RFID Standards

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RFID Standards

• University of Houston
• Bauer College of Business
• Spring 2007
• Presentation Source Bear and Stearns, 2003 RFID
  Journal Auto-ID Inc. CompTIA

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What is standard?

• Definition
• A generic, all-encompassing term used to describe
  documents that provide a specified set of
  mandatory or discretionary rules, requirements,
  or conditions concerned with performance, design,
  operation, or measurements of quality to
  accomplish a specific task

Source www.llnl.gov/es_and_h/hsm/doc_5.01/doc5-01
.html
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Why do we need Standards?

• Better interoperability ? Lower costs
• Lower costs
• Purchasing (economies of scale)
• Maintenance
• Prior absence of universal standards hindered
  RFID adoption

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The Essence of RFID Standards

• The primary issue in RFID standardization is the
  air interface protocol, which outlines the
  mechanism through which tags and readers
  communicate wirelessly.

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History of RFID Standards

• In the beginning
• The International Organization for
  Standardization (ISO)
• The European Article Numbering/Uniform Code
  Council (EAN.UCC)
• The Auto-ID Center

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ISO (www.iso.org)

• The ISO establishes global standards based on a
  consensus among interested parties
• All RFID systems must follow ISO rules
• No local ordinance should contradict ISO
  standards

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ISO Standards

• Animal Identification
• ISO 11784, ISO 11785, ISO 14223
• Code Structure Number of bits, information
• Technical concept transmission method for data
  and reader specs for activating transponder
  differentiates between full/half duplex and
  sequential systems
• Air interface
• Contactless Smart Cards
• ISO 10536, ISO 14443, ISO 15693
• Card Type Close coupling, proximity coupling,
  vicinity coupling
• Physical characteristics, dimensions, coupling
  areas, electronic signals, reset, transmission
  protocols, power, initialization and
  anticollision
• ISO 10373 Test methods load modulation,
  calibration, power supply
• Data Carriers for Tools and Clamping Devices
• ISO 69873 dimensions for contactless data
  carriers and their mounting space, retention
  knobs etc

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ISO Standards

• Container Identification
• ISO 10374, ISO 6346 Optical identification
• Active, Microwave transponders
• Unmodulated carrier signal 850-950 MHz and
  2400-2500 MHz
• Backscatter modulation using FSK
• Anti-theft system for goods
• Detection gates, inspection and testing, false
  alarm rate, deactivation devices
• Item Management
• ISO 18000 series parameters for air interface
  communication at different frequencies,
  application requirement profiles

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Scope of Standards

• Frequency Ranges
• 13.56 MHz
• 860-960 MHz
• 2.45 GHz
• 5.8 GHz
• Air Interface Standards
• Data Objects and Identifiers

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History of RFID Standards

• The EAN.UCC and the Auto-ID Center announced a
  deal in which the UCC will license the EPC
  technology developed by the Auto-ID Center,
  providing the UCC with exclusive rights to the
  technology (EPC) (Bear and Stearns, 2003)
• Auto-ID EAN.UCC EPCglobal
• EPCglobal submitted its Generation 2 standard to
  ISO

21/07/2006 - The EPCglobal UHF Generation 2
protocol for radio frequency identification
(RFID) has been endorsed by the International
Standards Organisation (ISO), paving the way for
its use throughout the global supply chain.
(http//www.foodproductiondaily-sa.com/news/ng.asp
?n69309-epcglobal-rfid-supply-chain)
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History of RFID Standards

• EPCglobals Gen 2 standard is the first global
  protocol
• How did they do it?
• EPCglobal is a commercial enterprise
• EPCglobal had the objective of becoming a
  universal standardization body with respect to
  Auto-ID (RFID)
• EPCglobal was quick in introducing its standards
• EPCglobal cooperated with companies
• EPCglobal web site www.epcglobalinc.org

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Some Initial Standards by Auto-ID (EPCglobal)
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EPC Standards

