RFID Lowdown

Take a Tumble with RFID

-- Pushpa Sathish, Staff Writer

With RFID being used for a wide range of applications, it follows that a demand exists for rugged, robust tags that withstand extreme conditions. Texas Instruments (TI) has stepped in serve this need with its Overmolded (OM) transponder line of RFID tags, which are:

[via Thomasnet News]

…designed to withstand extreme environments where temperature, high pressure and harsh chemicals inhibit the performance of line-of-sight automatic identification technologies such as bar codes and other less robust RFID tags.

The tags come with two memory options – 2K and 256 bits, they’re small and extremely durable and provide competitive read rates. Perfect for industrial laundry purposes – a fact that has been tried and tested with success in Norway, at the St. Olavs University Hospital in Trondheim.

Make Up Your Mind!

-- Pushpa Sathish, Staff Writer

If you’re a woman, this piece of news will have you jumping for joy! A Tokyo department store has harnessed the power of RFID to offer shoppers help decide on the right make-up for them. No more scrubbing off the wrong shade of lipstick or the eye shadow that has you looking like something out of a horror novel.

All you have to do to wear the perfect face to work is to walk in to the Mitsukoshi store in the Ginza area in Tokyo, wave one of the 19 RFID-tagged items over a sensor, and a simulator throws up your image wearing said lipstick/eye shadow/blush. Another display shows product information, while a third calls up comments from other shoppers.

Tokyo’s Ginza district is the latest hotspot of RFID activity in the country; a year-long project involving over 10,000 tags and sensors is being trialed across the shopping area.

Filling Up on RFID

-- By Pushpa Sathish, Staff Writer

Natural gas being the preferred method of cutting down on fuel costs in most parts of South East Asia, the PTT gas company in Thailand is turning to RFID in an attempt to enrich customers’ re-filling experience. If all goes according to plan during the pilots at three Natural Gas Vehicle (NGV) stations, customers lining up to fill their gas tanks will receive personalized service. With or without wires, RFID tags are being leveraged to identify customers as soon as they pull up into the filling station, figure out how much gas they need, and also work out if their car engines are in need of a tune up.

In one scenario, the one-to-one wire line RFID, the tag is fitted on the car’s gas pipe with the reader on the nozzle of the pipeline; the car’s data, including license number, machine number, driver information, and price, is transferred to a central database as soon as the nozzle touches the pipe. In the second, one-to-many wireless RFID, the reader is embedded at the entrance to the gas station, and with the tag on the car’s windshield, customer data is gathered as soon as the car drives in.

The cost of modifying the cars will be subsidized by PTT, but those who accept this offer will have to pay more for a kilogram (app. 2.2 pounds) of gas – Bt12 instead of Bt8. PTT is banking on the increase in gas-operated vehicles to drive its pioneering endeavor, according to Nuttachat Charuchinda, its executive VP of Natural Gas Vehicles. By the time the technology is commercially launched early next year, PTT hopes to increase the number of filling stations from 76 to 120.

Reading Between Parking Lines

-- By Pushpa Sathish, Staff Writer

It may be good news for the South Korean authorities who are trying to find a solution to the lack of parking and driving space in their overcrowded cities, but for those in violation of established rules, this joint offering from SkyeTek and Omnitech is sure to rain on their parades.

The space rationing program launched by the Korean government with the help of RFID is set to be a greater success with the new uWiz-4000 handheld RFID readers. With rules stating that cars with certain identifiers are allowed within city limits on certain days while others are not, if citizens think they can get away from the long arm of the law by venturing into forbidden territory on their days off, they’re sadly mistaken. The readers, with integrated wireless network connectivity, scan tags on parked cars and send information back to the network database if the vehicles are found to violate the law. SkyeTek reports:

Based on SkyeTek’s M9 UHF module, the uWiz-4000 provides tag support for EPC Class 1, Gen 2 and ISO 18000-6B standards. With power efficiency that enables the reader to last up to a week without recharging, the uWiz-4000 provides parking personnel with reliable reads at ranges up to one meter. The handheld device is the size of a small writing tablet, has a foldable antenna, and weighs just over half a kilogram, making it easy for officials to transport it for use across the city.

RFID Tags: To Stop A Car Thief

Can RFID tagging stop the theft of luxury cars in Malaysia? That's what the Road Transport Department (RTD) Director-General hopes. The tags that they plan to use will be attached to license plates and be capable of transmitting up to 100 meters. What's more, the battery is expected to last 10 years. Handheld scanners at roadblocks could then be used to identify stolen vehicles. [IHT via Slashdot]

This is a different approach for an automotive application than in South Korea where cars in certain areas will be tagged as a traffic control measure, to ensure that only authorized drivers are allowed in certain metro areas on specific days. RFID use in the automotive sector is expected to grow by 20% per year between 2006 and 2010.

Wal-Mart Website Wonky But RFID Program Moving Ahead

Wal-Mart, the company that some might say has been singlehandedly driving enterprise supply chain RFID applications, recently suffered a 10-hour outage on their eCommerce website, for which Information Week Editor Rob Preston laid into them. The problem is that it happened on so called Black Friday, the day after American Thanksgiving, which is said to be the best retail shopping day of the year (which puts some retailers "in the black" with profit, hence the name). The company actually spent 13 months to redesign their website, which relaunched in October and crashed in late November - due to getting seven times the web traffic the previous Black Friday.

Website problems aside, Wal-Mart is at least keeping itself on track with its RFID mandate, possibly ready to add another 700 retailers compliant, which would push the total number to over 1200 with radio frequency technology either already implemented or about to be. Following on the heels of Wal-Mart's push, grocery retailer Kroger might be ready to have its big suppliers use RFID tags. Another grocery retailer, Ahold USA, is already using RFID and will expand that use in 2007.

