag.com/go/5865/, accessed: April 29, 2014 [18] New RFID Passports: Staging for the NAU, http://www.thebuzzmedia.com/new-rfidpassports-staging-for-the-nau/, accessed: April 29, 2014