RFID Gazette

RFID is arguably a very efficient technology, made for multiple purposes, useful for private and public sectors. The benefits of RFID are far too numerous to mention in a single article, as the potential applications are seemingly endless. Many in the industry and elsewhere feel that the technology will become ubiquitous and replace older technologies because of its efficiencies and extra functionality. The problem is, it is also a very controversial technology for many reasons, which are thus a barrier to widespread adoption of RFID.

What RFID Is Not
Spychips points to an AIM Global newsletter item that kills some so-called RFID truths. Keep in mind that AIM Global is an important  RFID international standards body with very well-placed industry people in its membership list. They list 6 RFID myths, amongst them: that RFID is secure and no threat to privacy.

Calling Occupants... Of Interplanetary Craft
[with apologies to Klaatu] RFID is an ideal technology for the supply chain, regardless of what kind of industry. Most of the time, location is not a barrier, either. As such, RFID could be useful for the interplanetary supply chain that NASA is setting up for the planned Moon base for 2020, and crewed missions to Mars. New Scientist Space has more details, though RFID is not mentioned in the article.

RFID Industry Mergers
PanGo networks and InnerWireless have announced a merger. The two companies had been working on an asset tracking project together for a joint customer, a hospital. [via RFID Update]

SEDs, or Service-Enabled Devices, will form a network of ordinary objects. So says Steve Ranger in a Business Week article. The term SED doesn't appear in the article, but ordinary devices that can communicate with each other are often referred to as SEDs. Item-level RFID tagging is still relatively expensive, but when your common household objects eventually get tagged, they could potentially form a network with each other. [via Loftware]

RFID isn't the only technology necessary, as the communication of data requires any one of the several wireless protocols. Potential candidates include ZigBee and possibly the new Wibree wireless communication protocol from Nokia, which is a low-power alternative to the popular Bluetooth - something many mobile devices already have. Wibree is intended to be used with small wearable objects such as watches and intelligent jewelry, or even computer keyboards and mice. So it could likely be co-opted for SED use, in tandem with radio frequency tech.

Honey We Shrunk the Contactless Payment Key Fob
Texas Intruments is offering a new contactless payment chip inlay [PCB007] about the size of a postage stamp, as well as an oval-shaped inlay antenna. Both products are compatible with MasterCard PayPass contactless payment systems, and open up the possibility of very small form factor payment keyfobs and wristbands. PayPass compatible wristbands were given away by MasterCard Worldwide recently to fans at the New York Giants' Giants Stadium. Texas Instruments recently gave up buying RFID inlays to manuffacture their own.

China Approves Savi Technology
The SRRC (State Radio Regulation Committee) in China has approved Savi Technology's active RFID tags and readers , which operate at 433.92 Mhz (ISO 18000-7) for use in the country. [via FCW] Savi was acquired recently by Lockheed Martin.

Cricket Welcomes RFID
Cricket is the latest sport to use radio frequency technology, in this case for event ticketing for the Rajasthan Cricket Association. The RFID tags used are from NXP (formerly Philips Semiconductors), the readers from Gemini. [via The HIndu Business Line]

Paul Faber of Industry Week gives a very nice explanation of a phenomenon called the network effect, where the value of a good or service increases in direct proportion to the number of people or companies using that good or service. For example, early email systems were only of value to those few researchers who had access. Now, email access is ubiquitous and valuable. Faber discusses how the network effect applies to RFID in retail, EPCglobal's EPC (Electronic Product Code), and container tracking.

The beauty of the EPC, aside from the fact that it's being promoted as a standard, is that it is designed for the sharing of information, collected by RFID readers, between organizations. So anyone in a particular supply chain that uses EPC could benefit from it. So while Wal-Mart's use of it is unfortunately relatively isolated, their mandate to introduce their suppliers to RFID and EPC should increase the value of its use to both them and the suppliers, especially beause Wal-Mart plans to share such data. However, at present, RFID in retail, Faber suggests, is not large enough yet to enjoy the positive side of the network effect, "[d]ue to the incomplete infrastructure of EPC RFID tools." Layoffs in companies such as Checkpoint Systems would bear that out.

RFID In Europe: Mood For EPC + Gen2 UHF Tech Improving
New UHF readers that work with new ETSI radio frequency regulations means that European companies are now more interested in EPCglobal's EPC (Electronic Product Code) RFID standard. Since the Gen 2 UHF protocol was introduced, ETSI has relaxed their regulations a bit to provide a wider frequency spectrum, amongst other things. And as a few companies rollout projects, those create interest in other companies. [via RFID Journal]

Another RFID Company Lays Off Staff
A Spychips article suggests that no one is "buying" Checkpoint Systems' plan to put RFID chips in clothing and shoes, and as a result of low systems sales, they are laying off people. They are still planning to sell their products including library inventory-management systems. Late last year, Checkpoint's BCS (Bar Code Systems) businesses were acquired by SATO.

