1. 4th International Workshop on
RFID Technology - Concepts, Applications,
Challenges
Miguel.Pardal@ist.utl.pt
Instituto Superior Técnico,
Technical University Lisbon, Portugal

2. Towards the Internet of Things:
An introduction to RFID
Miguel Pardal
José Alves Marques
4th International Workshop on RFID Technology - Concepts, Applications, Challenges
June 8th 2010

3. The Internet of Things
http://www.flickr.com/photos/crispyfried/76719715/

4. The Internet of Things
[Elgar Fleisch 10]
• Machine-centric
• Connects low-end devices
• Trillions (1012) rather than billions (109) of
nodes
• Universal Identification
– EPC
• Universal Addressing
– IPv6

5. From local to global scope

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

7. Supply Chains

8. Automatic data capture

9. Other RF technologies
[ How stuff works ] [ PWKits ]

10. RFID tags
•UHF(Ultra-High Frequency): [300..3 000] MHz
•MW (Microwaves): [2,5 .. 5,8 GHz]
•Wave coupling
•LF (Low Frequency): [30 .. 300] kHz •Backscatter
•HF (High Frequency): [3 ..30] MHz
•Inductive coupling
•Load modulation

11. RFID antennas and readers

12. RFID in action
[Roussos06]

13. RFID supply chain = EPC supply chain

14. Architecture Framework

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

18. Why?
Credits: Christian Floerkemeier, MIT

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

20. Simulation
Credits: Carlos Perdigão,
IST

21. Experimental setup
Credits: Nova Ahmed,
Georgia Tech

22. Trials
Credits: Schuitema supermarkets,
RFID Journal

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

24. Threats
[Garfinkel05]

25. Security
• Privacy
– Misbehaving readers, well-behaving tags
• Authentication
– Well-behaving readers, misbehaving tags
• Basic tags versus Advanced tags
– Attack model
• Infrastructure security
– ONS, EPCIS

26. Privacy approaches
[Ari Juels 06]
• Physical protection
– Shielded containers
– Personal jamming devices
– Downgrading tag abilities
• Killing and sleeping
• Renaming
– Discarding serial numbers
– Pseudonyms
– Re-encryption by trusted partners
• Proxying
– “transparent” readers
– audit / watchdog
• Distance measurement
– Distance as a measure of trust

27. Conclusions
• RFID is a set of technologies
– No “one-size-fit-all” tag and reader
• All readers cannot read all tags at all times
– RFID middleware challenges
– Physical layout matters
• All readers should not read all tags at all times
– RFID security challenges
– Trade-offs have to be carefully considered
• Towards the Internet of Things
– RFID allows things and places in the physical world to
automatically generate data for information systems

28. 4th International Workshop on
RFID Technology - Concepts, Applications,
Challenges
Miguel.Pardal@ist.utl.pt
Instituto Superior Técnico,
Technical University of Lisbon, Portugal

29. Extras

30. Internet of Things @ IST

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

32. Ongoing work
• Ricardo Carapeto
– Smart luggage security
• Pedro Ferreira
– BizTalk EPCIS interface
• Carlos Perdigão
– Federated track & trace

33. Ongoing work
• Miguel Pardal
– Scalable and secure Discovery services

34. Future work
• RFID Toys
– Robot warehouse control
• RFID Virtual Lab
– IDE integration

36. 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

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

38. Shower Analogy

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

40. Lighthouse Analogy

41. Range
Credits: C. Floerkemeier, MIT

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

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

44. 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

46. Legal ownership ≠ Physical possesion

47. Software Layers

49. Discovery: follow-the-chain vs directory

51. Authentication approaches
[Ari Juels 06]
• Password
– Use kill secret key to authenticate
• Yoking
– Read sets of tags at same time and record
– Evidence tracks in a trusted third party.