Choosing RFID Equipment

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Choosing RFID Equipment
Bob Scher, CEO

• Authorized Distributor RFID Support Center
• Texas Instruments RFID
• IDmicro Incorporated RFID
• Impro Technologies RFID
• Zebra RFID, Feig RFID, X-ident RFID

2
RFID - Just Another Tool
RFID TECHNOLOGY

• RFID is just one more tool for automatic data
  collection, along with bar code, magnetic swipe,
  i-Button and other data acquisition sensors. RFID
  is not a solution, its just another tool that
  must be implemented properly to receive its
  benefits.

3
What We Need to Learn

• What is RFID ?
• What can it do ?
• Where is it used ?
• Why all the recent hype ?
• How to get started ?
• What are the REAL costs ?
• What are the problems ?

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RFID System Architecture
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COST JUSTIFICATION

• ROI Considerations
• Justification for RFID
• Identify the pain
• How much is the solution worth?
• Can RFID do the job?
• Is there a better solution than RFID?

6
ASK QUESTIONS

• Learn to quickly recognize where RFID is a good
  fit and where it is not. Become educated as to
  what questions must be asked and what answers are
  to be expected before implementing an RFID
  solution.

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RFID QUESTIONS

• Tags re-useable or one-time use?
• Distance performance required?
• Materials being tagged?
• Orientation of tags?
• Number of tags?
• Speed performance required?
• Power required?

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LAST QUESTION

• Most Important Question
• Can the problem be solved with a better, cheaper,
  faster, easier solution than RFID?

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THE OPTIMUM CASE

• Need to track valuable, important stuff
• Tags can be presented in a predictable location
• Orientation of tags is predictable
• Materials will not interfere with tags
• Tags can be attached easily
• Tags will remain in the field long enough to be
  detected
• Tags can function within environment

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Make the Right Choices

• The Right Technology
• The Right Frequency
• The Right Tag
• The Right Reader
• The Right Component Manufacturer
• The Right Distributor, System Integrator

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AVAILABILITY

• RFID Here Now
• from companies that actually supply tags,
  readers, antennas and RFID accessories
• RFID Tomorrow Land
• no standard products available for sale
• profits generated from investment capital

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WHAT IS RFID ?

• RADIO FREQUENCY IDENTIFICATION
• What is RADIO ?
• WAVES
• FREQUENCY
• AMPLITUDE
• VELOCITY
• WAVELENGTH
• ENERGY

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E-M PHYSICS
Electro-magnetic Fields

• Electric Charge
• Electric Current
• E- Field (electrostatic)
• B- Field (magnetic)
• E-M wave propagation
• Poynting Vector
• Displacement Fields

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GRAPHS
A
Amplitude
Time Domain
Time
A
Frequency Domain
Frequency
A
Distance
Wavelength
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E-M SPECTRUM
ELECTRO MAGNETIC SPECTRUM
LF HF UHF MICROWAVE LIGHT
XRAYS
AM
RADAR
FM. TV
CELL
Cosmic Gamma XRays
13.56 MHz
InfraRed Rainbow UltraViolet
900 MHz
2.45 GHz
134 KHz 125 KHz
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WAVELENGTH
Wavelength (m) Speed of Light (m/s) / Frequency
(Hz)
FAR FIELD NEAR FIELD FREQ WL 1/6
WL LF 134 kHz 1.3 miles 1100 feet HF 13.5 MHz
66 feet 11 feet UHF 900 Mhz 13 inches
2 inches MW 2.45 GHz 5 inches 1 inch
NEAR FIELD Energy storage Field FAR FIELD
Displacement Field
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RFID FIELDS -1
NEAR FIELD Energy storage Field

• Power Transformer Action
• Primary Winding
• Secondary Winding
• Turns Ratio
• Magnetic Coupling
• Losses

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RFID FIELDS -2
FAR FIELD Displacement Field

• Electromagnetic Propagation
• Maxwells Equations
• Radio Waves - Speed of Light
• Reflections
• Cancellations
• Interference
• Losses

