The Wave of the Future

Sourav Pal
ECE Dept.,FIEM
 RFID is a technology, whose origins are found in the
WWII era, that incorporates electromagnetic or
electrostatic coupling in the RF portion of the EM
spectrum to uniquely identify an object, animal or
person. It is also gaining increasing use in industry as
an alternative to the bar code.
 Requires a transceiver, antenna, and transponder
 Can operate in Passive or Active Modes
 Tracking Animals
 ISO 11784 – Specifies the structure of the ID code
 ISO 11785 – Specifies how transponder is activated
 ISO 14223/1 – Specifies RF code for advanced
transponders
 Credit Cards
 ISO 15693 – Specifies modulation and coding schemes
 Passports and proximity cards
 ISO 14443 – Specifies modulation and coding schemes
 General Frequency bands
 ISO 18000 series
 ISO 18000-2
 <135 KHz
 ISO 18000-3
 13.56 MHZ
 ISO 18000-4
 2.45 GHz
 ISO 18000-6
 860-960 MHz
 ISO 18000-7
 433 MHZ (active)
Standard RFID Operating Frequencies
ISO 18000-2 ~ 135 kHz ISO 18000-6 ~ 800-960
ISO 18000-3 ~ 13.56 MHz
ISO 18000-4 ~ 2.45
MHzISO 18000-7 ~ 433 GHz
MHz
 In 1945, Léon Theremin invented an espionage tool for
the Soviet Union which retransmitted incident radio
waves with audio information. Sound waves vibrated a
diaphragm which slightly altered the shape of the
resonator, which modulated the reflected radio frequency.
Even though this device was a covert listening device, not
an identification tag, it is considered to be a predecessor
of RFID, because it was likewise passive, being energized
and activated by waves from an outside source.
 Similar technology, such as the IFF transponder, was
routinely used by the allies and Germany in World War II
to identify aircraft as friend or foe. Transponders are still
used by most powered aircraft to this day.
 The Thing consisted of a tiny
capacitive membrane connected to a
small quarter-wavelength antenna; it
had no power supply or active
electronic components. The device, a
passive cavity resonator, became
active only when a radio signal of the
correct frequency was sent to the
device from an external transmitter.
Sound waves caused the membrane to
vibrate, which varied the capacitance
"seen" by the antenna, which in turn
modulated the radio waves that
struck and were re-transmitted by the
Thing. A receiver demodulated the
signal so that sound picked up by the
microphone could be heard, just as an
ordinary radio receiver demodulates
radio signals and outputs sound.
 An early, if not the first, work exploring RFID is the landmark paper by
Harry Stockman, “Communication by Means of Reflected Power,”
published in 1948.
 Developments of the 1950s include such works as D.B. Harris’s “Radio
transmission systems with modulatable passive responder.” The wheels
of RFID development were turning.
 R.F. Harrington studied the electromagnetic theory related to RFID in his
papers including “Theory of Loaded Scatterers” in 1964.
 Inventors were busy with RFID-related inventions such as Robert
Richardson’s “Remotely activated radio frequency powered devices,”
and J. H. Vogelman’s “Passive data transmission techniques utilizing
radar echoes.”
 An early and important development was the Los Alamos work that was
presented by Alfred Koelle, Steven Depp, and Robert Freyman, “Short-
Range Radio- Telemetry for Electronic Identification Using Modulated
Backscatter,” in 1975.
 • D.B. Harris, “Radio transmission systems with modulatable passive responder,”
U.S. Patent 2 927 321, Mar. 1, 1960.
 • R.J. King, Microwave Homodyne Systems. Stevenage, UK: Peregrinus, 1978.
 • R.J. Klensch, “Electronic identification system,” U.S. Patent 3 914 762, Oct. 21,
1975.
 • A. Koelle, S. Depp, and R. Freyman, “Short-range radio-telemetry for
electronic identification using modulated backscatter,” Proc. IEEE, vol. 63, no. 8,
pp. 1260–1260, 1975.
 • J. Landt, “Shrouds of time—The history of RFID,” AIM Inc., Pittsburg, PA, Oct.
2001 [Online]. Available:
http://www.aimglobal.org/technologies/rfid/resources/shrouds_of_time.pdf
 • R. Richardson, “Remotely activated radio frequency powered devices,” U.S.
Patent 3 098 971, 1963.
 • H. Stockman, “Communication by means of reflected power,” Proc. IRE, pp. 1196–
1204, Oct. 1948.
 • J.H. Vogelman, “Passive data transmission techniques using radar echoes,” U.S.
Patent 3 391 404, 1968.
Functional blocks for reading data from a backscatter
RFID tag. The reader is on the left, and the tag is on
the right.
Low Frequency (125/134KHz)—Most commonly used for access
control, animal tracking, and asset tracking.

