RFID Lowdown

RFID For Better Business Practices

RFID technology is being used to track products at the front office by Thailand-based Nu Skin Enterprises. The multi-level marketing company which deals in healthcare and cosmetic products plans to introduce the technology to its back office tasks such as inventory and management systems so that production improves and costs come down. The firm will also integrate its front and back offices to improve its overall business practices. TMC Net reports:

For the second phase, which will start next year, Nu Skin will integrate RFID technology to reduce the cost of investment and enable staff to check stock and inventory in real time over a network. The firm currently sells more than 150 healthcare items and has over 230,000 distributors nationwide. Nu Skin is established in 42 countries.

Clear RFID Fears

Amidst all the controversy and debates raging on the issue of RFID invading consumer privacy, the Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT) Working Group on RFID is advocating honesty as the best policy.

Tell your consumers that the products they have just purchased are RFID-tagged, that these tags may be used to collect customer information, that the information will be put to such-and-such uses, and that they have the option of deactivating or destroying the tags and/or choose not to share personal data, says the CDT group, which comprises high-profile companies such as Cisco, IBM, Intel, the National Consumers League, Procter & Gamble and VeriSign.

It has drafted a report which includes the best practices for RFID implementation, and will guide organizations that wish to employ RFID technology, and at the same time, respect consumers’ privacy.

Paying Through Your Phone!

My mobile phone is an extension of my hand; I’m never seen without it, so much so that my family and friends say I should have it glued to my ear. Imagine what they would say if they knew I could use my phone not just to talk, send messages, take pictures, shoot videos, record and listen to music, surf the Internet, transfer files and applications via Bluetooth and infrared technologies, but also to send money to others and make payments.

Yes, it’s possible, through RFID-enabled mobile phones. Not in his wildest dreams would Alexander Graham Bell have even imagined all the purposes his invention would serve! RFID tags embedded in the handsets connect to your debit/credit cards, thus allowing you to pay for goods and services at RFID payment terminals via your phone. Handy option when you leave the credit cards at home!

These phones are currently available in parts of Asia; they are driven by the FeliCa HF tag from Sony. The tag is now being standardized in a joint effort by Sony, Nokia, and Philips Semiconductor.

MasterCard has already implemented RFID technology into its credit cards; convenience stores that accept RFID-enabled payments claim that such transactions are 8 seconds faster than using ordinary credit cards. Is this what they call “buying time”?

So you as a consumer have a wealth of choices – credit cards with RFID or mobile phones with RFID that link to your credit cards? What’s it to be folks?

Reading Too Much Into RFID

Is RFID a wolf in sheep’s clothing? Do the benefits from the technology outweigh the concerns of privacy intrusion they pose? The RFID pendulum swings between the pros and cons; as the technology is applied to new fields and applications, there are more dissenting voices raised against its implementation.

Is there middle ground somewhere in this confusion? How can the power of RFID be harnessed to milk only the advantages it offers? Will increasing awareness of the wealth of benefits RFID has to offer help in reducing paranoia and fears of piracy invasion?

Let’s hope the RFID caucus pioneered by Senators Byron Dorgan and John Cornyn in an attempt to bring to the fore RFID’s advantages and discuss its policy implications will offer some answers to the questions posed above.

The duo will sponsor occasional discussions at the Senate which it hopes will help lawmakers become better acquainted with the technology. Though the launch saw them harping more on the benefits of RFID, the more practical approach would be to believe that, just as a coin has two sides, every advance in technology has its pluses and minuses. The final outcome lies in the way RFID is wielded, to enhance processes and applications rather than as a people-monitoring technology.

RFID – The Life”blood” of Transfusion

There’s no doubting the fact that blood transfusions save lives, but the same procedure can threaten lives if mistakes are made in matching blood types and RH factors. RFID technology is stepping in to fill the gaping holes left by human errors, carelessness and inefficiencies that compromise the safety of blood transfusions.

A foolproof scenario has been set up at the Ospedale Maggiore hospital in Bologna, Italy, where patients are equipped with RFID-tagged wristbands. Each tag contains a unique alphanumeric code that can be compared with a similar RFID module located in the label stuck on blood unit packs.
The comparison is performed by an RFID reader, the Palmed, which has further built-in authentication features such as a fingerprint reader. A server designed by the software firm Tiomed using RFID technology from SkyeTek complements the reader in establishing a match.

Only a perfect match will release a wireless, electronic seal on the blood unit, following which the transfusion takes place. No room for errors in this procedure, that’s for sure.

E-Passports - Q&A

Several concerned pals have asked me, questions regarding the security of tagged passports. So much so, that riding the surge of concerns I made the first post – "Tagged passports…” Since the last post - "Are RFID passports safe...", everyone wants to know more of Faraday cases and passports.

Rfbase, my informed reader, is back with more information and yet again I'm making a post based on his comments. To clarify one point, I wasn't referring to "hacking" faraday cases when I said, "get past the faraday cage" in my last post. I was merely playing devil's advocate for the general public who had these questions...

Questions: What happens when I take the passport out of the case? Do I have to buy a faraday case for my passport? What about the cost? Will the passport come with the case?

