A Roadmap for Rfid Applications and Technologies

Final report

Work package 1

A Roadmap for RFID Applications and Technologies

Dr. Leif Wiebking Gerhard Metz Siemens AG Miia Korpela Mikko Nikkanen Dr. Katariina Penttil UPM Raflatac Oy August 12, 2008

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Executive Summary

The coordination action CE RFID funded by the European Union is divided into eight work packages. This is the final report of work package 1 entitled RFID Roadmap.

Objectives of work package 1: RFID roadmap

The work package should give a clear overview of the actual state-of-the-art of RFID technology and its future developments in order to gain a more objective dis-cussion on RFID. Although the coordination action considers the importance of pas-sive RFID technology for the use in mass market applications like retail and logis-tics, RFID is seen as a broad area of technologies with different physical properties and limits. Users, legislation bodies, citizens, and NGOs are often not aware of the basic technology conditions of RFID which might result in a misunderstanding of the benefits, costs, and risks of RFID. Frequently, properties of different RFID technolo-gies are combined incorrectly (e.g. low cost 5-cent-tag and reading ranges up to 100 metres), leading to wrong expectations of RFID performance.

Work Package 1 presents a basic overview of the RFID technologies currently avail-able on the market together with their specifications. It investigates major interna-tional R&D activities that have been published so far with respect to RFID and tries to identify pre-sent gaps and bottlenecks that still remain to be solved in order to support broad implementation of RFID technologies.

Based on the findings, a timeline of future RFID developments and a possible RFID roadmap will be outlined. The coordination action CE RFID also benefits from the roadmap of the European technology platform European Technology Platform on Smart Systems Integration (EPoSS) outlined in its Strategic Research Agenda (SRA).

Objectives of this final report

Based on a decision of the project consortium this final report contains all informa-tion previously collected in draft versions of intermediate reports. Therefore, the objectives of this document are identical to the work package objectives (see above). The three main topics of work package 1 are:

RFID technologies state-of-the-art

RFID technologies international R&D activities

RFID technologies bottlenecks and R&D approaches

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Results and recommendations to the stakeholders

Europe has a strong position within the RFID market. In the low frequency (LF) and high frequency (HF) technology areas Europe currently takes the leading position. Many applications in the retail and logistics market need mid-range reading and multi-tag capability both provided by most recent ultra-high frequency (UHF) RFID technology, namely the current Class 1 Generation 2 tags, short Gen 2. Users make progress in the rollout of this new technology for the supply chain manage-ment. On a first step pallets and cases will be tagged. Gen-2-tags provide a kill-command feature that allows to permanently disable the tag after usage, e.g. at the point of sale, addressing privacy issues of consumers carrying those tags. Other upcoming application fields are: RFID and anti-theft systems, food chain monitor-ing, electronic goods, asset management, access control, tracking and tracing, tick-eting, and industrial applications like monitoring of production processes, auto-mated manufacturing and process control.

Although there are many systems and different RFID technologies available on the market, there is still need for R&D in the industry as well as in academia in order to overcome remaining technological bottlenecks: The recommendation of work pack-age 1 for RFID-related R&D activities breaks down into five areas. Three of these areas are mainly recommendations for R&D topics:

The hardware related R&D topics subsume improvement of on-metal-tags, ultralow power tags, packaging and mounting, printable electronics, sensor applications, multi-frequency and multi-standard readers, low-cost manufac-turing, localisation, new materials and robustness, tags with displays, envi-ronmentally compatible tags, and system-on-chip design.

The application related R&D topics cover sensor networks, the improvement of reading rates near 100%, last mile support, new applications and mar-ket studies.

The network/software/systems related R&D topics comprise plug-and-play infrastructures, the Internet of Things, the internationalisation of the ONS and smart systems.

Besides these R&D-oriented areas two additional areas for activities have been identified:

The standards/regulations related activities subsume the global harmonisa-tion of the UHF RFID band allocations, harmonised EU regulations, improved vendor interoperability, fallback procedures as well as peer-review encryp-tion techniques.

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The data security/data protection/privacy-related recommendations list both R&D and organisational topics, e.g. privacy-by-design architectures like the kill-tagfeature and the prevention of unnoticed tag reading, increased public acceptance by better information, concise guidelines for RFID users, and the improvement of network data security. In this way, RFID contributes to the preservation of European values.