RFID Applications: Forestry Asset Management

[This post is part of a short series aimed at giving a quick overview of existing and future applications of RFID - radio frequency identification - technology.] Asset Management (AM) is one of the more common applications of RFID technology. Within this umbrella application are many specialized apps targeted at a particular use which typically requires customized techniques as well as equipment.

For example, in forestry applications of AM, such as that developed by TU Munich (Technical University of Munich), a method of applying RFID tags to logs has been devised. In this case, logs that have already fallen are tagged by the harvester. This allows a more refined process and the ability to track a log through several steps. It's much easier for everyone involved in the log harvesting process to determine what stage a log is currently at.

What's unique about the TU Munich application is that the passive tags are stapled into the side of a log by the harvester, compared to other similar apps that use nail-shaped tags that have to be manually hammered by a lumberjack. The harvester collects information about each log and stores it tied to a unique id. RFID Journal provides more detail.

High-Performance RFID Products from Elektrobit launched

Elektrobit, a technology company specializing in embedded software and hardware solutions for selected automotive and wireless environments has recently launched two products in the RFID market. The two products are - Elektrobit RFID Reader and the Elektrobit WLAN Node. With the launch of the first two products in the RIFD category, the company has made its presence felt in the market. It aims to become a leading global open RFID reader system provider.

The two products from the company have been packaged into what they call the ‘Elektrobit Identification Network Architecture’. This launch has been a product of their 10 year experience in radio channel propagation and air interface technologies with world leading companies. Elektrobit is also a member of several global bodies like ETSI and EPCglobal. This further strengthens their image as a committed player in the RFID arena. RFID Solutions online reports:

The Elektrobit RFID Reader works at UHF frequencies, and it is EPC Gen2 and ISO 18000-6C compatible. It provides rugged modern mechanical design and high reading performance with single static antenna. The product is a CE marked and ETSI compliant high-quality reader.”

Retail segment ready to adopt RIFD in a big way in 2007

Several reports are doing rounds in the retail segment regarding the stepping up of RIFD adoption in 2007. Reports suggest that retail giant Wal-Mart is all set to extend its RIFD program to approximately another 700 suppliers. If this is true then it would mean that by the end of 2007 there would be close to 1200 Wal-Mart suppliers who would be using RIFD. This means that by 2007 more than 1200 suppliers would either be shipping products with RIFD tags or would be getting ready to do so. All this is expected to be stream lined by 2007 holiday season.

Apart from this grocery retailer Kroger also seems to be readying itself for adopting the technology in the coming year. It is sending out feelers to its big suppliers to find out if they are ready to adopt the technology. And recently the global head of RIFD strategy at Ahold USA, confirmed that its grocery operation is already geared to expand its use of RIFD technology in 2007. DC Velocity reports:

I know Wal-Mart is getting aggressive," says the CEO of a vendor close to the retail sector. "I don't know if they've told 700 more suppliers or not, but there is nothing to indicate that Wal-Mart has slowed down its desire and intent to make this work. I wouldn't be surprised if they are teeing up another set [of suppliers]."

Sequiam Biometric Deadbolt Lock

In what's claimed to be a first, Sequiam Biometrics is offering a biometric deadbolt lock, BioLock, for home use. A swipe of an authorized finger through a scanner grants access. The lock runs on double AA batteries and has a numeric keypad that makes it easy to manage users. [TMCNet via SecureID News]

While fingerprint biometrics probably tends to be met with caution by the average consumer because of its negative connotations, I can see something like this being more welcome than, say, the implantation of an RFID chip in the hand - like Amal Graftstra did when he grew tired of carrying house keys, and Mikey Sklar did purely for experimental reasons. Furthermore, the BioLock appears relatively easy to use, and biometric information seems to be stored only locally. It can even be set to allow one-time entries on a specific day, at a specific time.

Reasons To Tag Air Passenger Baggage

Airlines are suffering from an increased loss of passenger baggage lately, apparently since the US and UK foiled a terrorist plot in early August. As a result, more bags are being checked manually, which the system is unable to handle. Lost baggage costs airlines US$2.5B annually, and financially-troubled airlines are may be cutting corners. (Doesn't it make you wonder what happens to the 200,000 or so unrecovered bags yearly?)

Part of the problem is that in some countries, airlines handle the baggage checking process, and in others the airports. The decision as to who will cover the cost does play a factor, as item-level tagging isn't cheap. Since reusability is important, tags then have to be durable for years of use. Still, in today's atmosphere of fear, many passengers and most airlines likely see baggage tagging as an eventuality

[additional sources: Scripps News]

Is Anyone Really Using RFID?

That's a question that does actually get asked, and quite often. Louis Sirico and Andy Kowl of RFID Switchboard offer a guest column at The Manufacturer, deconstructing a wide feeling that maybe only a few hundred companies around the world are using RFID.

They say that there are in fact thousands of companies, and even list numerous examples of use, some of which are new to me. One example is that two companies are tracking coffins with RFID tags. Coffins are expensive, ranging from just sub-$1000 to many thousands, so a 50-cent tag is worth the cost. What's more, information about the body inside can be stored electronically on tags wth an appropriate amount of data storage space. Sounds like a rather unsettling, no doubt, though person is to replace the current method of affixing a slip of paper to coffin handles. If exhumation is ever needed, the paper helps identify the proper body.

More Aeronautical RFID Applications

Airlines, airports, aircraft manufacturers are already using RFID for a variety of purposes including baggage tagging, customer ticketing, parts maintenance monitoring. Now, the airline Flybe is using radio frequency technology to tag onboard safety equipment. Items such as lifejackets and safety manuals being tagged means that it's easy to quickly verify their presence onboard using handheld readers. This means quicker turnaround times for each plane to be marked as safety-ready for flight.