Answers: Chances are that you will be getting the passport with a built-in Faraday case. Then you may ask how will the reader read it.  It looks like the E-passport can be read when it is opened and will block all reading when kept shut. Costs - not much information is coming out about the whole thing.

Sparring with RFbase has anyway allowed me to get a whole lot of information out to our readers. It also makes me wonder why the Department of Homeland Security is not speaking out to people about the security features.

The DHS site says: “If you were issued a passport on or after October 26, 2006, and it is not an e-Passport, you will need to obtain a visa. If your passport does not have this feature, you can still travel without a visa if you: 

1. Were issued a valid passport before October 26, 2005, with a machine-readable zone, or 2. You have “e-Passport,” which includes an integrated computer chip capable of storing biographic information from the data page, a digitized photograph, and other biometric information.”

It is obvious that despite the concerns of the public not much information is out there about the security features of E-Passports. In fact, Rfbase has been doing a better job at informing the public by sending me his comments. Lastly, as far as hacking the encrypted reading goes nothing's foolproof forever!

3M Co. to track US Army medical records

If any firm is going great guns in tracking documents these days it is 3M. It was just the other day that I made a post on them tracking US Court documents.

Now 3M Co. has bagged the US Army contract for three years. The company received a $3.76 million contract to develop and install the system and replace a manual file tracking method previously used at Fort Hood Installation in Texas. The test is a pilot program.

The system is supposed to continuously monitor file inventory, catch filing- errors and eliminate human compliance issues, according to a 3M press release. The company feels that the proposed system would make a positive impact on operational efficiencies in health care delivery, the troop deployment process and the management of medical data collection - Bizjournal.com

3M Co. announced that the contract covers:

1. Choosing and optimizing the best RFID to track medical files.
2. Developing a cost-effective system that includes shelf-based reading capabilities.
3. Developing specialized software tailored specifically to meet the military's processes and
4. The installation and training of personnel for its use and maintenance

This novel idea of tracking Army medical records through RFID technology was initiated by the Telemedicine and Advanced Technology Research Center, a unit of the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command. 3M Co. also revealed that the US Army is third Federal entity to opt for its services.

As the Federal entities take up to RFID technology in a big way you also see that it is the same the world over. According to IDTechEX, RFID is making its presence known 76 countries around the globe. This number is up from 49 countries almost 2 years ago. Is RFID everywhere now? What do you think?

Are RFID Passports really safe from "skimming"?

My post on tagged passports has caught the ire of one reader who has pointed out the security features of the new passport. So, are RFID passports safe?

Anti-RFID devices are coming: Vrije University, Amsterdam, is developing the “RFID Guardian”, a device which beeps warnings to a person when a RFID scanner is near and trying to read a chip embedded in a piece of clothing the person might be wearing, for example.

“The RFID Guardian runs on a 550-Mhz XScale 32-bit processor with 64 MB of Ram that functions as the central nervous systems. XScales are often found in PDA and cellular phones”, said Tanenbaum, the university’s anti RFID advocate. The protocol stack was written in C to run on top of eCos, an open-source operating system.

Getting into the anti-RFID act is RSA Security Inc. with an RFID blocker similar to the RFID Guardian. According to Jeff Woods, the research Vice President of Gartner Inc., "The RSA blocker is a system that 'confuses' an RFID reader and prevents it from reading personal or private tags. The challenge for RSA was to define which tags were private and who had access to them."

Back to my reader’s suggestions - Passports if encased in a Faraday cage is safe from being “skimmed”. A Faraday cage or (in the case of passports) wallet is a metal or foil-lined container that is impenetrable to radio-frequency waves. An RFID tag in a Faraday cage/wallet is effectively unreadable.

A blocker may be the first line of defense, the next will be proper encryption and if Passports use 2048-bit ECC. About Elliptical curve cryptography (ECC) my informed reader says, “Not even the best hackers in the world can break 2048-bit ECC.”

Today ECC provides the most security per bit of any public-key algorithm and require less storage, less power, less memory, and less bandwidth than other systems. This allows you to implement cryptography in platforms that are constrained, such as wireless devices, handheld computers, smart cards, and thin-clients. Perfect for passports. 

Finally, I admit - it’s not as bad as I thought it would be - IF PASSPORTS HAVE THESE FEATURES. However, I still believe that if some hacker does get past the Faraday wallet, he may be able to save the encrypted reading – and still device some way to hack the information.

Sturdy RFID Tags

An innovative RFID tag that has been specially designed for use under severe industrial and outdoor conditions is now available from the Switzerland-based supplier of RFID transponders, Sokymat. The IN Tag as it has been dubbed, is available in both low and high frequencies and is extremely useful for items that are subject to thermal and mechanical stress.