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Table of Contents

1 Approach ................................................................................ 21

1.1 Definition of work package topic ................................................ 21

1.2 Structure of work package topics ............................................... 22

1.2.1 RFID technologies state-of-the-art ......................................... 22

1.2.2 RFID Technologies international R&D activities ......................... 23

1.2.3 RFID Technologies bottlenecks and R&D approaches ................. 23

1.3 Relevant stakeholders .............................................................. 24

1.3.1 Stakeholder group Research & Development ............................ 24

1.3.2 Stakeholder group RFID technology suppliers ........................... 25

1.3.3 Stakeholder group business associations.................................. 27

1.3.4 Stakeholder group government & governmental institutions ....... 28

1.3.5 Stakeholder group standardisation organisations....................... 28

1.3.6 Stakeholder group quasi-autonomous and non-governmental organisations ......................................................................... 28

1.3.7 Stakeholder group RFID end user companies ............................ 29

1.3.8 Contribution............................................................................ 29

2 Methodology ........................................................................... 31

2.1 Assessment criteria.................................................................. 31

2.2 Methods ................................................................................. 32

3 State-of-the-art and Analysis .................................................... 34

4 Application View ...................................................................... 35

4.1 RFID vs. barcode and OCR........................................................ 35

4.1.1 Mapping to the RFID Reference Model ........................................ 37

4.2 RFID Reference Model .............................................................. 39

4.3 Application examples ............................................................... 42

4.3.1 Logistics, supply chain management at Metro Group .................... 42

4.3.2 Identity management, security, access control ............................ 42

4.3.3 Contactless smart card Mifare................................................. 43

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4.3.4 Contactless smart card FeliCa................................................. 45

4.3.5 -chip .................................................................................... 46

4.3.6 Animal identification ................................................................ 46

4.3.7 Automation, production management, manufacturing .................. 47

4.3.8 Automotive............................................................................. 47

4.3.9 Smart drug cabinet.................................................................. 48

4.3.10 Medical, pharmaceutical, health care ......................................... 48

4.3.11 VeriChip ................................................................................. 48

4.4 Niche applications ................................................................... 49

4.4.1 Tree identification ................................................................... 49

4.4.2 Identification of bees ............................................................... 50

4.4.3 Railroad car identification ......................................................... 50

4.5 Mapping to the RFID Reference Model........................................ 50

5 Transponder Classes View ........................................................ 52

5.1 EPCglobal classes .................................................................... 52

5.1.1 Passive tags ........................................................................... 53

5.1.2 Semi-passive tags ................................................................... 54

5.1.3 Active tags ............................................................................. 54

5.1.4 Mapping to the RFID Reference Model........................................ 55

6 ISO/OSI Network Model View.................................................... 58

6.1 Tag/reader interface ................................................................ 61

6.2 Reader/edge server interface.................................................... 65

6.3 Edge server/integration server interface..................................... 66

6.4 Integration server/integration server interface ............................ 67

6.5 Mapping to the RFID Reference Model........................................ 69

7 Technological View .................................................................. 72

7.1 Air interfaces .......................................................................... 72

7.1.1 Inductive coupling ................................................................... 72

7.1.2 Electromagnetic field coupling................................................... 74

7.1.3 Mapping to the RFID Reference Model........................................ 82

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7.2 Reader technology ................................................................... 86


7.3 Antenna arrangements ............................................................. 93

7.4 Transponder technology ........................................................... 94


7.4.2 Performance ........................................................................... 97

7.4.3 Manufacturing ....................................................................... 103

7.4.4 Antenna designs .................................................................... 107

7.4.5 Low power designs ................................................................ 112

7.5 RFID middleware systems....................................................... 115

7.5.1 Hardware.............................................................................. 115

7.5.2 Software............................................................................... 117

7.6 Backend systems................................................................... 120

7.6.1 Mapping to the RFID Reference Model ...................................... 122

7.7 Advanced systems ................................................................. 122

7.7.1 Sensors ................................................................................ 122

7.7.2 Localisation........................................................................... 124

7.7.3 Ambient intelligence............................................................... 125

7.7.4 Networks .............................................................................. 126

7.7.5 Robust systems ..................................................................... 129


8 Standards and Regulations View.............................................. 135

8.1 Radio regulations................................................................... 135


8.2 Air interface standards ........................................................... 141

8.3 Application standards ............................................................. 142

8.4 Standards for test methods..................................................... 144

8.5 Data management standards .................................................. 144

8.6 Data structure standards ........................................................ 145

8.7 Sensor standards................................................................... 146

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8.8 Mapping to the RFID Reference Model.......................................146

