The History of RFID

It’s generally said that the history of RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) technology
can be traced back to World War II. The Germans, Japanese, Americans and British were
all using radar—which had been discovered in 1935 by Scottish physicist Sir Robert
Alexander Watson-Watt—to warn of approaching planes while they were still miles
away. The problem was there was no way to identify which planes belonged to the enemy
and which were a country’s own pilots returning from a mission.

The Germans discovered that if pilots rolled their planes as they returned to base, it
would change the radio signal reflected back. This crude method alerted the radar crew
on the ground that these were German planes and not Allied aircraft (this is, essentially,
the first passive RFID system).

Since that time, the capabilities of Radio Frequency Identification have expanded
exponentially. RFID technology has now been developed to the point where it can
provide many types of businesses with precise information regarding the status of their
valuable components and products. Such information can be utilized in terms of supply
chain management, asset management, inventory control, as well as increasing safety and
security. In addition, RFID technology has matured to the point where such systems can
be implemented in a scaleable and cost-effective manner, therefore ensuring significant
return on our client’s investment.
What is RFID?
• Radio-frequency identification (RFID) is a technology that uses communication
via radio waves to exchange data between a reader and an electronic tag attached
to an object, for the purpose of identification and tracking.
• Some tags can be read from several meters away and beyond the line of sight of
the reader. The application of bulk reading enables an almost parallel reading of
tags.
• Radio-frequency identification involves interrogators (also known as readers),
and tags (also known as labels).
• Most RFID tags contain at least two parts. One is an integrated circuit for storing
and processing information, modulating and demodulating a radio-frequency (RF)
signal, and other specialized functions. The other is an antenna for receiving and
transmitting the signal.
Types of RFID

There are three types of RFID tags: passive RFID tags, which have no power source and
require an external electromagnetic field to initiate a signal transmission, active RFID
tags, which contain a battery and can transmit signals once an external source
('Interrogator') has been successfully identified, and battery assisted passive (BAP) RFID
tags, which require an external source to wake up but have significant higher forward link
capability providing greater range.
Standards

There are a variety of groups defining standards and regulating the use of RFID,
including the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), the International
Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), ASTM International, the DASH7 Alliance and
EPCglobal.
Basic RFID Components

Transponder — This is the electronic identification (EID) tag itself, often serving as the
female button attachment for a traditional visual identification tag. Transponders for
radio-frequency identification (RFID) in the beef industry are passive responders. This
means they possess no power source of their own. Instead, it's the charge provided by the
transceiver (reader) that enables the transponder to emit a signal back to the transceiver.

The transponder contains an integrated electronic circuit (the chip) and a capacitor, which
captures and uses energy from the transceiver in order to send a signal back. Electronic
circuits in the transponder can be programmed as Read Only (R/O), meaning that
information contained in the chip — in this case, a unique 12-digit number — can only
be read. Chips can also be programmed as Read/Write, which enables information to be
added, warehoused and transferred to them.

Transceiver — Also known as the reader or the interrogator, transceivers send the
electronic signal to the transponder that provides the power for the transponder to send
the signal back to the transceiver with the information contained in the transponder's
electronic circuit. Transceivers can be powered by batteries or plugged into a traditional
power supply.

The transceiver is either tethered (physically attached to the data accumulator such as
laptop or scale head) or it transmits data to the accumulator wirelessly. Transceiver units
are usually comprised of a transmitter/receiver, antennae, control unit, power unit,
coupling element and an electronic interface enabling it to communicate with the data
accumulator.

Transceiver antennae can be incorporated into hand-held units (as in the case of reader
wands used at chute-side, or within stationery units such as panel readers that are placed
permanently to read tags as cattle flow by a certain physical location.

Data Accumulator — This is any device, such as a laptop computer, an electronic scale
head or a hand-held computer, that is capable of communicating with a transceiver and
accepting the information from it.

Software — Considered by many to be the heart and soul of a comprehensive RFID

system. The transference of data between transponder and transceiver, and between
transceiver and data accumulation, is electronic (mechanical, if you will). It's the software
that allows you to actually tie electronic identity to production and management
information, massage the data and share the information with others.