Since RF technology reduces the required manual labor of safety checks, the cost of the procedure is reduced. [via Computing UK] Such asset management of onboard items is likely to catch on with other airlines and might give budget operations such as Flybe more of a competitive edge financially.

Canadian Grocers Get RFID Help

Canadian grocers wanting to implement RFID have a helping hand in the CCGD (Canadian Council of Grocery Distributors) and the CRC (Canadian RFID Center). The CRC opened last year with Cdn$1.7M in funds from the CCGD and other other associations, as well as several vendors including IBM Canada, Intermec, and Symbol Technologies (now part of Motorola). Companies can send employees to visit the CRC and learn abouth RFID technology, actually see cold chain management for produce in action [via RFID Journal]

This is obviously a great idea, to help spur on the use of RFID. I'm really hoping that the center is open to other industries, as surely there are a lot of other companies that could benefit, even just from cold chain management.

Mobile RFID Redux: NFC Contactless Payment

Can NFC (Near Field Communication), aka contactless tech, become anything but huge with such big guns as Sony and NXP (formerly Philips Semiconductors) teaming up [Contactless News] to make the chips for contactless payments in mobile RFID solutions. Not only that, they are calling their cross-bred RFID chip solution a universal contactless chip platform for mobile phones. And apparently GSM mobile providers are salivating over including the technology in their next wave of smart phones. Very smartphones, as they'll be able to make payments, give you access, and even identify you.

While obviously not everyone in the world has a cell phone, estimates are that there are more cellular numbers active in the USA than landlines. An unusual use of RFID-enabled cell phones? As car keys. No doubt people will come up with innovative uses of RF cell phones.

RFID Applications: Produce Management

[This post is part of a short series aimed at giving a quick overview of existing and future applications of RFID - radio frequency identification - technology.] With the recent packaged spinach scare in North America, producers were no doubt hurting from the recall - to the tune of several hundred million dollars. But can this sort of thing be prevented in the future? It's not just a question of profits but of health. Since e-coli can (and did) kill some people, there are many reasons another outbreak has to be prevented.

In the aforementioned outbreak, only one grower's product was tainted, but to determine this required an industry-wide recall. One solution would be to RFID tag and track produce through the entire industry and supply chain - something that simply cannot be done manually on the necessary scale. Such solution would quickly pinpoint product from each grower, as well as allow grocers to determine which packages are older, and be able to easily remove them from display if they are suspect.

RFID can also be used for cold chain management of food stuffs,  to ensure safer food.

[additional sources: RFID Journal]

ZigBee For Wireless Mesh Networks

ZigBee [wikipedia] is a wireless communications protocol that uses lower power and operates in either of three frequencies: 868 Mhz (Europe), 915 Mhz (USA), 2.4 Ghz (mostly worldwide). It's based on an IEEE standard (802.15.4) for WPANs (Wireless Personal Area Networks).

There are three types of ZigBee devices: ZC (ZigBee Coordinator), ZR (ZigBee Router), (ZB) ZigBee End Device. Each network has one ZC that maintains network information and security keys. The ZR passes data between devices. The ZED talks to either of the other two types of devices.

ZigBee is often used for low-power mesh networks that do not require high data transfer rates. An example use might be a home automation network to control lights, security, fire alarm, security and heating and air conditioning. Another use is to monitor devices in motion under a closed system - for example identity badges with ZigBee and RFID capabilities mobile within a predefined space. Some companies, such as the research firm In-Stat, believe that ZigBee will become the dominant wireless mesh network protocol.

RFID For Dummies?

The dummies.com site, part of the "For Dummies" series of books, has a brief excerpt from the RFID For Dummies book, Examining the elements of a basic RFID System. Having owned several Dummies books, I'm guessing that the book itself will present important points but gloss over the really technical stuff. Until I read it for myself, I'm just going to say that this book will probably be an unintimidating starting point for people interested in RFID.

The excerpt itself covers transponders, transceivers, antennas, and reader interface layers (aka middleware), as well as giving a very basic overview of a passive RFID system works. That's followed by a bit more detail about tags and antennas, then a section about middleware and its elements: reader and device management, data management, application integration, partner integration.

I'll admit that from my point of view, even though I've written around 300 posts on RFID this year alone (on various sites), and having first written about RFID many years past, there's a great a deal to learn, a lot of misconceptions and biases (of which I'm also guilty), and learning means improving your knowledge continually and in slow degrees (kaizen). If you don't understand an RFID concept at first, leave it alone and come back to it later. Such deep technical matter sometimes requires re-reading material a few times before you start to absorb it. This suggestion applies whether you're a manager at a company planning to implement RFID, or a member of the IT division - the typical sink for such projects.

Protecting Laptop Computers With RFID

With all the government other laptops that have been reported stolen in the US in the past year, it's about time that a solution was devised. Enter Vector Networks' VAL (Vector Asset Locator) RFID-based asset management solution. Each asset, such as a laptop, is tagged and readers set up strategically. If an asset is moved out of a certain area or moved by an unauthorized user, the IT department of a company or other organization would be alerted almost immediately. This is done by associating the RFID tag of an asset with the RFID tag of an employee id card. Asset locations can be viewed from within the software.

VAL is new functionality that has been added to Vector AM (Asset Management) Professional, an IT asset management solution.

[additional sources:  Home Business Wire, Internet News]

RFID Generates Revenue From Recycling

Italian car marker Fiat is using RFID in their auto parts recycling program [RFID Journal] and generating revenue from doing so. Particular components in each Fiat are tagged and their status is recorded on an in-car ECU (Electronic Control Unit). Components are replaced, when necessary, with another part whose tag data is added to the ECU. Cars being scrapped have their ECU checked to see what parts are reusable.