9 Data Processing View..............................................................149

9.1 Data security, data protection, data confidentiality and integrity ..150

9.1.1 Tag cloning............................................................................150

9.1.2 Eavesdropping .......................................................................151

9.1.3 Man-in-the-middle-attack........................................................151

9.1.4 Relay attack ..........................................................................152

9.1.5 Replay attack.........................................................................152

9.1.6 Unauthorised reading/writing...................................................153

9.1.7 Tampering with tickets, payment or money cards.......................153

9.1.8 Denial of service ....................................................................154

9.1.9 Unauthorised deactivation of tags.............................................154

9.1.10 Physical destruction of tags or readers......................................155

9.1.11 Privacy threats.......................................................................155

9.1.12 Intentional or accidental assignment of tags (ID number) to wrong objects or individuals ....................................................156

9.1.13 Mistaken tag reading ..............................................................156

9.1.14 Injection of malware...............................................................156

9.2 Addressing data protection and privacy concerns .......................157

9.3 European values ....................................................................159

9.4 Safety-related issues ..............................................................160

9.4.1 Pharmaceutical applications.....................................................160

9.4.2 Tampering with medical data ...................................................160

9.4.3 Unauthorised or accidental access to dangerous areas ................160

9.4.4 Tampering with best-before dates stored on RFID tags ...............161

9.4.5 Exposure to magnetic and electromagnetic fields .......................161

9.5 Secure RFID systems..............................................................161

9.6 Mapping to the RFID Reference Model.......................................167

10 Market View ..........................................................................172

10.1 Vendors of RFID equipment .....................................................173

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10.1.1 RFID vendors by countries and continents ................................ 173

10.1.2 RFID vendors by frequency ..................................................... 175

10.1.3 RFID vendors by standards ..................................................... 180

10.1.4 RFID systems by tag power supply .......................................... 181

10.1.5 RFID vendors by applications .................................................. 182

10.2 System specifications and properties........................................ 182

11 Intellectual Property View ....................................................... 185

11.1 Patents, utility patents ........................................................... 185

11.2 Patent pools.......................................................................... 190

12 RFID Technologies International R&D Activities....................... 192

12.1 Introduction.......................................................................... 192

12.2 Sources of international R&D activities ..................................... 192

12.3 R&D Database....................................................................... 193

12.4 Technology aspects................................................................ 194

12.4.1 Transponder technology ......................................................... 194

12.4.2 Interrogator technology.......................................................... 207

12.4.3 System technology ................................................................ 211

12.5 Application-specific topics ....................................................... 214

12.5.1 Fraunhofer Institutes (Germany) ............................................. 214

12.5.2 LogMotionLab........................................................................ 215

12.5.3 openID-center....................................................................... 215

12.5.4 Ko-RFID ............................................................................... 215

12.5.5 FLog LogIDLab.................................................................. 216

12.5.6 Sokymat Automotive.............................................................. 216

12.5.7 Identec Solutions................................................................... 217

12.5.8 Philips/NXP ........................................................................... 217

12.5.9 Plefo Ab / Mannings ............................................................... 217

12.5.10 Philips Semiconductors / Graz University of Technology.............. 218

12.5.11 Traffic Supervision Systems A/S .............................................. 218

12.5.12 Immotec Systems / Homenet .................................................. 218

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12.5.13 Eczacibasi Bilisim ...................................................................219

12.5.14 Internic Data Communications GmbH / Smart-ID .......................219

12.5.15 EOSS Innovation Management .................................................219

12.5.16 Follow Me..............................................................................219

12.5.17 Mapping to the RFID Reference Model.......................................219

12.6 Software, systems, and networks.............................................222

12.6.1 RFID middleware....................................................................222

12.6.2 Software, Systems and networks .............................................225

12.7 Socio-economic aspects ..........................................................240

12.7.1 Security, data protection, privacy.............................................240

12.7.2 Environmental and safety aspects ............................................243

12.7.3 General aspects .....................................................................244

12.7.4 Mapping to the RFID Reference Model.......................................245

13 RFID Technology Bottlenecks and R&D Approaches ....................248

13.1 Introduction ..........................................................................248

13.2 Technology aspects ................................................................248

13.2.1 Transponder technology ..........................................................248

13.2.2 Interrogator technology ..........................................................268

13.2.3 System technology .................................................................273

13.3 Application-specific topics........................................................278

13.3.1 The real-time-enterprise .........................................................278

13.3.2 Standardisation of application layers.........................................279

13.3.3 Traffic control and safety aspects .............................................279

13.3.4 Pairing objects .......................................................................279

13.3.5 Improving of medication compliance.........................................280

13.3.6 Supporting blind people ..........................................................280

13.3.7 Anti-counterfeiting, RFID for DRM ............................................280

13.3.8 Support of pilot operations ......................................................281

13.3.9 E-tax-free with RFID...............................................................281

13.3.10 Market studies .......................................................................281

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13.4 Software, systems, and networks ............................................ 283