Data Warehouse/Management — This is where you store all the data you receive it and
manage it. It can be part of a central database or a decentralized one.
You can store data on your own, but value increases with volume. Thus, many producers
use third-party service providers in order to exploit this advantage, as well as to save the
time and hardware cost of creating and maintaining their own database.
RFID Frequencies
Frequency refers to the size of the radio waves used to communicate between the RFID
system components. It is generally safe to assume that a higher frequency equates to a
faster data transfer rate and longer read ranges, but also more sensitivity to environmental
factors such as liquid and metal that can interfere with radio waves. RFID systems
currently operate in the Low Frequency (LF), High Frequency (HF) and Ultrahigh
Frequency (UHF) bands.
Each frequency has advantages and disadvantages relative to its capabilities. Generally a
lower frequency means a lower read range and slower data read rate, but increased
capabilities for reading near or on metal or liquid surfaces.
No single frequency is ideal for all applications, even within a single industry. Just as
separate bar code symbologies are used at different levels of consumer goods packaging,
from U.P.C./EAN symbols at the item level to Code 128 and two-dimensional
symbologies on cases and pallets, RFID tags of different frequencies and functionality
will be used together within overall supply chain operations.
Low-Frequency (LF)
Low-frequency RFID systems are typically 125 KHz, though there are systems
operating at 134 KHz as well. This frequency band provides a shorter read range
(< 0.5m or 1.5 ft) and slower read speed than the higher frequencies. LF RFID
systems have the strongest ability to read tags on objects with high water or metal
content compared to any of the higher frequencies. LF systems tend to be less
sensitive to interference than higher frequency options.
Typical low-frequency RFID applications are access control, animal tracking,
vehicle immobilizers, healthcare applications, product authentication and various
point-of-sale applications (such as Mobil/Exxon SpeedPass). The LF spectrum is
not considered a truly global application because of slight differences in
frequency and power levels throughout the world.
High-Frequency (HF)
High-frequency RFID systems operate at 13.56 MHz, and feature a greater readrange
and higher-read speed than LF systems. Also, the price of the tags is among
the lowest of all RFID tags. Typical read range is less than 1 meter (3 feet), and
the ability to read tags on objects with high water or metal content is not as good
as LF systems but stronger than UHF systems.
Applications include smart cards and smart shelves for item level tracking, and
are also currently used to track library books, healthcare patients, product
authentication and airline baggage. Another common application is maintenance
data logging for sensitive equipment that needs regular checking such as fire
suppression systems. There are several standards concerning HF systems,
including the ISO 15693 standard used for tracking items.
Ultrahigh Frequency (UHF)
Ultrahigh frequency RFID utilizes the 860 to 930MHz band – typically 868 MHz
in Europe and 915 MHz in North America. UHF tags typically cost about the
same as HF tags. Read range is up to 3m (9.5 ft) and the data transfer rate is faster
than HF systems, though still lower than Microwave based RFID systems, which
are discussed next.
One drawback to UHF systems is a limited ability to read tags on objects with or
surrounded by high water or metal content. This is typically the frequency
recommended for distribution and logistics applications and is the basis for the
Electronic Product Code (EPC) standard driven through the Auto-ID Center. Of
course, the EPC standard is the focus of Wal-Mart and the Department of Defense
in the United States.
The primary rationale for utilizing this frequency in the supply chain is the greater
read range it offers over the other frequency ranges. However, UHF is also widely
used for electronic toll collection systems on highways, manufacturing
applications and parking lot access based on the greater range provided by the
frequency.
The North American market operates at or near 915 MHz, while much of Western
Europe is at the low end of the spectrum, and several Asian companies recently
opened the higher end of the spectrum to RFID usage.
Microwave
The final frequency option is the microwave band, either 2.45GHz or 5.8GHz.
Though microwave based RFID systems offer the highest data read rates, they are
the most expensive systems and have a limited read range of up to 1m (3 ft).
Additionally, microwave based systems are not able to penetrate objects with high
water or metal content which makes it unsuitable for many applications. At this
time, microwave is constrained to specialized applications such as tracking airline
baggage or electronic toll collection. Though it could be used for some supply
chain applications with high data content, the inability to penetrate water or metal
combined with the higher cost will limit its deployments in this realm.
 How RFID Works

How does RFID work? A Radio-Frequency IDentification system has three parts:

• A scanning antenna
• A transceiver with a decoder to interpret the data
• A transponder - the RFID tag - that has been programmed with
information.

The scanning antenna puts out radio-frequency signals in a relatively short

range. The RF radiation does two things:

• It provides a means of communicating with the transponder (the RFID tag)

AND
• It provides the RFID tag with the energy to communicate (in the case of
passive RFID tags).

This is an absolutely key part of the technology; RFID tags do not need to
contain batteries, and can therefore remain usable for very long periods of time
(maybe decades).