The motivation for Fiat's four-year program comes from a European Union law that requires that "80% of each car be recycled." Indications are that this fraction will rise. The automotive sector is using RFID in a number of ways, including recycling parts containers, and demand for radio frequency technology in the industry is expected to grow.

Fashion Meets RFID

How's this for in-person CRM (Customer Relationship Management) in the retail industry: You find a piece of clothing that you like and you're wondering wihat it will match with. Well, a research team at the Institute of Textiles & Clothing, part of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) are working on a way to answer that with radio frequency technology. RFID-tagged items of clothing that come near a scanner would trigger a system that retrieves pre-stored images of models wearing that piece of clothing as well as others. These images would be projected onto an in-store screen beside a dressing mirror. Japanese department store Mitsukoshi and Toronto's Nygard are retailers using RFID with clothing in innovative ways.

Tagged - You're It

With online forums existing for pretty much any topic these days, it's not surprising that there's one called Tagged, for RFID implants. There are less than 800 members, but there are nearly 3,000 posts regarding RFID implants, including a sizable number containing technical info. Besides the list of members who have been tagged (some of whom have been prominently featured in the media, and some who are soldiers, if I've understood their post correctly), there are also tips on what activities you can and cannot do with a chip.

I came across the forum link, as well as that of AR+RFID Lab (a collective of artists using RFID), while reviewing an older article about artists and RFID at Wired - some of whom are implanted as well. But these aren't the only non-industrial uses of RFID out there. There's also one form of Parkour (Jackie Chan-like urban acrobatics), Pac-Lan and La Fuga, all of which are outdoor activities involving two or more participants. The RFID-enabled form of Parkour is competition, so there is more than one participant. Regular Parkour might be performed by one person. (One member of the Tagged forum mentioned that he gave up martial arts before his implant but does Parkour.)

Then there are video games including Snakes and Ladders and Mattel's Hyperscan hybrid video games platform. There are even children's dolls, for example Naoru-kun from Bandai, who are best known for their Tamagotchi electronic toys.

So there are people - albeit a very small segment of society - who are happy and proud to have a microchip implanted on them, typically between the webbing of thumb and forefinger. And there are still others using RFID in innovative ways in daily life. Acceptance of these uses of radio frequency technology might be an indication that a younger generation will actually welcome ubiquitous RFID into their lives.

RFID Lowdown - Tues Oct 31, 2006

SmartCafes
SinoGold, an IT service provider in the Philippines, is offering an RFID- based monitoring system for Internet cafes. Customers would be issued contactless smart cards which could be used for payment and loyalty programs. Each computer would have a reader that would track usage and limit it based on the prepaid amount on a card. This would reduce lineups at the payment counter. [via Inq7]

RFID Compliance Starter Kits
Organizations that need to be RFID-compliant for either the US DoD (Dept of Defense) or Wal-Mart, Target or Best Buy can turn to ILS (Integrated Labeling Systems) RFID Starter kits. These multi-protocol kits are designed to help users implement RFID quickly, while meeting compliance requirements. [via RFID Solutions Online]

China Opens RFID Industrial Zone
China has opened up an industrial zone dedicated to RFID manufacturing as well as actual applications of the technology. The zone is in the Zhangjiang area of Shanghai. [via RFID in Japan]

RFID In Shipping

EPCglobal is conducting a pilot study to promote their EPCIS (electronic product code information services) technical specification in Asia, as well as test RFID for automated customs clearance. EPCIS is a guideline for the standardizing RFID data so that it can be shared. The first of two phases involves tagging containers being shipped between Hong Kong and Japan (by sea).

Another RFID pilot being run by Schenker, a division of Deutsche Bahn, is also being applied to sea freight containers, in this case between the ports of Hong Kong and Hamburg, Germany. This pilot is also in two phases and will last about a year. It will use tags and readers from Intermec, with the tags being able to withstand salt water.

Other companies such as Savi Networks are also testing RFID with shipping containers.

RFID Business Advice

Martin Haas, a consulting director at IDC, spoke at the Siemens RFID conference in Germany recently. His advice to businesses considering implementing RFID is simple: have a clear business goal and don't believe the hype. If you collect RFID data but don't "consider the entire RFID ecosystem", then your return probably isn't going to be realized.

If you know what you want to achieve with radio frequency technology, and consider how it will integrate with your business processes, you stand a much better chance of realizing a return on investment. If your workflow processes are flawed, technology isn't going to help magically make it better. It's also quite possible that your business can use RFID for more than one application. So planning and cataloging potential uses will help later determine the type of tags, readers, and middleware that you may need, as welll their implementation. Understand this at a functional level, before calling in consultants.

Free RFID Courses

RFID educational programs are slowly starting to appear, with a small number of community colleges and universities introducing diploma or degree streams. There are also free courses like the webinars offered by iAnywhere (RFID University Semester II). One took place on Oct 17, but there are three more: Nov 2, 16, and one on demand. You can find out more at iAnywhere. OTA Training has a series of paid RFID courses, including their upcoming RFID on the Web e-Learning course. It's great to see more programs like this that will help educate people about RFID. I am actually signing up for both programs, as I'm anticipating that there will be great opportunities for early learners.

The RFID industry, as well as the industries of end users, are suffering from a lack of skilled workers. The RFiD job opportunities are there, but there are not enough graduates yet. Or at least, it's predicted that there will not be enough workers in the near future, when RFID usage starts to enjoy greater deployment for various applications. Not only will there be a lack of workers, there will be a lack of trainers and lecturers as well, for the subsequent waves of people who want an education in this field.

In my experience, university professors in computer science and engineering usually have the wherewithal to pick up a topic like RFID and just start teaching it. However, in the case of RFID, applied courses are probably more important than pure theory, as practical knowledge appears to be the most immediate need.