13.4.1 Internet of Things.................................................................. 283

13.5 Socio-economic aspects.......................................................... 284

13.5.1 Trust and acceptance ............................................................. 284

13.5.2 Security, data protection, privacy ............................................ 284

13.5.3 Environmental and safety aspects............................................ 285


14 RFID technology roadmap....................................................... 288

14.1 Introduction.......................................................................... 288

14.2 EPCglobal roadmap ................................................................ 289

14.3 CE RFID roadmap .................................................................. 293

14.3.1 Packaging ............................................................................. 293

14.3.2 Chip design........................................................................... 294

14.3.3 Energy aspects...................................................................... 294

14.3.4 RF technology ....................................................................... 295

14.3.5 Manufacturing ....................................................................... 296

14.3.6 Systems ............................................................................... 297

14.3.7 Readers/interrogators ............................................................ 298

14.3.8 Non-silicon technologies ......................................................... 300

14.3.9 Bi-stable displays................................................................... 301

14.3.10 Sensors ................................................................................ 301

14.3.11 Cryptography ........................................................................ 302

14.3.12 ICT architectures ................................................................... 303

14.3.13 Socio-economic aspects.......................................................... 303

15 Conclusions........................................................................... 305

15.1 Summary ............................................................................. 305

15.2 Recommendations ................................................................. 315

16 References............................................................................ 331

17 Appendices ........................................................................... 338

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17.2 International RFID R&D activities .............................................338

17.3 RFID research roadmap for all topics ........................................338

17.4 RFID Stakeholder Model ..........................................................342

17.5 RFID Reference Model.............................................................343

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List of Figures

Figure 1 RFID applications ................................................................ 37

Figure 2 Passive and robust RFID systems for identification of railroad cars........................................................................................ 50

Figure 3 RFID system block diagram.................................................. 58

Figure 4 Communication reader to tag ............................................... 62

Figure 5 Communication tag to reader, reader talks first ...................... 63

Figure 6 Inductive coupling (physical principle for radio frequencies below 40 MHz)............................................................................. 73

Figure 7 Example for communication tag to reader with Manchester coded binary data ........................................................................ 74

Figure 8 Electromagnetic field coupling (physical principle for radio frequencies above 40 MHz) .................................................. 75

Figure 9 Comparison of receiving level at a transponder between magnetic field coupling and electromagnetic field coupling ..................... 77

Figure 10 Different field distribution of magnetic field (left) and electro magnetic field (right)........................................................... 78

Figure 11 Tendencies of system capabilities.......................................... 79

Figure 12 Effects that affect communication quality ............................... 81

Figure 13 RFID networking ................................................................. 86

Figure 14 Function blocks that are integrated into most RFID readers...... 88

Figure 15 Typical block diagram of a transponder. Not all blocks need to be present.............................................................................. 95

Figure 16 Dependency of performance parameters of transponders on their physical properties .............................................................. 98

Figure 17 Assembly / chip attachment ............................................... 105

Figure 18 Assembly / lamination ....................................................... 105

Figure 19 Top left: Mifare card with coil antenna and chip; bottom: miscellaneous coil antennas; ISO 15 693: 13.56 MHz vicinity; 108

Figure 20 Top: dipole antenna; bottom: miscellaneous tag antennas layouts; UHF; ................................................................... 109

Figure 21 Block diagram of circuit for energy harvesting ...................... 113

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Figure 22 Tendencies for supply voltage and power efficiency for CMOS circuits .............................................................................114

Figure 23 Central and de-central RFID middleware approach.................116

Figure 24 In the case of localisation systems the concepts of sensor fusion offer impressively enhanced results .....................................123

Figure 25 Localisation enabled services in future RFID applications ........124

Figure 26 RFID localisation with active tags: the reader is able not only to read the tags ID and data, but can also locate the tag and provide the tags coordinates. .............................................125

Figure 27 Smart home enabled by RFID sensor networks......................126

Figure 28 Wireless sensor networks: what is important? .......................127

Figure 29 Application area for RFID networks: the origin of a fire is detected and the information is transmitted via the network. also the position of the automated fire fighting system is estimated by the network............................................................................128

Figure 30 SAW identification system process .......................................130

Figure 31 Main international RFID standards .......................................141

Figure 32 ISO standards hierarchy for logistic units..............................143