• Electronic Product Code (EPC)
• Class 0
• Class 1
• Class 2
• Savant Systems
• Object Name Service (ONS)
• Physical Markup Language (PML)
• Reader protocol

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EPC

• EPC (Electronic Product Code) is a new standard
  for identifying products
• Barcodes may migrate to EPC as well, since
  Auto-ID (EPCglobal) has adopted the basic
  structures of the Global Trade Item Number (GTIN)

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EPC
Object Class
Header
EPC Manager (Manufacturer)
Serial Number
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EPC

• EPC can be 64 or 96 bits 96-bit EPC is expected
  to become more common
• 4 bits are used to identify each symbol (letter
  of number)
• The 96-bit EPC provides unique identifiers for
• 268 million companies
• Each manufacturer can have 16 million classes and
  68 billion serial numbers in each class
• Unlike UPC, EPC uniquely identifies each product

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Savant

• Savant is a middleware specification developed by
  the Auto-ID Center
• Savant acts as a nervous system of an RFID
  network
• After readers pick up EPC codes, Savant manages
  and moves the data

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Savant

• Uses distributed architecture and is organized
  into a hierarchy of individual savants that
  manages the process of gathering and distributing
  data
• Tasks savant can do
• Data smoothing
• Reader coordination
• Data forwarding
• Data storage
• Task Management

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Object Name Service (ONS)

• Provides a global lookup service to translate an
  EPC into one or more Internet Uniform Reference
  Locators (URLs) where further information on the
  object may be found
• These URLs often identify an EPC Information
  Service, though ONS may also be used to associate
  EPCs with web sites and other Internet resources
  relevant to an object
• ONS provides both static and dynamic services
• Static ONS typically provides URLs for
  information maintained by an objects
  manufacturer
• Dynamic ONS services record a sequence of
  custodians as an object moves through a supply
  chain
• ONS is built using the same technology as DNS,
  the Domain Name Service of the Internet

Source Auto-ID/EPCglobal
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Physical Markup Language (PML)

• A collection of common, standardized XML
  vocabularies to represent and distribute
  information related to EPC Network enabled
  objects
• PML standardizes the content of messages
  exchanged within the EPC network
• It is a part of the Auto-ID Centers effort to
  develop standardized interfaces and protocols for
  the communication with and within the Auto-ID
  infrastructure
• The core part of the physical mark-up-language
  (PML Core) provides a standardized format for the
  exchange of the data captured by the sensors
  (readers) in the Auto-ID infrastructure

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Reader Protocol

• The Reader Protocol specifies the interaction
  between a device capable of reading (and possibly
  writing) tags, and application software

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EPC Gen 2 Protocol

• EPC Gen 2 is a UHF protocol
• EPC Gen 2 Protocol is likely to become a global
  standard
• Gen 2 protocol was designed to optimize
  performance in different regulatory environments
  around the world

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EPC Gen 2 Protocol Operating Mode

• EPC Gen 2 Protocol is allows readers to operate
  in 3 different modes
• Single-reader mode
• Multi-reader mode
• Dense-reader mode
• Dense mode is designed to prevent readers from
  interfering with one another
• Dense mode uses a backscatter method called
  Miller subcarrier

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EPC Gen 2 Protocol - Memory

• Gen 2 tags are field programmable
• Gen 2 tags have 4 memory areas
• 3 required
• EPC
• Password
• Tag identification
• 1 optional
• Memory areas can be locked temporary or
  permanently

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EPC Gen 2 Protocol Q Algorithm

• Q Algorithm allows readers to query tags even if
  two tags have the same EPC or do not contain EPC
  at all
• The query mechanism is based on random number
  generation
• The reader does not have to transmit EPC,
  preventing eavesdropping

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Sessions

• Each Gen 2 tags can have 4 separate sessions for
  communicating
• Sessions is a means for preventing interference
  (e.g. caused by different readers)

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Conclusion

• www.iso.org
• www.epcglobalinc.org