MedicAlert To Use RFID Cards

MedicAlert is a non-profit service in North America where members with life-threatening allergies and other medical conditions wear a special bracelet or necklace engraved with identification. This allows paramedics to access information about the member, in case of an emergency situation. However, that access can take time, which could mean the difference between life and death for some people.

To reduce the access time, MedicAlert, with Siemens Business Services, will start issuing RFID-enabled cards to a select group of its members in the US. Medical information about each member will be stored on the radio frequency tag, which can be accessed by a handheld reader, thus reducing access time to almost nil. Once the patient has been taken to a hospital, more detailed patient information can be accessed from MedicAlert database. The initial phase was tested in late 2005, with another phase to follow. [via Webwire]

The healthcare industry is increasingly finding new applications for radio frequency technology. Some current applications include asset management, patient records managment, patient management. This is in addition to the use of RFID to pedigree pharmaceuticals in order to fight counterfeiting.

RFID Lowdown - Wed Oct 25, 2006

RFID Job Layoffs At Sirit
Not long after purchasing two RFID tech companies, TradeWind Technologies and SAMSys Technologies, the Canadian company Sirit is laying off about 25% of their small staff, at two locations (UK, USA), as part of a restructuring. [via RFID Journal] Given the shortage of skilled workers in the industry, I'm guessing most of these people will not have too much trouble finding work elsewhere. Let's hope that's the case.

Flowers For RFID
Or is that RFID for flowers. A Dutch company, FloraHolland, is using RFID to help manage many thousands of flower trolleys supplied by thousands of vendors for daily auctions. The trolleys are tagged and thus make it easy to find a particular when it is due up for auction. [via Computer Weekly]

Wi-Fi Challenges Active RFID In Health Care
Because so many hospitals already have Wi-Fi networks installed, and equipment that is Wi-Fi enabled, Wi-Fi vendors are going head-to-head with RFID vendors for the healthcare asset management market. [via BusinessWire/ Biz Yahoo] ABI Research is offering a report for purchase on their findings in this regard.

RFID Applications: CRM - Customer Relationship Management

[This post is part of a short series aimed at giving a quick overview of existing and future applications of RFID - radio frequency identification - technology .] There are a number of ways that RFID can be used to reward VIP customers. One method that is being tested in a select few banks in Europe and Canada is a permission-based system that identifies a customer as they enter a branch location. The customer signs up to carry an RFID-enabled card, which is scanned at the entrance. The appropriate bank representative is immediately notified electronically, and that person can greet the customer and assist them accordingly.

There are of course less vanity-based CRM applications of RFID which simply involve retrieving customer information such as recent shopping habits. (Provided item-level tagging is used.) This information could then be used in stores to make recommendations for new products or services.

RFID Applications: Baggage Tagging At Airports

[This post is part of a short series aimed at giving a quick overview of existing and future applications of RFID - radio frequency identification - technology .] It's one of those things that few people like to talk about, but radical elements in society generally make it necessary to implement processes that ensure that unchecked baggage does not get loaded onto airplanes. This involves the use of RFID to track baggage. If baggage has to be transferred to another plane on a succesive leg of a flight, and the person who original checked in the baggage does not check in for the same successive leg, the baggage should be withheld. RFID technology is one efficient way this is being tested in a number of airports.

A less critical but no less important reason for using RFID for baggage tagging is purely for the convenience of passengers: reducing incidences of lost luggage. This in turn reduces airline operating costs, as they have less claims to pay for.

RFID Applications: Document Tracking

[This post is part of a short series aimed at giving a quick overview of existing and future applications of RFID - radio frequency identification - technology.] Anyone remember when banks first started computerizing records? How many decades has the idea of a paperless society been pushed? I've never for a moment believed that it will ever happen (just like hard currency will probably never go away everywhere in the world). In fact, there are many industries that require paper records, a few being financial (e.g., mortgage details), legal (court case notes), and dental/ medical records.

Not only do these industries regularly maintain paper documentation regularly, but they have to keep such documentation for a considerable length of time. In Malaysia, financial institutions have to keep loan documents for up to 30 years plus seven, with the latter amount expected to increase to 10-12 years.

RFID is being employed to help manage and track document assets. In fact, about 35% of the document- tracking market in Malaysia is expected to use RFID by 2010. In the United States, several legal firms and tax courts, not to mention dental offices, have recently started tracking assets with RFID. Other potential uses would be in police departments, where paper-based case files are regularly maintained.

[sources: The Edge Daily, Star-Tech Central]

RFID Applications: CCM - Cold Chain Management

[This post is part of a short series aimed at giving a quick overview of existing and future applications of RFID - radio frequencyidentification - technology .] Cold Chain Management (CCM) has applications in any industry where strict temperature control must be maintained for products or assets. Example uses are for pharmaceuticals, medical equipment, perishable food products, and chemicals. A new breed of temperature-sensitive RFID tags are helping to automate CCM processes, thus reducing spoilage or critical situations (in the case of medical equipment for surgery, etc.). These RFID CCM systems not only monitor temperatures - or sometimes even light or humidity - but typically also wirelessly transmit any data collected to a central system where a human being can filter the data and act upon a situation as necessary.

A loosely-related application (though not part of CCM) of temperature-sensitive RFID tags is for monitoring livestock, to more readily detect when an animal might be sick. This would be based on not only a change in body temperature - as measured by an ear tag-thermometer combo - but the persistence of change over an extended duration.

[additional sources: SMB Edge, Canadian Forces Logistics, RFID Journal, Medical Device Link]

RFID In Games

RFID is increasingly being used in sports (both for stadium tickets and equipment), including athletic activities such as Parkour - something just as vigorous as any professional sport, if not more. Now, people are participating in another outdoor activity, on a playing field, pretending to be characters from the classic Pac-Man video game. In this game, offered by Mobile Radicals and called Pac-Lan, RFID is used in both the costumes and in colored discs - representing the pills to be gobbled - placed around the field.