High-Frequency (13.56 MHz)—Used where medium data rate and

read ranges up to about 1.5 meters are acceptable. This frequency also
has the advantage of not being susceptible to interference from the
presence of water or metals.

Ultra High-Frequency (850 MHz to 950 MHz)—offer the longest read

ranges of up to approximately 3 meters and high reading speeds.
 Passive
 Have no internal power supply
 Electrical current inducted in antenna by the incoming signal
proves power for integrated circuit in tag to power up and
transmit response
 Very Small, Limited Range, Unlimited Life

 Semi Passive
 Similar to passive tags, with the addition of a small battery
 Battery powers the integrated circuit
 Bigger, Longer Range, Limited Life

 Active
 Have their own internal power source
 Many operate at fixed intervals
 Also called beacons (broadcast own signal)
 Large ( coin), Much larger memories, Longer range
 Objects equipped with RFID
tag
 Tag contains transponder
with digital memory chip.
 Interrogator: an antenna
packaged with transceiver
and decoder.
 emits signal activating tag.

 Reader detects activation

signal, decodes the data on
the tag’s silicon chip.
 Data passed to host
computer.
 Does not require human to manually pass item
over scanner.
 More accurate inventory count.
 Can be incorporated into product, person,
animal.
 Can track each individual item.
 “Line of Sight” Technology
 RFID superior over Barcode
 Elements and accidents can disturb or damage
barcodes
 Best Buy, Wal-Mart, And Target began
implementation
 Efficient in ability to track & respond accordingly
 Wal-Mart now requires its suppliers to
use RFID tags on shipping crates and
pallets to improve inventory
management in the supply chain.
 Fed Ex bought RFID-enabled aircraft
from Airbus to reduce maintenance time
and costs.
 Cattle and farm animals are being tagged
to improve tracking and monitoring of
health.
 U.S. Department of Defense – to better
track goods along supply chain (logistics
and inventory).
 Electronic payment – credit card
companies moving to RFID-enabled
cards to increase efficiency and reduce
time at point-of-sale for customer,
merchant, and card issuer.
 Medical  Household Technology
 Drug Counterfeiting  Smart keys
 Tracking & Tracing  Intelligent washing
 Medical “Passports” machines
 Foster Care System  Monitoring refrigerators
 Food Chain  Intelligent
Precautions ovens/microwaves
 Shopping
 Cashier-less check
out and payment
 Privacy
 Consumer Rights
 Consumers should be informed if their products have

an RFID tag.
 Tracking of consumers (Profiling)
 RFID chips withstand dirt and scratches and can be

scanned from distances upward of 25 feet.

 Personal Information Leakage.

 Drawing the Line – Need for Legislation?

Who Should Regulate?

 “Killing” of RFID Tags
 Tracking vs. the washing machine
 Options of killing after purchase
 Medical
 Implants/Personal Information
 Verichip is a tiny implantable chip that holds medical

records
 Bracelets to track infants in medical wards and elderly

in nursing homes.
Used in animals for tracking.
 Medical
 Health Risks
 Hard to remove once implanted.
 Long term effects unknown.
 Religious
 Mark of the Beast, etc.
 The implanted RFID chip is certain to inflame Christian
fundamentalists, some of whom believe that such chips are the
Satanic “mark of the Beast” predicted in Revelations 13:16 “And
he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond
to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads.”
 Slowly becoming an industry standard
 Speeds up the supply chain process
 Easier to manage inventory
 Continually evolving
 Controversial technology
 Define RFID technology?
 When was RFID introduced?
 What are two main reasons RFID is
controversial?
 Name the three types of RFID tags?
 How are they currently using RFID tags?
 How is RFID Technology expected to effect
households?