1. An introduction to RFID
(for computer science engineers)
Miguel.Pardal@IST .utl.pt
June 21st 2010

2. Outline
• RFID Technology
• Business Applications
– Software and standards
• Challenges
• @IST

3. Outline
• RFID Technology
• Business Applications
– Software and standards
• Challenges
• @IST

4. RFID tags

5. RFID antennas and readers

6. RFID in action
[Roussos06]

7. Radio
• ISM radio bands
– Frequencies differ in world regions
• Europe, Americas, and Asia
• LF/HF RFID or UHF RFID?
– Operating principles are different
– Near-field far-field boundary
• Lambda / 2 PI

8. Near-field RFID
• LF (Low Frequency): [30 .. 300] kHz
• HF (High Frequency): [3 ..30] MHz
• Inductive coupling
• Load modulation

9. Shower Analogy

10. Far-field RFID
• UHF(Ultra-High Frequency): [300..3 000] MHz
• MW (Microwaves): [2,5 .. 5,8] GHz
• Wave coupling
• Backscatter

11. Lighthouse Analogy

12. Tag components
Credits: Rafsec OY, [Sarma01]

13. Manufacturing trade-off
• Cost
• Range Pick 2
• Functionality

14. Tag categories
• Passive or battery-less
– Use only power provided by the RFID reader’s signal
– Smaller, more flexible
– $ 0.20
• Semi-passive or battery-assisted
– Use a battery to boost response signal
– $5
• Active or battery-powered
– Have additional processing capabilities and autonomy because they
have more power e.g. sensors
– Longer range
– $ 30

15. Outline
• RFID Technology
• Business Applications
– Software and standards
• Challenges
• @IST

16. Business applications
• Track & Trace
– Monitor physical goods and keep history
• Industries:
– Warehousing
– Maintenance
– Pharmaceuticals
– Medical Devices
– Agriculture
– Food
– Retailing
– Defense
Credits: Sybase.pt

17. Video

18. Software Layers

19. Architecture Framework

22. Outline
• RFID Technology
• Business Applications
– Software and standards
• Challenges
• @IST

23. RFID middleware is easy…
• All readers
• Read all tags
• At all times
Credits: Carlos Perdigão, IST

24. NOT
RFID middleware is easy…
• All readers
cannot
• Read all tags
• At all times
Credits: Carlos Perdigão, IST

25. Simulation
Credits: Carlos Perdigão,
IST

26. Experimental setup
Credits: Nuno Correia,
IST & Link Consulting

27. Field trials
Credits: Schuitema supermarkets,
RFID Journal

28. Cloud deployment
+ Reliable network

29. NOT
RFID security is easy…
• All readers
should not
• Read all tags
• At all times
Credits: Metro Group, RFID Journal

30. Threats
[Garfinkel05]

31. Security
• Privacy
– Misbehaving readers, well-behaving tags
• Authentication
– Well-behaving readers, misbehaving tags
• Infrastructure security
– Network
– Servers
• ONS, EPCIS

32. Conclusions
• RFID is a set of technologies
– No “one-size-fit-all” tag and reader
• All readers cannot and read all tags at all times
– RFID middleware challenges
• All readers should not read all tags at all times
– RFID security challenges
• RFID allows things and places in the physical world to
automatically generate data
– An Internet of Things

33. Outline
• RFID Technology
• Business Applications
– Software and standards
• Challenges
• @IST

34. Completed
• Nuno Rodrigues
– RFID Logistics integration with Navision ERP
• Guilherme Pereira
– Open-source RFID track and trace

35. Completed
• Ricardo Carapeto
– Segurança de bagagens inteligentes
• Pedro Ferreira
– Interface EPCIS para BizTalk
• Carlos Perdigão
– Rede federada de rastreio de bens

36. Ongoing
• Miguel Pardal
– Scalable and secure Discovery services

37. Ongoing
• Nuno Correia
– RFID Toys - Sistema de controlo de armazém robótico
– Fosstrak/Java, Arduino

38. Proposals
• C-Apps: RFID Capture Applications framework
– Componentes (ex. OSGi)
– Conveyors, gates, portals, …
– C-App “store”
• Cloud of Things – Virtualization of RFID software
– Fosstrak / Java / Cloud provider
– Virtual machine provisioning
Credits: trendsupdates.com

39. Miguel.Pardal@IST .utl.pt

41. Extras

42. Other RF technologies
How stuff works PWKits

44. Range
Credits: C. Floerkemeier, MIT

45. Supply Chains

46. Automatic data capture

47. Legal ownership ≠ Physical possesion

48. Why?
Credits: Christian Floerkemeier, MIT

49. Subscribe, Configure, Notify, Publish
[Floerkemeier07a]

50. Internet of Things @ IST