La Fuga, from a company called Négone, is a similar interactive RFID-based game being played in Spain that can involve up to 300 participants, each with an RFID-enabled PDA worn on their wrist. Contestants have to escape from a prison that changes its environment based on player performance. Quiz questions are asked and have to be answered, with the results controlling paths and doors. Participants have a limited amount of time to get out of the prison.

A number of video games are also now using RFID, as are children's toys.

[Additional sources: RFID News]

RFID In Robots

--By Raj Dash, Staff Writer

Robots are used in a lot of manufacturing processes in numerous industries. But each robot is typically programmed to do a specific task, and would have to be retooled to perform a different type of task. Wittmann, a manufacturer of automation systems, is employing RFID technology to make their robots smarter [RFID Journal].

An RFID tag in a robot arm's hand define the type of robot and thus its role and the sequence of tasks it should perform. Each type of hand has a different role, as indicated by the tag. Apex Automation is also using RFID in its robotic automation sytems. As companies realize the various benefits of RFID in manufacturing, we're likely to see more usage of RF technology.

RFID Lowdown - Wed Oct 11, 2006

--By Raj Dash, Staff Writer

Jamaican RFID Toll Highway
Jamaica is currently working on a new Highway, 2000, which has a 21-lane toll plaza. Payment options include TransCore's eGo RFID sticker tag. The high-speed passive tags are applied to a car's windshield, operate at 915Mhz, have a read range of 31.5 feet (9.6m), and 2Kbits of read/write memory. [via BusinessWire] RFID has been use in toll collection in North America for at least a decade, possibly longer, and has been spreading in use to Europe, Asia, and South America as well.

China Investing In 20 RFID Programs
The Chinese government's Ministry of Science and Technology had listed 20 major RFID programs in 5 key areas, which will get a total of RMB128 Mln (=~ US$16.17M; RMB = Renminbi = Chinese Yuan) in funding. [via China Tech News]

Virginia Port Authority To Get RFID Tech
The Virginia Port Authority will be getting RFID technology to manage cargo container shipments. The technology is being installed by Savi Networks, which is a joint venture between Savi Technology (owned by Lockheed Martin) and Hutchison Port Holdings. Savi Networks has also installed other RFID systems for other port authorities around the world. [via Trading Markets]

Extreme-Case RFID Scenarios

--By Raj Dash, Staff Writer

What would you say is one of the harshest all-round applications for RFID tags to be in? That is, extremes of temperature (hot and cold), vibration, air pressure, and life duration. If you said jet plane use, you'd be right. Boeing has a project which uses around 2000 high-memory passive RFID tags in each 787 Boeing Dreamliner plane that is rolled out. (There are 4 million parts, but only 2000 are being tagged.)

Temperature conditions range from -40 F to +300 F (Fahrenheit) (with occasional bursts to 1200 F). The tags have to work in a range of 860-960 Mhz (Megahertz), so they're compatible with UHF (Ultra High Frequency) readers in any appropriate country. Memory requirements are 64,000 bits, compared to Wal-marts 96 bits. Oh, and the tags have to last 20 years.

So it's not surprising, then, that even though most item-level RFID tags are about US$0.40, these are $15-20 apiece. (For reference, consider that for widespread use of item-level tags, particularly in CPG - consumer packaged goods - the desired price is sub-ten cents, preferably five cents.) Read Evan Schuman's Storefront Backtalk article for explanation of why Boeing needed the tags they are using, and how it is making their parts documentation process more accurate.

Boeing has previously used RFID on their MD-10 Freighter planes, which are used by FedEx, the courier company. These are online some of the ways that the airline industry is using RFID, with baggage and ticketing being others.

[additional sources: Storefront Backtalk]

RFID Topic More Popular In Asia

A quick check in Google Trends shows that the bulk of popularity for the search term RFID is in Asia, with the top seven of ten countries searching being in Asia. Positions 8-10 are held by Germany, United States, and Netherlands in that order. South Korea has the most searches, which is not surprising given the number of RFID and other technology trials running there.

Searches for related terms such as "rf technology", "radio frequency technology" and "radio frequency identification" are barely a blip in comparison. The oddest phenomenon is that while the number of web pages containing the term "RFID" has continued to grow, the trend line for searches seems to be decreasing over the past two-plus years. Similarly, searches for terms like "smartcard" have decreased, but "contactless" has remained relatively level.

Google Trends shows no data for October yet, so it's hard to tell whether California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's vetoing of a state Senate Bill. But no doubt exposure to RFID technology on TV and articles like 33 ways RFID has invaded your life will drum up increased interest over time.

Barcodes, Not RFID, For Now?

Intermec, a company involved in over 60 RFID pilot projects, thinks that RFID is still in an early adopter stage, and that barcoding will be the technology that manufacturing and other industries will go with for quite awhile. I wonder if Wal-Mart has realized this yet, despite their aggresive plan to convert another 500 of their stores and 300 of their suppliers by Jan 2007.

Intermec has previously donated RFID equipment to Oakton Community College, to an RFID lab set up there with the help of Intermec, Intel, and other companies. If more companies helped set up labs in universities and colleges, at least the future expected RFID skills shortage would be partially addressed.

RFID Baggage Tagging Revenue To Double By 2011

The use of RFID for tagging airline bagging is a relatively new application, but revenue from it is expected to grow to nearly US$28M by 2011, which is double that expected for this year. This is according to a new report by ABI Research. Baggage tagging trials are already ongoing, or are planned, for a number of international cities including Hong Kong and Las Vegas. Paris has a joint trial with Amsterdam. South Korea's Asiana airline is running a six-city trial.