Military + Aerospace RFID Use Growing
ABI Research has a new report on the military and aerospace use of RFID, a market that is expected to reach US$2B by 2011. Part of this market will be due to RF tech use in maintenance and repair applications. [ABI Research via EE Times]

Aside from issues of privacy and security, one serious factor holding back a wider adoption of RFID is the lack of skilled professionals. While the general principles of radio frequency technology may be many decades old (varies depending on whom you ask), its current uses are mostly limited to the past 15 or so years. Those professionals who do have the skills are already employed. And those few that are learning are apparently not learning fast enough, with recruiters feeling that some grads are not skilled enough to handle more complex installations.

There are a lack of degree/ diploma programs, beyond a handful of workshops,  courses and programs (Middlesex College, Oakton Community College, Indiana University), at least in North America - some of which are government grant-supported. Self-learning is not always easy going. Even a person like myself, with extensive technical background, has difficulties understanding all of the aspects of RFID - and there is a lot to learn, with new facets being introduced into the industry on a weekly basis.

The industry could spur the learning by helping establish "trade" programs in community colleges, supply equipment, and even loan/hire out their own professionals to teach courses. Aside from promoting the opportunity of a career in RF technology, I don't see how the future-lack problem can be nipped in the bud. Look at India. They are currently short of qualified engineers and other professionals for all the outsourced work that is assigned to the country. They're now running fast-track study programs to graduate people faster, and actually inviting students from other countries. Something similar will probably have to happen for the RFID industry - maybe including short-term contracts for retired/ semi-retired programmers and database administrators, not to mention technicians.

If you have an interest in getting involved in the RFID industry, two sites you may want to visit are OTA Training and RFID Recruiters. OTA will be debuting their RFID on the Web e-learning program this Fall, for those want to learn independently. RFID Recruiters has an article explaining how to earn a career opportunity in RFID and how to get started (including a list of the hot areas of RFID opportunities).

IBM called off an RFID demonstration in Australia recently, at the Australian Tennis Open. They stopped due to the interference they were causing to a nearby Vodafone mobile phone tower, because of frequency overlap. The irony is that IBM was demonstrating the accuracy and reliability of RFID. [Australian IT via Storefront Backtalk]

As the Australian IT article indicates, this interference with a cellular tower is not a normal occurrence. Apparently the non-IBM RFID reader did not conform to standards set by GS1 (Australian branch of a standards body). However, differences in operating frequency ranges for RF equipment in different countries has occasionally been a hindrance to projects where RFID tags are used in different countries. Adoption of a single band for RF activity in all countries is difficult due to legacy use of various frequencies in each country. IBM has been looking to standardize RFID and is also involved in a new US-UK RFID research consortium, which they are leading.

According to a CCW Research report, China's demand for RFID will be driven by[China Tech News] public security applications. While this may be true, the sheer size of China has resulted in several RFID projects, some of massive scope, and with great potential for more radio frequency programs. Here are a few tidbits about Chinese-related projects:

• China recently announced a gigantic project for 125M contactless train tickets for their railway system - quite possibly the biggest project of it's kind in the world.
• NXP Semiconductors (formerly Philips Semiconductors) is finding demand [EET Asia] for it's UCODE EPC G2 UHF chips, which were apparently selected because they conform to Wal-Mart's RFID mandate. Not suprising, given the probably high ratio of Chinese manufacturers amongst the retail giant's suppliers.
• In fact, Chinese-made items make up half of the product sold by giant US retailers. China is also looking to implementing RFID in the healthcare and manufacturing sectors.
• An older article at this site says that manufacturing logistics and suply chain issues are a big driver of RFID implementation in China.
• China has also been tagging livestock and has been testing RF tags for luggage tracking for some airlines.

As you can see, it's not just public security apps driving demand for RFID in China. They have so many projects of such large scope that they had considered having a Chinese RFID standard, though that idea seems to have passed. The government's Ministry of Science and Technology did come up with a Chinese RFID policy white book.

There isn't yet an accepted RFID standard around the world (but the ISO recently approved EPCGlobal's EPC Gen 2 standard), but two Japanese firms, HP Japan and BEA Japan, are talking about a new architecture [RFID in Japan] for business applications called RFID 2.0.

Meanwhile, Japan's Internal Affairs and Communication Ministry will be approving the use [RFID Blog] of active RFID chips for a number of purposes, including cargo containers. The chips will follow US standards by using the 433 Mhz frequency, and can [Forbes], even exceeding 100 meters. Existing RFID chips in Japan are mostly short-range, unable to communicate over more than 10 inches or so.

Japan is currently conducting a number of RFID initiatives, including smart license plates and even controversial projects such as tracking elementary school students with affixable RFID tags.