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ANTENNAS
The Perfect Radiator Resonant at Operating
Frequency Bandwidth wide enough for data Not too
wide for noise susceptibility High Q but not
too high Q Matches Drive Impedance (50
Ohm) Matches mediums Impedance (377 Ohm)
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SPREAD SPECTRUM

• SPREAD SPECTRUM
• Frequency Hopping (FHSS)
• Direct Sequence (DSSS)
• Low Power
• Wide Bandwidth
• High Noise Immunity
• High Security

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Summary

• RFID is not just RADIO WAVES
• technical limitations
• requires in-depth knowledge
• chose the right components
• consider the environment
• dont underestimate the interfaces

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LIMITATIONS
Every RFID chip should know its
limitations. (Dirty Harry)
Learn to quickly recognize where RFID is a good
fit and where it is not. Become educated as to
what questions must be asked and what answers are
to be expected before implementing an RFID
solution.
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10 RFID PITFALLS

• 1. COST
• 2. PERFORMANCE
• 3. PROXIMITY OF METALS, LIQUIDS
• 4. ELECTRICAL NOISE
• 5. SYSTEM HARDWARE AVAILABILITY
• 6. TAG TO TAG INTERFERENCE
• 7. PACKAGING
• 8. FREQUENCY CONSIDERATIONS
• 9. COMPLIANCE ISSUES
• 10. MAKING THE RIGHT CHOICES

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Range Comparison 1
Low Frequency passive

• 4 to 5 ft. range with large tags(3.3 in disk)
• 1 to 2 ft. range with small tag (1 in.disk)

High Frequency passive

• 19 to 23 in. range with credit size foil
• 4 to 6 in. range with 1 in. disk

Low Frequency Active

• 8 to 12 ft. range with 3 in. disk

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Range Comparison 2
UHF passive

• 8 to 10 ft. range with credit card size foil
  (900 MHz)
• 2 to 6 ft. range with 3 in. tag (2.4 GHz)

UHF semi-active
15 to 30 ft. range with 1.5 in. disk
UHF active

150 ft. range with 2 in. cube
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RFID TAGS - 1

• Passive Transponders
• LF, HF, UHF

• Active Transponder Beacons
• UHF 400, 900 MHz, 2.45 GHz

• Semi-Passive, Battery-Assisted
• Backscatter Technology
• Microwave 2.45 GHz

RIC- Remote Intelligent Communications
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RFID TAGS - 2

• Read Only
• LF 8 bytes
• Write Once/Read Many (WORM)
• Field programmable and locked
• Read/Write
• Multi-page 17 blocks x 8 bytes
• ISO 15693 64 blocks x 4 bytes 256 char
• Anti-Collision ISO 15693-3
• multiple tags, CDMA, speed, range

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LF PASSIVE TAGS -1

• TI-RFID (previously TIRIS)
• glass tubes - injectable animal chip
• key fobs - Mobile Speed Pass
• Disks - CARMAX Asset Tracking
• ID Cards - Access Security Proximity
• Rods - Vehicle Tracking
• Mount-on-Metal Transponders

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LF PASSIVE TAGS -2

• COST (dependant on quantity)
• glass tubes - 2
• key fobs - 3
• Disks - 5
• ID Cards - 3
• Rods - 9
• Mount-on-Metal Transponders - 7

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LF PASSIVE TAGS -3

• RANGE - Depends on Reader/Antenna
• glass tubes - 1 foot
• key fobs - 1 foot
• Disks - 5 feet
• ID Cards - 3 feet
• Rods - 6 feet
• Mount-on-Metal Transponders - 5 feet

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HF PASSIVE TAGS -1

• ISO 15693 (previously TI Tag-it, I-Code)
• (vicinity card)
• ISO 14443 (proximity card)
• foil inlays
• paper labels
• cardboard tickets
• ID bracelets
• ID Cards (photo ID)

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HF PASSIVE TAGS -2

• COST (dependant on quantity)
• foil inlays - 0.50
• paper labels - 0.75
• cardboard tickets - 0.75
• ID bracelets - 2.00
• ID Cards (photo ID) - 2.00

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HF PASSIVE TAGS -3

• RANGE - Depends on Reader/Antenna
• - Depends on Foil Size
• foil inlays - 2 feet
• paper labels - 2 feet
• cardboard tickets - 1 foot
• ID bracelets - 1/2 foot
• ID Cards (photo ID) - 2 feet