In all of these trials, the purpose of radio frequency tagging is to prevent baggage mishandling and loss. However, some high-volume airports are trialling RFID to decrease times for passenger check-in. While there are several ongoing projects, mass adoption at airports is hindered by the cost of tags, which will be disposable. One possibility is to use printed polymer tags, once that technology is perfected, mounted on an adhesive sticker of some sort, which might be applied to each piece of luggage.

[sources: Wireless DevNet, TMC Net, Unstrung]

Contactless Payment Smartcards A Hit?

According to the Smart Card Alliance, a survey indicates that contactless payment is a hit, and that "the great majority of US consumers are either ready to use contactless or have already begun to do so for payments." Of the people surveyed (sample size 3,135 people, online), 13% had used smartcards and 95% of those people found it "fast and easy."

As I'm sure I've said elsewhere, as a person with a math and statistics background, I rarely trust surveys of under 10,000 people, especially when the sample size is supposed to represent 250+ million people. The survey is a marked contrast to the reaction RFID smartcards had in the early 1990s in two locales in Canada. The two locales, while relatively small towns by American standards, are small cities in Canada and are said to both be demographically reflective of the entire Canadian populace, and are often test beds for new products and technologies. The smartcards tested there met with mostly either resistance or indifference, and my understanding is that trials were ended early.

On the other hand, in the intervening time, I've noticed a distancing of both the terms "smart cards" and "contactless payment" from "RFID" in promotional materials. If a survey of 3,000+ people is truly indicative of the reception such cards would get from the entire populace of the United States, then not using the term RFID will likely help. Contactless cards have been the subject of security concerns for activities such as unauthorized reading, data retrieval, and/or data cloning. Smartcards are also being recommended for a variety of national identification cards such as PASS, which would facilitate border crossings between the US and Canada.

[sources: Marketwire]

Smart Cooking With RFID?

Kitchen cookware company Vita Craft has a series, dubbed RFiq, of specially designed cookpots with embedded RFID chips. The pots require special IH (induction heat) cooktops, which Vita Craft also makes. The cooktops form a closed system, whereby the heating amount and duration can be controlled. To top it all off, the RFiq system comes with RFID-enabled recipe cards which control the entire cooking process.

Now you're probably wondering why anyone would ever want such a system, but there are certainly useful applications of such RFID use for, say, people with Alzheimer's, or maybe busy people, especially parents, who might not always have time to pay full attention in the kitchen (say if there are kids running around).

RFID Unusual Uses: Parkour

You might have seen it in TV commercials: a group of twenty-somethings jumping and vaulting and dropping and generally doing acrobatics in urban areas. (See YouTube video above and below.) They're usually so good they make the activity look easy. But their moves are jaw-droppingly amazing, and reminiscent of the acrobatics of martial arts actor Jackie Chan. I never get tired of watching these incredible athletes in their free-spirited endeavours.

This practice, called Parkour, is discussed in a new RFID-enabled form at The RFID Weblog and Nearfield.org. The RFID is used to set up a sort of obstacle course in three dimensions, and consists of three components: a base station, roaming discs with an RFID reader/ writer, and wearable cip. Read more at The RFID Weblog and Nearfield.org. (Nearfield, I assume is named for NFC, or Near Field Communication, which is a form of RFID technology that works at close ranges and is typically used in contactless smart cards and cell phones.)

By the way, out of concern for your safety, I should point out that Parkour not only takes extreme stamina, strength, and confidence but also a great deal of training. Don't try this, please, without the training, as you can just imagine how much it'll hurt if you miss.

RFID Hybrid Tech: Tetragate Biometric Facial Recognition

American Barcode & RFID  has jointly produced a new technology called TETRAGATE which performs facial recognition. The press release makes it seem like something out of a Philip K. Dick-based movie, such as Minority Report or Paycheck, maybe even Blade Runner. Biometric identification has been a growing security niche for quite some time, but only in the past couple of years have biometrics and RFID been combined into security solutions.

Tetragate's solution stores employee biometrics on their smart ID card (using an UHF RFID tag) and compares that with a facial scan on the spot. Apparently, the technology can not only recognize people from a distance of 60 feet - i.e., without people knowing - it can scan 60,000 faces in one second.

I'm speechless. Or at least I was for about 2 minutes after reading this. I've never heard of a solution this fast before. It's the result of several well-known companies, including Symbol Technologies (who Motorola plans to buy out), Fulcrum Biometrics, Zebra Technologies, American Barcode & RFID, and more.

But despite demonstrations of such technology in such TV shows as Las Vegas, I don't have a lot of faith in facial recognition as a reliable biometrics scheme. Faces can change; only eyes don't. I've recognized people I hadn't seen in 10 years or more by their eyes and/or voice, not necessarily their face. And if you've ever seen pictures of any single woman with different hair colours and styles, a partially-obscured face couldn't possibly be recognized with any accuracy.

On the other hand, this solution works on the principle that the person carrying a smart id card is who they say they are, with the facial scan to prove it. If the scan and the biometric info do not match, a "security situation" is triggered. From that point of view, my doubt is irrelevant. This system is then sufficient for its purposes. And if it is using a neural net - as I suspect it must be - then it will "learn" over time, improving on its efficiency. Hence, there may be a lot of security exceptions initially, as the system gets to "know" an employee.

Whether Tetragate is sufficient for airports or borders remains to be seen, though given its apparent speed and power, it might just work, combined with the PASS smart ID card, for the Canada-US border crossing on the bridges.

RFID-Enabled Gets-Sick Doll From Bandai

Bandai, the Japanese company that introducing incredibly popular pop culture toys such as Tamagotchi and Power Rangers now has an RFID-enabled doll [RFID Weblog], Naoru-kun. The doll speaks 150 phrases and "gets sick". When it does, kids are expected to administer any of three items that have embedded RFID tags/ chips: candy, medicine, and a syringe. Each tagged item creates a different response in the doll, which presumably has an RFID reader embedded.