It is very reliable for industrial and logistics purposes and complies with the new European Union (EU) directive 02/72/EC, which means that it can be used in direct contact with edible items. It is also chemically and thermally stable, and can withstand exposure to most chemicals and temperatures of up to 140°C. Sokymat reports:

Comprising 20mm, 30mm, and 50mm diameter discs, the IN Tag family is available with 125 kHz or 134.2 kHz, ISO 11784/85 or ISO 18000-2 low frequency read-only transponders, 256 bit or 2 kbit read/write transponders, or 13.56 MHz high frequency ISO 15693 / 18000-3 transponders.

RFID in the Hospitality Industry

The RFID Hospitality Management Systems (Rhymes) Center in Singapore has come out with three applications for use in the hospitality industry. The center, which was opened earlier this week, has been established as a research facility that will harness the power of RFID technology to develop solutions that can be adopted for use in the hotel management and hospitality sectors.

The center has started out with an RFID-enabled self-service check-in and check-out system, a baggage management system that tracks guests’ luggage and allows only authorized personnel to handle baggage, and a personalized service that links elevators and RFID-tagged cards to take guests to the floor in which their rooms are located. Scanners in the elevators read the tags on the cards and send signals to stop the lifts at the floor where the guest’s room is located.

The applications, which were developed at the behest of the Millennium & Copthorne Hotels, are being deployed at the chain’s five hotels in Singapore, during meetings, exhibitions, incentives, and conferences. They will soon be put to use in the company’s overseas hotels too.

RFID at FIFA – A Post Mortem

Now that the football fever has died down, it’s time to turn your attention to other matters surrounding FIFA’s mega event. Like the level of success the implementation of RFID technology reached during the games.

The hype and excitement surrounding the tags embedded in the tickets have given way to post mortems about the implementation, if they served the purpose of security or not.

The RFID tags certainly did not prevent the omnipotent black market from prevailing though. And not all the tickets included personal information about the holder; VIP tickets had RFID chips that included only information on the game, the seating location, and the sponsor of the ticket.

While the tags themselves were not costly, the cost of the entire related paraphernalia including scanners at the stadium turnstiles, the network that connects the scanners to the database servers, and the web-based front end server that was used to personalize the tickets, was high.

For those of you who attended the games and are now worried about your personal details being stored on some server, rest your fears. The Central Information Center for Sporting Events (ZIS) of the German police says that come September, the database will be erased of all information, except details concerning “events that concern the police.”

Conference on RFID Usage

If you are interested in learning more about RFID and its potential uses in various industries, mark August 4 on your calendar. The date will host an RFID conference at the Bellevue University in Bellevue which will feature seminars and presentations by experts in the RFID industry on the different ways that RFID technology is being leveraged.

The conference, which is meant for educators and learners, is sponsored by the Nebraska Logistics Council, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, the Nebraska Department of Economic Development, Cornhusker Motor Lines, DataFlo Consulting and the Nebraska Manufacturing Extension Partnership.

Follow this link for more details on how to register.

Power Paper Deploys RFID Technology to Track Pallets

The Israel-based Power Paper organization, which deals in thin and flexible micro-power source technology and applications, and French value-added reseller NBG ID have collaborated to deploy RFID technology at two distribution centers in France that belong to a global logistics company.

Battery-assisted passive UHF tags from the PowerID unit of Power Paper will be used at both centers to track pallets and reduce prevent them from being misrouted. The L-1010 tags are known as semi-passive tags as they include power from an inbuilt battery which allows for stronger signals and hence higher read rates.

The tags are being utilized to track pallets that contain alcoholic beverages within the logistics company’s warehouse and distribution center. Tags on the pallet and metal shelf are cross referenced to  locate the position of each retailer’s pallet. Power Paper claims a 100 percent read rate in this instance.

In the second deployment, pallets are tracked throughout their journey from the distribution center to the retailer’s location. RFID tags are used to ensure that the right pallets reach the right retailer. Since pallets may contain metals and liquids that are not conducive to the RFID environment, the average read rate is 99.7 percent.

VeriChip RFID implants for the chronically ill - Test begins

Are you a chronic heart patient or perhaps a diabetic? You now have the opportunity to decide on whether you want a radio frequency ID implanted into your arm. The implant will help the hospital read your EHR even though you are unconcious and alone in an emergency!

Well, it is possible nowadays and a hospital is looking for volunteers from their patients. The implant is free of cost and the chip itself will not contain the records, but the 16-digit number obtained by reading the chip with an RFID reader can be linked to the existing health records at the hospital.

Making a foray into this unchartered territory is the Hackensack University Medical Center, Hackensack, NJ and it's voulunteering patients. The patients being considered suffer from chronic conditions like heart disease, epilepsy, diabetes or are recent recipients of organs. They will have the RFID chips, the size of a grain of rice, implanted above their right elbow.

The RFID chips being used are from VeriChip. Hackensack University Medical Center and Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey are asking patients to volunteer for a two-year program that will test "personal health record modules" inserted just beneath their skin. The passive chips will contain a 16-digit number that, when scanned at the medical center, will link them to their electronic patient record.

The electronic health record (EHR) that is linked to the 16-digit number in the tag will contain:

1. Family contact information 2. Recent lab test results 3. Pharmacy prescription information and 4. Medical information from the records of Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey (HBCBSNJ), the health insurer that is carrying out the trial.