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UHF PASSIVE TAGS
UHF - 900 MHz RANGE - Depends on
Reader/Antenna - Depends on Foil
Size Reflections, Cancellations,
Interference May Require Field Stirring
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EPC NETWORK
Electronic Product Code MIT Auto-ID Center UCC
- Uniform Code Council EAN - European Article
Numbering EPCglobal Inc. - joint
venture develops oversees standards for epc
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EPC STRUCTURE
Header Manager Object Class S/N
originator product EPC 96
bits EPC 64 bits Savant Servers - repositories
for epcs - middleware for PML ONS - Object
Name Service DNS - Domain Name System
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MICROWAVE TAGS
FAR FIELD - 2.45 GHz 1. Passive
Backscattering 2. Active Transponder
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SEMI-PASSIVE TAGS

• Semi-Passive / Battery Assisted
• BACKSCATTER
• Detect Changes in Radar Cross Section
• Switching Schottky Diode bias
• Near-zero power consumption
• Lower cost than Active Tags

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ACTIVE TAGS

• UHF 400 900 MHz
• Microwave 2.45 GHZ 5.8 GHz
• Increased Range
• Increased Complexity Cost
• Microwave Transceiver
• Increased Power Consumption
• Duty Cycle Power Management
• Wake-up Delays

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BATTERY LIFE
ACTIVE 1 -2 YEARS Dependant on pinging
rate SEMI-ACTIVE BACKSCATTER 5 - 10 YEARS
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FUTURE LABELS
Next Generation Label ???
SAL-C www.sal-c.org Smart Active Label
Consortium
Power Paper LTD Active Semi-Active
Labels Organic Transistors - Carbon
Based Molecular-Scale Transistors Integral Power
Source
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ACTIVE TAG APPS

• Road Tolls
• Parking Systems
• Club Access - Loyalty
• Gated Communities
• Tracking Trucks, Trailers
• Yard Management
• Fuel Islands
• Truck Wash

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RFID SUPPLY CHAIN
What was Really Holding Things Up?

• No easy, cohesive process to get comfortable
  with complete RFID systems
• Need to establish multi-vendor system support
• Unrealistic hype regarding Tomorrow Land RFID
• Lack of a convenient RFID supply chain
• Not understanding RFID attributes and limitations

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The Right Equipment for the Application
Decide on Technology that best fits - Range
Comparison and factors that will affect
performance - Number of tags in the field - Tag
location and mounting - Time in the field -
Environmental Requirements - Encoding/printing
the tags
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READERS
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Antenna Design
Equipment

• VSWR meter
• LCR meter
• Antenna analyzer
• Oscilloscope
• Test tags/test software

47
HF Antenna Patterns
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MICROWAVE ANTENNA
Dipole Antenna - Printed Microstrip Multi-
element Patch Antennas Match 50 ohm to 377
Ohm Antenna Polarizations Vertical Horizontal
Linear E-plane Circular Polarization - power
loss Radiation Patterns - passive phasing Gain
(6dBi - Reader)(2dBi - Tag)
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uWave Antenna Types
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UHF ANT Polarization
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UHF Multi-Path
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RFID Label Printer
Considerations 1. Foil size and
location. 2. Encode HF tags 3. Test RFID
label before printing. 4. Verify RFID
label after printing.
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Software Requirements

• Relational DataBase Management Systems (RDBMS)
• Application Software
• Personnel
• All of these components and systems must be
  tailored to fit the
• particular requirements of your RFID system at an
  affordable cost.

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MOST IMPORTANT

• Choose the right partners
• DONT GO IT ALONE

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THANK YOU

• The most important ingredient that RFID is
  missing is YOU!
• Get Involved
• Understand what RFID can can not do
• Find a good application fit
• Get hands-on experience (kits)

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QUESTIONS ?
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Contact Information
Bob Scher, CEO bobs_at_dyna-sys.com
www.rfidusa.com
Dynasys Technologies Inc. 800 Belleair
Road Clearwater, FL 33756 U.S.A. Phone (727)
443-6600