1. An introduction to RFID
Miguel.Pardal@IST .utl.pt
June 7th 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

7. Other RF technologies
How stuff works PWKits

8. RFID in action
[Roussos06]

9. 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

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

11. Shower Analogy

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

13. Lighthouse Analogy

14. Range
Credits: C. Floerkemeier, MIT

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

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

17. 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

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

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

20. Software Layers

21. Architecture Framework

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

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

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

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

28. Why
Credits: Christian Floerkemeier, MIT

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

30. Simulation
Credits: Carlos Perdigão,
IST

31. Experimental setup
Credits: Nova Ahmed,
Georgia Tech

32. Trials
Credits: Schuitema supermarkets,
RFID Journal

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

34. Threats
[Garfinkel05]

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

36. 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

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

38. Internet of Things @ IST

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

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

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

42. Proposals
• RFID Toys
– Sistema de controlo de armazém robótico
• RFID Virtual Lab
– Simulador RFID

43. Miguel.Pardal@IST .utl.pt