Dr Richard Popiel, vice president and chief medical officer, HBCBSNJ, said: "This two-year collaboration with Hackensack University Medical Center, its physicians and VeriChip will provide cutting-edge technologies that will hopefully save lives and provide measure of comfort to our members with chronic conditions and to their families."

Great boost for RFID technology but there are sceptics and the general publc are not really warming up to the idea of implants except for a few RFID champions who put tags in their bodies. But, for the chronically ill, the implants could be a life saver!

Tagged passports in Aug - Ready to be a sitting duck?

How do you feel having RFID tags in your passport? This question will be answered soon when RFID enabled US passports will be out from August. The tag will have all possible details about you and will add to your “being watched” feeling.

The new RFID tagged passport will store all of your personal data, including name, address, nationality, a picture, a digitized fingerprint and anything else important enough to be stored. Identity thieves are probably already zeroing-in on this new fad of the government. I’d say keep those passports at home always and pray like hell it is as safe as the government says it is.

Why would the US want to adopt what was proved unsafe by the Dutch? The Dutch proved that the prototype of their version of tagged passport was cracked within two hours by a security firm on TV. The cracking experts got complete access to all the sensitive information on the card including the fingerprint and photo.

The answer to the “why” question is that the government wants to:

1. Minimize human error while processing passports
2. Speed up the processing
3. Track fake passports

The worry here is that crooks can remotely access/read your sensitive data.
The fact that scanners are easy to come by with even mobile phones capable of scanning available in the market, this could only lead to trouble.

Couple of questions: What can be done to prevent “skimming” of data on your passports? You can slip your passport into an RFID-scan-resistant bag –  What if you accidentally pick up a terrorist’s passport? If the police have a scanner hopefully they will see the photo on the tag and let you go - Though you could be watched for having been caught with the wrong passport.

The bigger problem would be having a terrorist read your details and use it to fool the police by fiddling with the police scanner! It is a minefield of security threats that awaits this new government decision. So, traveling with an RFID tagged passport - same as having a homing device on a sitting duck, methinks!

RFID Security Just Got More Secure

The security and privacy aspects of RFID implementations just got a shot in the arm with the launch of SkyeTek Inc.’s advanced security technology that incorporates the best cryptography standards in the industry. Embedded RFID applications such as item-level inventory management and contactless payment that use both HF and UHF tags are now more secure because of advanced encryption and hashing standards such as Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) and Secure Hashing Algorithm (SHA). IP Communications reports:

These security features come standard in SkyeTek's new reader modules, the M2 HF SkyeModule and M9 UHF SkyeModule. Both readers allow customers to utilize industry standard HF and UHF tags for security-intensive applications, including tags that have already been deployed by customers. The M2 and M9 also provide support for proprietary encryption algorithms and their associated tags.

RFID Vendor Ties Up With Fujitsu

Following the spurt of interest in item-level RFID tags, Fujitsu Transaction Solutions Inc. has tied up with AbsoluteSKY, Inc., which designs, develops, and implements RFID technology for item-level tracking. Under the terms of the agreement, Fujitsu will resell AbsoluteSKY’s intelliTRACKER product suite to retailers for real-time tracking at the item level. The reverse will also hold good, with AbsoluteSKY reselling Fujitsu products to its customers.

The solution promises to bring down losses, prevent missed sales opportunities, and improve inventory turns. The tie-up aims to exploit the marriage between the best of AbsoluteSKY’s RFID solutions and Fujitsu’s line of products. TMC Net reports:

IntelliTRACKER technology (patent-pending) integrates with retailers' enterprise and store-level systems, providing an unprecedented level of inventory visibility and operational enhancements -- automating such functions as store receiving, stock replenishment, warehouse receiving and shipping, as well as tracking and control of markdown counts, style-aging and store-to-store transfers.

RFID to track Government files

The smell of old documents bring memories of my grandpa’s law office, filled with files of old court cases that nobody seemed to want any more! But, the place would be in a chaos when the one odd old client would turn up trying to locate some paper. The files will be searched in an ascending order of date till we retrieved the document being requested. It was not a pretty sight and was backbreaking too!

That was one veteran lawyer’s quaint law office; now think of a court and the number of legal cases that get resolved on its floor every day. Every case surely has a big thick file attached to it for posterity. Obviously until now these files were kept in the records section using some method, which would not only help track but also retrieve it if the time came.

With over 100,000 case files alone with the US Tax Court, it is evident how much scope for improvement there could exist in a manual file tracking system. For one there would be so many human errors not to mention the cost of human labor itself. Clearly in all such government establishments, a more efficient method of file tracking is required.

Enter RFID and we suddenly seem to have a faster more efficient method of utilizing this new technology in helping us solve this laborious task. The US Tax division and more recently the US Tax Court have both allowed to let 3M deploy their RFID tracking solutions with the hopes of not only improving the tracking and retrieval process but also better it.

For now such use of RFID is rather uncommon and it seems like only 3M is chasing this market aggressively. Perhaps until now the fact that use of RFID was an expensive option and the technology itself was not proven is what is responsible for not deploying RFID for this purpose.