As the RFID Weblog article points out, this sort of toy might foster caring attitudes in very young children. And of course, that's always a good thing. On the other hand, it's possible that children exposed to Naoru-kun may later feel that it's okay to implant RFID chips in people, particularly sick people or children.

RFID For Combating Counterfeiting

Drug counterfeiting is estimated to cost the pharmaceutical industry $30-35B yearly in the United States. (Counterfeiting in general is estimated at US$450B worldwide for all industries.) RFID is on the table as one of few ways to e-pedigree drugs in order to combat the counterfeiting trade. And now with rumblings of a new e-Pedigree act, the pharma industry has a way to fight the loss. (No idea yet how Wal-Mart's announcement to sell drugs at $4 bottle, I believe, will affect the industry. Or Wal-Mart.)

However, radio frequency technology can be used for the same purpose on other items as well. There are a number of anti-counterfeiting trials on using RFID tech. For example, RFID is used in a number of bricks-and-mortar casinos to combat not only counterfeiting of gaming and poker chips, but to prevent patrons from using one casino's chips at another. RF technology can also be used to validate event tickets, bus/ transit/ train passes and so on.

Stupid Uses Of RFID: Self-Order Beer Pubs

A British university's student union is planning to use RFID to reduce the serving times at six new pub tables. RFID smartcards are used for payment, and touch screens are all over the pub for creating orders. As a former student and *ahem* social drinker, I think this is an idiotic idea. Faster orders of course means more consumption and thus more profits for the student union. But it also means more drunken students sooner in a given night. Isn't there something about a bar's liability for serving people who are already drunk? Does the student union really want the additional headaches of additional drunkness and potential legal problems?

Note that I'm not suggesting pubs should not use RFID systems at all. Just not in a manner that increases the volume of drinking, especially of students. RFID can be used for contactless payment and even inventory control in nightclubs. Examples are the RFID-enabled tilt-tracker created by a Miami company for the hospitality industry, or the Beverage Tracker, created by a San Francisco company for the same purpose.

Using RFID And GPS For Improved Transit Service

City transit commissions have been working on ways to improve bus/ subway/ transit service for decades. One way, which didn't work, was each bus stop to have it's own extension for a call-in number. Call that number and you could find out when your bus is expected to arrive. That's "expected", because the oldest systems that used this method only approximated based on schedule, not actually conditions that day. Another method used was for the call-in number's operator to call the driver and ask for estimate. But that becomes disruptive to drivers, especially on busy routes during peak hours.

Then on-board-bus GPS (Global Positioning System) units were added to the mix, for a bit more accuracy in estimating current bus location. But that in itself isn't enough to automate a system to inform riders of a bus' ETA (estimated time of arrival). Now, several pilot projects are being tested in different countries using RFID as well as GPS technology. In the case of some projects [RFID Journal] in the US, the buses and the stops each have an RFID transceiver. When a bus approaches a stop, the transceivers communicate via a ZigBee wireless connection, and the sign is updated with info about that bus. I.e., the bus passed by X minutes ago, or will be arriving in Y minutes.

However, with a range of only 100 meters, this doesn't really seem to give passengers much advance warning. If I've understood the RFID Journal correctly, the GPS system, which uses GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) for communication, also sends bus stop signs info about a bus' ETA, and the RFID system later sends more accurate ETA info as the bus approaches within range of the stop.

This isn't the only way, obviously, that GPS or RFID tech is used for transit systems. It may require a city to "wire" their bus stops, but riders will not need to have an RFID-enabled communication device, such as a smart cell phone or PDA, to get a fairly accurate idea of when a bus is arriving.

Wanted For Warehouse Work: RFID Cyborgs

The RFID In Japan article is very brief, and my Hiragana and Katana script knowledge is rusty, so I can't read the source NIkkei article, but the picture there tells the story: warehouse workers may be using HUDs (Heads-Up Displays) and wearable RFID tech to take inventory and otherwise manage stock. In think this is one of those "killer apps" of RFID, provided workers aren't implanted with chips, and the ROI (return on investment) will eventually be worth it.

Now I might be mistaken, but while wearable computing has been around for quite some time now (over 15 years), most applications have been either for research purposes or for scientific use. This is the first I've heard of it suggested for business use. In fact, like it or not, I think that wearable computing in general has huge applications in business. Future cost decreases might just see more of it in use, whether or not it's RFID-enabled. To complete the ensemble, a wearable VoIP phone would increase productivity, especially in supply chain management.

RFID: blooming or dying

The euphoria regarding expansion of RFID technology seems to be dying down a bit. This is evident from the recent withdrawal of initial public offering by Alien Technology Corp. The California based company withdrew its plans for an IPO from the Securities and Exchange Commission earlier this month. Alien Technology had planned to raise $99 million through this offering. The shares were expected to be priced in the range of $10 to $12.

Recently research company ABI Research brought down its estimates for the industry for the year 2007 by a whooping 15%. They had earlier forecasted that the RFDI software and services industry will clock $3.1 billion in the given year. RFID practice director Michael Liard attributes this declining trend to factors such as collaborative solutions, market consolidation, growing availability of off-the-shelf commercial RFID software packages, and improving level of skills in planning RFID projects.

Industry operators are waiting for Wal-Mart Stores to make its move as per its plans to deploy RFID to track goods in more than 1,000 centers. Some feel that if the retail chain does not go as per its plans, there may be further decline in the industry that has recently found its roots. Wal-Mart has reiterated its plans to deploy RIFD as planned. Louisiana, Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas, Mississippi, Tennessee and Ke