Figure 33 The architecture of the MIFARE tag......................................162

Figure 34 MIFARE tag and reader ......................................................162

Figure 35 RFID plaintext communication cloning ..............................163

Figure 36 Symmetric authentication...................................................164

Figure 37 Asymmetric authentication .................................................165

Figure 38 RFID vendors by countries..................................................174

Figure 39 RFID vendors by continent..................................................175

Figure 40 LF RFID suppliers by continent ............................................176

Figure 41 HF RFID suppliers by continent............................................176

Figure 42 UHF RFID suppliers by continent..........................................177

Figure 43 RFID vendors by frequency.................................................177

Figure 44 RFID vendors by frequency range........................................179

Figure 45 RFID systems by standards.................................................180

Figure 46 RFID systems by tag power supply ......................................181

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Figure 47 RFID systems by applications ............................................. 182

Figure 48 Short, mid and long term R&D timeframe for RFID packaging. 293

Figure 49 Short, mid and long term R&D timeframe for chip design....... 294

Figure 50 Short, mid and long term R&D timeframe for RFID energy aspects...................................................................................... 295

Figure 51 Short, mid and long term R&D timeframe for RFID RF technology...................................................................................... 296

Figure 52 Short, mid and long term R&D timeframe for RFID manufacturing...................................................................................... 297

Figure 53 Short, mid and long term R&D timeframe for RFID systems ... 298

Figure 54 Short, mid and long term R&D timeframe for RFID readers / interrogators .................................................................... 299

Figure 55 Short, mid and long term R&D timeframe for RFID non-silicon technologies..................................................................... 301

Figure 56 Short, mid and long term R&D timeframe for RFID bi-stable displays ........................................................................... 301

Figure 57 Short, mid and long term R&D timeframe for RFID sensors .... 302

Figure 58 Short, mid and long term R&D timeframe for RFID cryptography...................................................................................... 302

Figure 59 Short, mid and long term R&D timeframe for RFID ICT architectures .................................................................... 303

Figure 60 Short, mid and long term R&D timeframe for RFID socio-economic aspects.............................................................. 304

Figure 61 Diagram of the CE RFID stakeholder model .......................... 342

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List of Tables

Table 1 Table of RFID views ............................................................ 34

Table 2 Overview application characteristics, used frequencies, typical applications ....................................................................... 35

Table 3 Benefits and disadvantages of barcode / OCR ........................ 36

Table 4 Benefits and disadvantages of RFID ...................................... 36

Table 5 Mapping auto-id technologies to the RFID Reference Model...... 38

Table 6 CE RFID Reference Model main categories ............................. 40

Table 7 Subcategories covered by work package 1............................. 41

Table 8 Mapping application examples to the RFID Reference Model..... 51

Table 9 EPCglobal RFID technology classes ....................................... 52

Table 10 Mapping basic transponder classes to the RFID Reference Model ......................................................... 56

Table 11 ISO/OSI layer model........................................................... 59

Table 12 Mapping network model to the RFID Reference Model ............. 70

Table 13 RFID air interfaces.............................................................. 72

Table 14 Advantages and disadvantages of inductive coupling............... 74

Table 15 Advantages and disadvantages of electromagnetic field coupling ............................................................................ 75

Table 16 Mapping air interfaces to the RFID Reference Model................ 83

Table 17 Exemplary list of some RFID manufacturers versus offered system types ..................................................................... 90

Table 18 Mapping reader functions to the RFID Reference Model ........... 91

Table 19 Mapping reader antenna arrangements and tag types to the RFID Reference Model................................................ 96

Table 20 Tag memory sizes / possible data usage on tags .................... 99

Table 21 Degree of achievement of characteristic properties of passive, semi-passive and active tags ..............................................100

Table 22 Mapping tag performance to the RFID Reference Model ..........101

Table 23 Mapping tag manufacturing and antenna to the RFID Reference Model...............................................................................111

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Table 24 Mapping advanced systems to the RFID Reference Model....... 132

Table 25 European harmonised radio regulations for RFID usage ......... 136

Table 26 RFID radio regulations worldwide ........................................ 137

Table 27 Mapping radio regulation parameters to the RFID Reference Model...................................................................................... 139

Table 28 Mapping RFID standards to the RFID Reference Model ........... 147

Table 29 Mapping data processing variants to the RFID Reference Model...................................................................................... 170

Table 30 Correlation of RFID system properties and frequency ranges .. 184

Table 31 ISO/IEC 18000 (2004) declared patents .............................. 186