But, costs are down and not only Courthouses and Government institutions but also Hospitals, Colleges, Research Centers can use RFID to track files. That's time and money saved!

Wal-Mart takes retailing RFID to Canada

If it’s in America now can Canada be Far behind - That I think is the guiding philosophy behind the top brass at Wal-Mart USA. The Wal-Mart -RFID bonding is now legendary. With its financial muscle power its not surprising that they made it to the headlines when Wal-Mart Stores Inc.- World biggest retail chain - decided to introduce RFID technology into their shopping chain.

Now it seems like Wal-Mart Canada Corp. the Canadian subsidiary is preparing to launch a pilot project to match its current ongoing RFID program in the U.S. Wal-Mart Mart is hoping to convince retailers in Canada to join the RFID band wagon after a STORE conference later this week where in retailers will be introduced to the concept of RFID that Wal-Mart Mart is trying to sell.

One major difference though in the Canadian experiment would be that unlike in the US where it was mandatory for retailers to comply with certain specific guidelines in the move towards the RFID implementation, there would be no such compulsion in Canada.

Wal-Mart Mart is fully convinced of the benefits of using RFID in such supply and that is perhaps the single most important reason why Wal-Mart Mart is marching forward with its plans. Starting from being able to efficiently track all their goods in the supply chain providing end-to-end visibility, it can help gauge the movement of goods prompting suppliers when replenishment is required.

RFID can also track, delayed shipments and perhaps the most important feature of them all is the interconnectivity between the concerned supplier to Wal-Mart Mart and others in the chain.

Wal-Mart expects this pilot project to be completed by 2007 and Ontario has been selected for this pilot project because of the diversity in its population there. The future for Wal-Mart Mart in Canada will be largely decided by the success of this Pilot project. Considering the success Wal-Mart has had with RFID I can only predict the Canadian project can only be the same. Way to go Wal-Mart!

Football Fever Drives RFID Research

The curtain has finally fallen on the FIFA mega-event that comes to pass once every four years and succeeds in whipping up a frenzy of patriotism, passion and fervor for the way 22 men chase a ball around a field. While the world will always be divided into those who love and worship football and those who absolutely hate it, there is no denying that this particular world cup has been instrumental in bringing the benefits of RFID technology to the fore.

Even a layman will now be able to associate RFID as “that gizmo they used on the FIFA World Cup tickets.” The researchers are not content with this progression though. If recent reports are to be believed, the Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits in Germany is already elbow-deep in plans for the next world cup, four years away.

Rumors abound that tags will grace not only the tickets but also the balls and the shin guards of the players. Readers will also assist the much-hassled referees by monitoring the field and easing the process of assigning penalties and deciding offside goals. Is all this strategy going to be just a dream or become reality? Only time will tell.

Secure – But at What Cost?

The right to privacy, protection of sensitive data – just a couple of the most bandied about watchwords in the IT world. Just how far are you willing to go to protect your data and ensure that your organization’s security is not breached? Well, one company is going to the extent of implanting RFID chips into the arms of its employees, with their consent, of course.

The Cincinnati-based surveillance security services provider CityWatcher.com has embarked on a highly controversial project that has raised many an eyebrow. Founder Sean Darks and two of his employees have RFID chips embedded in their arms in an attempt to enforce strict access control of secure areas.

Other employees have chosen the safer and less-notorious option of carrying key chains or badges with the RFID chips. The problem with hand-held devices is that they are prone to theft or misplacement. The solution to this problem may lie in the use of a two-key authentication process where information on RFID tag and biometric data like a fingerprint or an eye scan are used to jointly grant access to secure locations.

Again, the problem depends on the lengths criminals would go to in their attempts to steal your data. We certainly don’t want a scenario out of Dan Brown’s bestseller “Angels and Demons” where a scientist is killed for the sake of his eyeball. No amount of security is enough when the stakes and consequences are too high; but what is the price you’ll end up paying for each new advance in technology? It’s time to ruminate!

Resurgence of Bar Codes

If you thought that RFID would push the humble bar code out of the limelight and into obscurity, think again. The old technology refuses to go out, at least not without putting up a fight against its much-hyped successor.

Much has been said about the RFID tags embedded in the tickets for the just-concluded FIFA World Cup. But how many of you know that these tickets also had linear bar codes that stored information just as valuable as that stored by the RFID tags?

Bar codes are being given a makeover; the revamped 2-D bar codes are capable of holding a larger volume of information, besides incorporating built-in security features, an aspect hitherto missing in bar codes.

Open standards for the coding of 2-D tags are available in the form of PDF 417 from Symbol Technologies and Aztec from Welch Allyn.

Airlines use RFID to cut baggage-mishandling costs

The airline industry is probably one of the most interested in RFID nowadays as it has been plagued by threats of huge losses. Therefore the war is on to find cost cutting measures without cutting too many jobs world over.