The scanning antennas can be permanently affixed to a surface; handheld

antennas are also available. They can take whatever shape you need; for
example, you could build them into a door frame to accept data from persons or
objects passing through.

When an RFID tag passes through the field of the scanning antenna, it detects
the activation signal from the antenna. That "wakes up" the RFID chip, and it
transmits the information on its microchip to be picked up by the scanning
antenna.

In addition, the RFID tag may be of one of two types. Active RFID tags have their
own power source; the advantage of these tags is that the reader can be much
farther away and still get the signal. Even though some of these devices are built
to have up to a 10 year life span, they have limited life spans. Passive RFID tags,
however, do not require batteries, and can be much smaller and have a virtually
unlimited life span.

RFID tags can be read in a wide variety of circumstances, where barcodes or

other optically read technologies are useless.

• The tag need not be on the surface of the object (and is therefore not
subject to wear)
• The read time is typically less than 100 milliseconds
• Large numbers of tags can be read at once rather than item by item.
 Advantages of RFID Versus Barcodes

RFID tags and barcodes both carry information about products. However, there
are important differences between these two technologies:

• Barcode readers require a direct line of sight to the printed barcode; RFID
readers do not require a direct line of sight to either active RFID tags or
passive RFID tags.
• RFID tags can be read at much greater distances; an RFID reader can
pull information from a tag at distances up to 300 feet. The range to read a
barcode is much less, typically no more than fifteen feet.
• RFID readers can interrogate, or read, RFID tags much faster; read rates
of forty or more tags per second are possible. Reading barcodes is much
more time-consuming; due to the fact that a direct line of sight is required,
if the items are not properly oriented to the reader it may take seconds to
read an individual tag. Barcode readers usually take a half-second or
more to successfully complete a read.
• Line of sight requirements also limit the ruggedness of barcodes as well
as the reusability of barcodes. (Since line of sight is required for
barcodes, the printed barcode must be exposed on the outside of the
product, where it is subject to greater wear and tear.) RFID tags are
typically more rugged, since the electronic components are better
protected in a plastic cover. RFID tags can also be implanted within the
product itself, guaranteeing greater ruggedness and reusability.
• Barcodes have no read/write capability; that is, you cannot add to the
information written on a printed barcode. RFID tags, however, can be
read/write devices; the RFID reader can communicate with the tag, and
alter as much of the information as the tag design will allow.
• RFID tags are typically more expensive than barcodes, in some cases,
much more so.
What Are the Different Uses for RFID
Technology?
Radio frequency identification, or RFID, technology uses small embedded tags to
store and transmit modest amounts of data. All RFID tags consist of an antenna and
an attached microchip that stores and processes information. RFID tags are read by
special readers, which can access and in some cases modify the information contained
on that tag’s microchip. RFID technology is extremely useful in any application that
requires monitoring and tracking discrete items or individuals; RFID tags have been
used in inventory management and control, human and animal identification and
monitoring, and to facilitate financial transactions in place of cash or credit.

RFID technology is widely used in inventory tracking. RFID tags are included either in
individual products or in pallets or groups of products. These tags allow easy and
automatic management of inventory and supply, as readers can be used to determine the
contents of a warehouse or trailer. Inventory tags often also include source, destination,
and other key product information, all of which can be accessed instantly with tag
readers. This allows corporations to streamline their supply chains, and also allows for
easier back-tracking of shipments as needed.

In addition to allowing firms to manage inventory and transport, RFID technology can be
used to prevent theft. Theft along the supply chain can be minimized by ensuring that a
central database contains records for each stage of a product’s transport history. Tags
embedded in individual products allow for excellent in-store inventory management and
can effectively prevent theft as well.

Humans and animals can be tracked and monitored with RFID technology just as easily
as packages and crates. In some cases, RFID tags can be implanted, generally to allow for
the tracking of animals of scientific interest, children, or pets. Modern passports often
employ RFID tags and can be scanned remotely by customs officials. Some concerns
have been raised that information can be stolen from these passport tags.

The ability of RFID technology to easily and rapidly identify individual people or
vehicles has led to its widespread use in many commercial systems. Combination tag-
reader devices for cell phones can be used to query product tags or conduct transactions
when the necessary infrastructure is in place. Many highway and public transportation
systems already rely on RFID technology to handle payments. Cards or automatic
transponders are linked to master accounts in a central database, and these systems can
track the movements of people and vehicles, and debit accounts appropriately. These
systems, much like passport tags, present some security risks.