Table 32 Mapping general tag topics to the RFID Reference Model ....... 197

Table 33 Mapping passive tag topics to the RFID Reference Model........ 203

Table 34 Mapping semi-passive and active tag topics to the RFID Reference Model ....................................................... 206

Table 35 Mapping interrogator technology to the RFID Reference Model ....................................................... 210

Table 36 Mapping system technology to the RFID Reference Model ...... 213

Table 37 Mapping application-specific topics to the RFID Reference Model ....................................................... 221

Table 38 Mapping RFID middleware to the RFID Reference Model......... 224

Table 39 Mapping systems and networks to the RFID Reference Model ....................................................... 239

Table 40 Mapping R&D activities related to socio-economic aspects to the RFID Reference Model .............................................. 247

Table 41 Mapping general tag bottlenecks to the RFID Reference Model ....................................................... 255

Table 42 Mapping passive tag bottlenecks to the RFID Reference Model ....................................................... 259

Table 43 Mapping semi-passive tag bottlenecks to the RFID Reference Model .............................................................................. 262

Table 44 Mapping active tag bottlenecks to the RFID Reference Model ....................................................... 268

Table 45 Mapping interrogator bottlenecks to the RFID Reference Model ....................................................... 272

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Table 46 Mapping system technology bottlenecks to the RFID Reference Model ........................................................278

Table 47 Mapping application-specific bottlenecks to the RFID Reference Model ........................................................283

Table 48 Mapping software, systems, and networks, as well as socio-economic bottlenecks to the RFID Reference Model................286

Table 49 Roadmap of EPCglobal .......................................................292

Table 50 Several benefits using RFID ................................................308

Table 51 SWOT analysis: RFID Technologies State-of-the-art strengths..........................................................................310

Table 52 SWOT analysis: RFID Technologies State-of-the-art weaknesses and opportunities.............................................311

Table 53 SWOT analysis: RFID Technologies State-of-the-art threats .............................................................................312

Table 54 SWOT analysis: RFID Technologies International R&D Activities .........................................................................313

Table 55 SWOT analysis: RFID Technology Bottlenecks and R&D Approaches strengths and weaknesses............................314

Table 56 SWOT analysis: RFID Technology Bottlenecks and R&D Approaches opportunities and threats .............................315

Table 57 RFID stakeholder categories ...............................................316

Table 58 Mapping recommendations to the RFID Reference Model (1)...324



Table 61 Mapping recommendations to the RFID Reference Model (4) ..330

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1 Approach

This section describes the objectives and activities of work package 1, the per-sons/bodies that have contributed to this work package and the methods used within.

1.1 Definition of work package topic

Work package 1 is entitled with RFID Roadmap. The main objective of the work package is to give a clear overview of the actual state-of-the-art of RFID technology and its future developments in order to gain a more objective discussion on RFID.

RFID comprises a large set of different technologies. There is a lack of information about the properties and the performance of the various systems. In order to as-sess RFID applications, their benefits as well as their risks (e.g. in terms of secu-rity, data protection and privacy issues), objective information about the techno-logical and physical functionality and limits will help to establish a fair discussion on RFID between suppliers, implementers, users, and persons that get in contact with RFID systems (e.g. customers, consumers).

The coordination action CE RFID has been proposed from the working group RFID/Logistics of the European Technology Platform (ETP) European Technology Platform on Smart Systems Integration (EPoSS). CE RFID benefits from the RFID research strategies outlined in the Strategic Research Agenda (SRA) of EPoSS, al-though the CE RFID roadmap goes beyond the SRA. Work package 1 tries to define an RFID roadmap with a broad agreement of many stakeholders.

The three main topics of work package 1 are:

RFID technologies state-of-the-art

RFID technologies international R&D activities

RFID technologies bottlenecks and R&D approaches

These topics also describe the focus of the three workshops that have been con-ducted. Starting with a detailed description of the state-of-the-art of many existing RFID systems, the second topic will supplement the findings with past and current R&D activities in academia and industry worldwide. The third topic assesses the results of the first two topics (state-of-the-art, international R&D activities) with the goal to identify technology gaps and bottlenecks that still need to be solved in order to provide further development and improvement of RFID systems. Together with

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the description of bottlenecks, foreseeable R&D approaches for overcoming have been elaborated.

The results of all main topics have been evaluated in order to form a roadmap con-taining a probable timeline of future RFID developments. In the conclusion section results are summarised and a set of recommendations are clustered, including con-siderations of what kind of stakeholders are mainly addressed by the recommenda-tions.