So, now we have European airlines, Air France and KLM using RFID to track baggage. Both airlines will be running a trial with RFID tags to label and track passenger baggage on flights between Paris-Charles de Gaulle and Amsterdam Schiphol Airport. The RFID tags will be used for all baggage dropped off at these points, regardless of the destination. KLM starts the trial on July 10 and plan to have it at all drop-off points departure Hall 2 at Schiphol be equipped to handle RFID tags by the end of this year. 

Did you know that each incident of baggage mishandling costs $100? Airport baggage theft and mishandling costs the global airline industry $750m annually in compensation claims. A number of airports around the world have also begun piloting RFID bag tags. The Hong Kong International Airport has a US$50 million project underway that it hopes will boost security and enhance the airport’s baggage-handling efficiency.

RFID tags will replace the current bar-code tags, which have been criticized for being prone to damage resulting in baggage being sent to the wrong aircraft. According to global airlines lobby group the International Air Transport Association (Iata), the RFID tag can be used to determine the status or whereabouts of an item as it is processed.

Better passenger privacy: The new tag will have only a 10-digit number and a date which will be of no use to anyone outside the of a baggage environment. RFID technology is definitely quicker and more efficient than bar codes. This will result in bags being sorted and loaded faster and reduction in the number of wrongly sorted bags. That means lesser cost, fewer records of delayed bags and happy fliers.

Temperature Sensor for RFID Tags

A temperature-sensor circuit that integrates with both Gen 2 UHF and 13.56 Mhz RFID chips, consumes very little power, and can also be used to make inexpensive passive RFID sensors, battery-assisted passive (BAP) sensors, and active sensor tags – does it sound too good to be true? It’s not; Washington-based IP development company Gentag Inc. has come up with such an ultra-linear sensor that can be merged with the RFID chip itself.

The sensor offers numerous advantages:

• Fabrication on the RFID chip using general digital CMOS technology is simple and cost-effective. This makes it invaluable in fields where temperature sensing is vital such as transportation of perishable products, pharmaceuticals, biological samples such as blood, tissue and plasma, and fresh produce.
• It is analog, always in thermal equilibrium with the tag, and minimizes the use of power when on and reading temperatures. It consumes no power when switched off.
• The read accuracy is dependent on the calibration temperature. At 40 degrees (Centigrade), its accuracy is ±1 degree for the industrial temperature range -20 to +100 degrees and ±0.1 degrees over the medical temperature range of 34 and 42 degrees.
• Gentag can combine its patent for using mobile phones as readers for RFID sensors with this sensor to enable wireless sensing and monitoring of temperature.

Organic Electronics in RFID Tags

Organic electronics firm ORFID Corporation and BASF Future Business (BFB) will join hands and resources in developing and marketing printable organic electronic devices that can be used in RFID tags, display backplanes, and other electronic products. The organic materials, financial resources, and materials expertise will be supplied by BFB, while ORFID will be involved in the building and development processes for printing and testing the organic devices. ORFID hopes to take advantage of this collaboration to procure organic materials that will improve the performance and ease of manufacture of its brainchild, VOFET (Vertical Organic Field Effect Transistor), which is like a wafer-based silicon transistor, but costs significantly less to manufacture. IP Communications reports:

ORFID's goal, and that of electronics manufacturers around the world, is to enable the production of a new generation of ultra-thin, light-weight and flexible electronic products, such as displays and "smart packaging" that incorporates printed RFID tags.

Securing Data With RFID

This is one invention that will be welcomed with open arms in the RFID world – a computer chip that uses RFID technology to transmit data, but only after it has been unlocked by a validated fingerprint. The chip, BCM5890, has been developed by semiconductor company Broadcom for use in plusID, a security application from biometrics firm Privaris.

This is just the beginning though; there is a vast scope for this chip which will revolutionize the way personal authentication data is sent wirelessly using RFID. Applications that use biometrics like fingerprints and eye scans to authenticate identities will become even more secure with BCM5890, which Broadcom terms the “world’s first secure processor with integrated RFID capabilities.”

The plusID, the first application to use this chip, will provide enhanced security because the fingerprint to be compared against the original is stored on the device itself. This removes the need for infrastructure and a remote database to store fingerprints or other biometric data. Also, the probability of hackers getting into such databases and stealing information is virtually zero.

The plusID has the advantage of being small enough to fit on a keychain. Read speeds are high, you can use the device more than 1,000 times before you have to replace the batteries, and it’s also compatible for use with Bluetooth technology and USB drives.

With the Broadcom BCM5890 costing $15 each for orders over 10,000, this technology does not cheap. But for those who value their information and data security, it could be a priceless purchase.

RFID and Football

I don't know how many of you are football fans; but I am definitely NOT one. And this is because the constant football watching on my TV (courtesy the spouse) means that I miss out on what I want to watch. And so I resign myself to reading a book in the bedroom, and hearing that constant "audience noise" which is such a trademark of sports coverage on the TV. What is it with them anyway, subjecting us to that constant "human static" sound? The audience at the stadiums seems particularly disposed to be constantly creating some kind of sound that result in a constant hum (or is it buzz) on the television that so gets on the nerves of those people who are not actually watching the match, but can hear it anyway.

