B. S. Prabhu

APPLICATIONS OF RFID TECHNOLOGY AND SMART PARTS IN MANUFACTURING

Industrial and consumer applications of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) are explored. The state-of-the-art and development in RFID technology is reviewed. A currently operative smart parts based manufacturing system is described which uses RFID as the key technology. The role of RFID in the emerging Wireless Internet Manufacturing field is highlighted.Copyright

Planetary-Scale RFID Services in an Age of Uberveillance

Radio-frequency identification (RFID) has a great number of unfulfilled prospects. Part of the problem until now has been the value proposition behind the technology-it has been marketed as a replacement technique for the barcode when the reality is that it has far greater capability than simply non-line-of-sight identification, towards decision making in strategic management and reengineered business processes. The vision of the internet of things (IOT) has not eventuated but a world in which every object you can see around you carries the possibility of being connected to the internet is still within the realm of possibility. However incremental innovations may see RFID being sold as a service (much like photocopiers are maintained today) than a suite of technologies within a system that are sold as individual or bundled packaged components. This paper outlines the vision for such a product service system, what kinds of smart applications we are likely to see in the future as a result, and the importance of data management capabilities in planetary-scale systems.

On the Identification Device Management and Data Capture via WinRFID1 Edge-Server

In this paper, we present a layered architecture and approach for creating a high performance edge server called reader coordinator (RC) for managing variety of automatic identification hardware such as radio frequency identification (RFID) reader, RFID printer, sensor, barcode scanner, or a controllable device (e.g., programmable logic controller). A unique hardware abstraction approach is used to provide device extensibility and manageability. Rule-based device configuration and control which allows the real-time changing of system behavior is presented. Various data encoding schemes used to accommodate data captured by a device and used as the input of rule based data filtration and aggregation are discussed. We discuss a mechanism of building self-governed automation processing in the data capture process. Performance is measured by using virtual reader that generates high volume of data at high speed. The measurement shows the RC is capable of handling such data.

RFID—A Unique Radio Innovation for the 21st Century [Scanning the Issue]

This special issue explores the state of the art across the RFID technology landscape from hardware, to systems, as well as applications and support for innovative business models.

Mobile DRM for multimedia content commerce in P2P networks

In this paper, the requirements for multimedia content sharing among Peer-to-Peer (P2P) networks are investigated and novel business models along with Digital Rights Management (DRM) solutions are proposed. In the current approach, to provide least intrusion and interference for end content consumers, content providers are not involved in the communications or peer transactions of P2P networks after the multimedia content are sold to the peer users. Peer users may legally trade or exchange their content within the P2P network via the proposed Ticket and Credit based Multimedia Commerce (T&C Commerce) system. The aim of this DRM research is to set new business models for multimedia content owners and retailers to benefit from the massive power of content distribution of P2P networks with least intrusion and interference to end consumer’s privacy and anonymity.

Web based RFID asset management solution established on cloud services

In this paper, an RFID architecture has been presented where the traditional role of the localised middleware has been distributed to the RFID reader and a cloud based web service supported by a web based user interface, eliminating the role of the former. Such an interface allows a user to control and carry out all of the major RFID related operations in a typical supply chain based situation remotely. Load testing was carried out to test the processing capability of the RFID reader based Reader Resident Application and the Reader Web Service for both large scale tag traffic and large scale event generation and processing. Different schemes were proposed for small and large scale event processing. These results are presented to demonstrate the applicability of this architecture for multiple RFID based operations.

Reconfigurable Wireless Interface for Networking Sensors (ReWINS)

Remote Monitor & Control systems are increasingly being used in security, transportation, manufacturing, supply chain, healthcare, biomedical, chemical engineering, etc. In this research, attempt is to develop a solution of wireless monitoring and control for such industrial scenarios. The solution is built on two components – a generic wireless interface for remote data collection/actuation units and control architecture at the central control unit (CCU) for smart data processing. The data collection/actuation unit (sensors/actuators) is intelligent by virtue of smart-reconfigurable-microcontroller based wireless interface, which is reconfigurable using Over-the-Air (OTA) paradigm. The RF link is also reconfigurable to accommodate a variety of RF modules (Bluetooth, 802.11 or RFID) providing plug-n-play capability. These capabilities make the interface flexible and generic. The control architecture supports services such as naming, localization etc., and is based on JavaBeans, which allows a component level description of the system to be maintained, providing flexibility for implementing complex systems.

Read / write performance for low memory passive HF RFID tag-reader system

Certain applications of passive radio frequency identification (RFID), such as those in healthcare where the patients name, identification or medical record must be stored, require data within a tag to be encrypted. Encrypted data within an RFID tag has the potential to affect the accuracy or time to read/write the data by the reader. The current research measures and analyzes the effects of encryption, distance of read and delay time between two read/write cycles on the accuracy of the read or write function in an RFID infrastructure. The research also measures and evaluates the time to read/write (R/W) data that is encrypted and compares this encrypted data with unencrypted data. The data encryption standard (DES) encryption method is used in this research due to the limitation of the tag. A multi-functional interface has been developed for the user to test the performance using a High Frequency RFID reader. The measurements were repeated 1000 times for each R/W test. The performance of R/W accuracy is not affected in any meaningful way by encryption even though there is an increase in memory requirement from 88 bytes to 128 bytes. The effect of R/W distance shows that the performance decreases with increase in the distance between the reader and the tag. By inserting a small amount of delay time between different cycles, we can get a significant increase up to 100% accuracy for read function. However, the write accuracy is not affected as significantly as the read accuracy. The effect of the encryption on the time to write the data on the tag shows that encrypted data group takes 70-120 milliseconds for the transmission more than the unencrypted data group. We conclude that while the encryption does not have a significant impact on the accuracy of R/W, the distance and cycle delay does. Also, the encrypted data takes longer to write to the tag.

In the direction of a sensor mapping platform based on cellular phone networks

During the preliminary part of the project, already available or documented services and research projects were closely studied, and it was found that many services currently make available location finding applications for cellular phones. These programs and services can be integrated into a platform which will make available a map created by sensors attached to mobile devices. The platform will be designed to be compatible with many acquisition sensors. These maps will show the network of sensor data superimposed onto a map for simpler visualization. The pilot, to show the capabilities of such a platform, will involve a sound or decibel meter attached to a cellular device. The device will have loaded unto it the platform which will be able to analyze, store, and send the data collected from the meter. Benefits of such an application, further discussed in the paper, include city planning solutions, real estate assistance, and gunshot sensing.

Feasibility Study of Surface Acoustic Wave RFID for Information Processing Asset Management

Business-to-business (B2B) market of information processing devices such as printers, copier, fax, database servers, data storage arrays and laptops is growing seamlessly and rapidly, especially in developing country. Radio frequency identification (RFID) system can be the most promising system for information technology (IT) asset management because of its well-developed level of technology, worldwide standards and its lower price than other wireless protocol such as WiFi, WiMAX, Bluetooth and so forth. However, RFID system for IT asset management in B2B environment is limited by several constraints. So, Surface Acoustic Wave based RFID at 2.4 GHz and UHF passive RFID at 900 MHz are discussed as a candidate of it. By analyzing objective data, estimating their future performance, and measuring the readability of SAW RFID system in the standard office, we concluded that the most hopeful candidate for B2B information processing device asset management is surface acoustic wave technology based RFID because of its batteryless passive RFID characteristic, relatively long readable range and its potential, and inherent sensor capability and its expandability as well.