1.2 Structure of work package topics

The three main topics of the work packages have been structured orthogonal to the RFID Reference Model, created by the CE RFID partners.

1.2.1 RFID technologies state-of-the-art

Since RFID does not comprise a linear set of technologies, a group of different views has been defined in order to present various aspects of numerous different RFID systems:

Application view (chapter 4): This subsection lies orthogonal to the RFID Reference Model introduced here. A comparison of RFID with other auto-id technologies is presented. A few sample applications together with a technical description and the map-ping of the RFID Reference Model are presented.

Transponder classes view (chapter 5): Introduction to the EPCglobal transponder class system.

ISO/OSI network model view (chapter 6): Description of the components of classic RFID systems and the interfaces between each other.

Technology view (chapter 7): Presentation of air interfaces, reader technology, antenna arrangements, transponder technology, RFID middleware systems, backend systems.

Standards and regulations view (chapter 8): Discussion of radio regulations, air interface standards, application stan-dards, standards for test methods, data management standards, and sensor standards.

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Data processing view (chapter 9): Overview of data security, data protection, privacy issues, safety-related is-sues, and secure RFID on smartcards

Market view (chapter 10): This view shows some statistical evaluations of the vendor list that has been created. The most important system specifications and properties are sum-marised.

Intellectual property view (chapter 11): Major intellectual property rights (IPR), blocking patents and a famous pat-ent pool is presented.

1.2.2 RFID Technologies international R&D activities

The international R&D activities as the second topic have been structured into the following categories (chapter 12):

Technology aspects: Transponder (tag) technology, interrogator (reader) technology, system technology

Application-specific topics

Software, systems, networks: RFID Middleware, software, systems and networks

1.2.3 RFID Technologies bottlenecks and R&D ap-proaches

The second and third topic uses the same classification structure in order to easily create reference between R&D activities and bottlenecks (chapter 13):

Technology aspects: Transponder (tag) technology, interrogator (reader) technology, system technology

Application-specific topics

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Software, systems, networks: RFID Middleware, software, systems and networks

1.3 Relevant stakeholders

To support the CE RFID review process each work package defined a subset of the common stakeholder list, which originally has been created according to the RFID stakeholder model (cf. Appendix 17.4). (The characterisation AC means that this stakeholder is an additional contributor, P means that this stakeholder is a CE RFID project partner).

1.3.1 Stakeholder group Research & Development

Fundamental research

Auto ID Labs (Research)

Clausthal University of Technology, Institute for Electrical Information Tech-nology (RFID technology, R&D issues; AC)

DLR (RFID technology, R&D issues)

cole Suprieure d'lectricit (Research)

FH Technikum Klagenfurt (RFID technology, R&D issues; AC)

FH-Wels, Institut fr Automatisierungstechnik, Sensorik und Mikrosysteme (RFID technology, R&D issues; AC)

IMEC (RFID technology, R&D issues; AC)

Institute LETI (RFID technology, R&D issues; AC)

Linz Competence Center Mechatronics (LCM) (RFID technology, R&D issues; AC)

RSA Laboratories (RFID security, encryption technology)

TU Graz, IAIK (RFID technology, R&D issues; AC)

Uni Linz, Institut fr Nachrichtentechnik (RFID technology, R&D issues; AC)

University of Barcelona (RFID technology, R&D issues)

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Technische Universitt Dortmund, Department of Logistics, (Contribution: Analysis and recommendations of standards, VDI standards)

University of Erlangen-Nuremberg Institute for Technical Electronics (RFID technology, R&D issues; AC)

University of Freiburg (information on guidelines)

University of Freiburg (department of microsystems engineering (IMTEK) Laboratory for Electrical Instrumentation) (RFID technology, R&D issues; AC)

University of Glamorgan Centre for Electronic Product Engeneering Faculty of Advances Technology

University of Kaiserslautern (R&D issues)

University of St. Gallen (R&D issues)

Applied research

Fraunhofer Institute ATL (RFID technology, R&D issues; AC)

Fraunhofer Institute IFF (RFID technology, R&D issues; AC)

Fraunhofer Institute IMS (RFID technology, R&D issues)

Fraunhofer Institute ISST (RFID technology, R&D issues)

Fraunhofer Institute IZM Berlin (RFID technology, R&D issues; AC)

Legal and social science

IZT, Institut for Future Studies and Technology Assessment (Science)

System integrator

IBM Deutschland GmbH (RFID systems)

SAP (RFID systems)

1.3.2 Stakeholder group RFID technology suppliers

Manufacturers:

ARDACO, a.s. (RFID security, encryption technology; AC)