Enough of my griping; why am I talking about football? Football (watching and playing) is in the process of being transformed by RFID. Read this report about how the microchips embedded in the tickets during the ongoing World Cup made for sophisticated execution of security.

RFID Analyzes Shopping Patterns

The technology being used by Samsung Telco in Korea does monitor shopping patterns of its customers but the supermarket chain says its customers have no complaints. Signs plastered all over its 69 retail outlets scream that the shopping trolleys and baskets are tagged with RFID chips whose signals are picked up readers. The store’s managers are thus provided a map of each shopper’s movements across the store. These movements are translated into shopping patterns and customer shopping profiles. Accordingly, the most commonly selected items are placed closer together so that movement is minimized.

There are a few drawbacks though; unless shoppers use a trolley or basket, their movements cannot be used to generate more useful information. The chain also had to custom-build its readers as standard ones were too large to fit on the shelves. Samsung Telco has already spent more than $800,000 on its RFID implementation, $300,000 of which was subsidized by the Korean government. The supermarket plans to introduce “smart shelves”, which will use RFID technology for inventory control. A smart shelf will be able to notify mangers when its contents are running low.

Public Consensus on RFID

A little knowledge is a dangerous thing – it prevents people from seeing the positive aspects of things. The scenario that is being played out in the RFID industry in Europe can be paralleled along these lines; the negative features of RFID are overshadowing the numerous benefits the technology can provide. Among the most common RFID-induced fears are invasion of privacy and radiation effects.

The European Union is working to address these fears by opening up a public forum for discussion and voting on its “Your Voice in Europe” website. The emphasis has shifted from finding an acceptable, universal standard that can be implemented all over Europe to alleviating RFID apprehensions among the general public. Issues such as interoperability, international compatibility, radio spectrum allocation, and the future of RFID standards have thus been pushed to the back burner for the time being, and public acceptance has taken top priority.

Arguments for RFID stress that the radiation from the tags are less harmful than that from mobile phones. As for the privacy issue, RFID tags are attached to the pallets instead of individual items, so there is no cause for concern, say industry analysts. Even in the case of item-level tagging, newer technologies are being developed to temporarily disable the readability of the tags at the point of sale. The tags can be enabled at a later date if necessary for the purpose of post-purchase benefits.

As with any new technology, there are the usual trepidations and misgivings. But the power of technology is in the hands of the user. If deployed judiciously and for the right purposes, the promise of RFID is incredible. 

Application of Radio Frequency Identification in Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) Operations

This is an indepth RFID Application article; by our guest writer - Suresh Patel.

RFiD and Asset Management
Organizations are increasingly dependent upon technology to improve the management of, and returns provided by their assets. Over the past decade an enabling technology has emerged that can help an organization meet these challenges by providing accurate, real-time information on the location, status and health of its assets and inventory – within the organization, and within an overall value chain.

RFiD is an evolution of Auto-ID technologies. Organizations adopting and researching RFiD are generally focused on the supply chain benefits. However, the benefits can be equally dramatic within asset and service maintenance operations. Applying RFiD technology across certain aspects of an organization’s asset portfolio can yield positive improvements to the top and bottom line.

Analysis of RFiD
RFiD represents a range of technologies that involve radio-frequency transmission of messages between a reader and a tag attached to the item to be identified.

RFiD Tags & Application Areas
Passive Tags: Asset identification and location tracking
Active Tags: Asset status and maintenance history for performance measures, regulatory compliance and audit trails.
Smart Tags: Asset health and performance monitoring with alarm options.

Passive RFiD is a cheap RFiD option, with no internal power source. This places many limitations on its use including short reading ranges (typically 3m or less) and short message lengths (typically 128 bytes or less). Semi-passive RFiD has onboard batteries for control circuits but still relies upon the reader to power communication. Active RFiD are battery powered which greatly extends its range, message length and general usefulness for asset management. “Smart RFiD” tags extend active RFiD by including programmable logic that can be used for time and condition monitoring.

EC brainstorms over RFID privacy issues

RFID related privacy concerns seems to be the important thing on the agenda of EU commissioner Viviane Reding. While the European Commission (EC) is determined to ensure that the use of radio frequency identification devices (RFID) boosts the competitiveness of the Europe's economy and improves the quality of life of its citizens, it is aware of the need to safeguard their basic rights, and in particular their privacy.

And what better way to get a whole lot of ideas than to get users from the world ver into a sort of a web based Brain Storming session. Reding has invited user on to the "Your Voice in Europe" web site and urged them to contribute what they feel must be the important considerations while implementing RFID for a better tomorrow.

It was at a trade fair in March 2006 that the EU began looking at the need to harness the technology in a manner ensuring right opportunities for its growth were provided. That the RFID is gaining popularity in practically every field is an undeniable fact. With a view to come to a conclusion on the "way ahead" a few workshops have need conducted during which issues pertaining to interoperability, international compatibility, radio spectrum allocation, and the future of RFID technology were discussed.

The idea of the exercise is ensure the entire EC stays on the same grid while discussing and arriving at solutions for their common advantage. It is intended this way to avoid a fragmented approach to RFID in Europe.

Another fair is scheduled in October. It is expected that by then the EU would have consolidated all feedback received from the online workshops and seminars. The findings will be presented to an audience of experts and decision makers, who will assist the EU, arrive at an assessment, which will then be presented, to the European Parliament and Council. Considering the fact that RFID is here to stay this move seems to be logical one in the correct direction and surely the findings will set standards for the RFID of the future.

RFID - Industry advocates, new uses...

The expanding use of RFID thanks to large retailers like Wal-Mart and Target has raised concerns with some privacy advocates. RFID devices use small processors and antennae that are integrated into a paper or plastic label. Those chips can then be read by an electronic scanner, and unlike bar codes, RFID chips withstand dirt and scratches.

This means that the tags and labels can remain on the consumer item and still have data on it and privacy alarms go off. So, the search is on for better options and we have tags that can be torn off and thereby destroyed and even self-destructing tags being touted as the answer. However there needs to be a code of conduct of sorts for RFID manufacturers whereby consumer’s privacy fears can be assuaged.

The Center for Democracy and Technology's (CDT's) Working Group on RFID has been advocating for some standard for the RFID industry to better the trust of RFID devices in day-to-day life. They suggest that companies using RFID tags on products should notify customers in all cases, should tell customers whether they can deactivate the tags and should build security into the technology as a primary design requirement.

On to more RFID news - We now have Australians finding unique uses for RFID and this time it’s for skiers on mountain slopes. At Perisher Blue, chief information officer David Allan is testing a resort-wide smartcard that will double as an electronic lift pass and virtual money. They have big plans for the following year when embedded RFID chip on the card will be used for access.

How does that work? An RFID sensor at the bottom of each lift will go red or green to validate passes and what’s more the card could be used to store loyalty points, tally the kilometers skied in a day and gain other services. Do you have any unique ideas for RFID tecnology?

Gray areas in RFID credit cards

MasterCard had in the recent past introduced the RFID PayPass credit cards in collaboration with  Australian Banks. Through selected outlets, this system now supports in excess of over 35,000 Commonwealth bank customers. While this is still at the trial stages, PayPass has been more widely accepted in the US by over 7 million customers.

However, despite winning varying levels of acceptance, the company is still fighting concerns over security of the technology. MasterCard is prompt in highlighting that the security required for the use of the card has been built into the application itself. Addressing an issue brought out by an attendee at a recently concluded conference in Sydney, where it was alleged that these cards were susceptible to digital interferences, MasterCard Consultant Robert White highlighted that these cards use anti-collision technology.

One question however… What would happen if you have multiple RFID cards in your wallet? At present while the RFID cards may not be in vogue yet the world over, and when companies like Visa and MasterCard have not yet come to any agreeable convention, you could actually be carrying different types of cards which may or may not be activated by the RFID scanner. On the same lines Skimming may also be possible. Skimming occurs when an intruder is reading the contents of your RFID tag from the vicinity.

Another peculiar problem that the card companies may have to address in the future is the possible multiple deduction of the sale amount from all the cards you carry. Even if MasterCard and Visa and the other card companies work out a convenient way of identifying the types of cards, problem will be faced if the customer carried two Master cards from different banks. At a time when banks are more than generous to give you credit cards, I wonder if the time we are trying to save with swipe credit cards will actually lead us to spend more time in clarifying at the till which card should be debited and which shouldn’t.

Pirated music, DVDs - Can RFID help?

The war on piracy of music and movies is on it would seem as the hub of piracy, China is finding piracy is hurting the country’s own industries! U.S. officials say its exports cost legitimate producers worldwide up to $50 billion a year in lost potential sales.

According to this article, the Chinese government has tried to undercut the black market for software by ordering computer makers this year to sell PCs only with legitimate operating systems already installed. Officials have been told to remove pirated software from government computers. Commerce Minister Bo Xilai said in March that process was under way, but he set no deadline for compliance.

However, the problem is not an easy one, as ordinary Chinese people don't see anything wrong with buying pirated goods. If you really look at it we have regular people all over Asia also thinking the same way. Even in the US or Europe we often have people returning from Thailand or Malaysia flying back home with ten or twelve pirated DVDs especially the “five in one” ones where you can pick up the entire Star Wars series in one disc.

The quality is fairly okay and if you can put up with the awful subtitles you have your full collection of children’s’ classics for a despicable amount of 200 Baht! Surprisingly, most people are much more morally inclined to overlook the felony part of purchasing pirated music and movies.

China is followed by Russia which reports of the case of "The Da Vinci Code," the first version to appear was a "tryapka" or "rag" — Russian slang for the low-fi copies shot on camcorder directly in the cinema. Despite warnings shown before screenings, Russia's copyright law doesn't bar the practice: if a pirate is kicked out of the movie hall for filming, he can claim the copy was for personal use and successfully sue for the cost of his ticket.

In its battle against near-universal Chinese piracy of Hollywood blockbusters, Warner Bros.' weapon of choice is a little white price tag smaller than a postage stamp. But, can RFID really help? Not till people really grasp the crime that piracy really is!