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Atmel Corporation (RFID technology, R&D issues, chip technology; AC)

AVERY DENNISON (RFID technology, label technology)

Balluf GmbH (RFID technology, closed systems, sensor systems)

Bretschneider GmbH (RFID integration into packages, labels; AC)

CAEN RFID Srl (RFID technology, reader technology)

Deister Electronic GmbH (RFID technology, reader technology)

EPCOS AG, Surface Acoustic Wave Components Division (RFID technology, R&D issues, Surface Acoustic Wave (SAW): AC)

FEIG Electronic (RFID technology, reader technology; P)

Giesecke & Devrient (RFID technology, ePass, security smart cards; AC)

Herma GmbH (RFID technology, smart labels; AC)

IDENTEC SOLUTIONS AG (RFID technology, active RFID; AC)

Infineon Technologies Austria (RFID technology, R&D issues, Chip technol-ogy; AC)

InkTec Europe Ltd (LFP Division) (RFID technology, electronic Inks)

INSIDE Contactless (RFID technology, chip and reader technology)

Magellan Technology Ltd. (RFID technology, reader technology, chip and la-bel technology)

NXP (RFID technology, R&D issues, Chip technology; P)

PolyIC GmbH & Co. KG (RFID technology, Polymer electronics; AC)

Sato Deutschland GmbH (RFID technology, Label technology, RFID printing technology)

Siemens AG, CT IC 3 (RFID security, encryption technology; AC)

SMARTRAC Technology GmbH (information on guidelines)

Texas Instruments (RFID technology, chip technology; AC)

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TRICON Consulting GmbH & Co.KG. (RFID technology; AC)

Ubisense Limited (RFID technology, precise real-time location)

UPM Raflatac (RFID Technology, label technology; P)

Solution providers

AIDA Centre (information on guidelines; P)

CISC (contribution: analysis and recommendations on ISO and EPC stan-dards)

COMEX (RFID systems division) (information on guidelines)

Emsys N.V. (information on guidelines)

Hitachi (RFID systems)

Pepperl+Fuchs (contribution: analysis and recommendations on require-ments of automation systems)

RF-iT solutions (RFID middleware; P)

Siemens IT solutions and services (information on guidelines)

Tyco Electronics idento GmbH (information on guidelines)

1.3.3 Stakeholder group business associations

General

ACEA European Automobile Manufacturers Association

Business Europe

SME

AIM (Association of Automatic Identification and Mobility)

RFID and IT-Specific

LICON Logistics e.V. (RFID Industry Consortium)

Pleon (Consultant; P)

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VDI/VDE IT (Consultant; P)

1.3.4 Stakeholder group government & governmental in-

stitutions

European

Ministerio de Educacin y Ciencia (Science)

National

BMBF (Federal Ministry of Education and Research)

BMVIT (Bundesministerium fr Verkehr, Innovation und Technologie)

BMWA (Bundesministerium fr Wirtschaftund Arbeit)

BMWi (Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology)

BSI (German Federal Office for Information Security)

sterr. Forschungsfrderungsgesellschaft FFG

1.3.5 Stakeholder group standardisation organisations

International organisations

ISO (Standards) ([78])

Business driven organisation

EPCglobal (Standards) ([81])

1.3.6 Stakeholder group quasi-autonomous and non-

governmental organisations

Data protection agencies

European data protection institutions (Art.29 working party)

Trade union

ver.di (information on guidelines)

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1.3.7 Stakeholder group RFID end user companies

Logistical tracking & tracing

Deutsche Post World Net (RFID user; P)

Metro Group Information Technology GmbH (RFID user; P)

Production, monitoring and maintenance

EADS (RFID user; P)

Lufthansa Technik Logistik GmbH (RFID user)

MB-technology GmbH (RFID user)

Access control and tracking & tracing of individuals

ADT Sensomatik (Hedtke) (RFID Systems)

eHealth Care

Siemens AG medical (information on guidelines)

1.3.8 Contribution

The following work package partners contributed to this report.

UPM Raflatac (RFID technology, label technology; P)

Transponder (tag) technology, chapter 7.4

Conclusions, chapter 15

Siemens AG, CT PS 7 (RFID technology; P, WP1 lead)

All chapters

The following additional contributors contributed to this report:

TU Graz, IAIK (RFID technology, R&D issues; AC)

Security, data protection, privacy, chapter 12.7.1

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University of Erlangen-Nuremberg Institute for technical electronics

(RFID technology, R&D issues; AC)

Transponder (tag) technology, chapter 7.4

Siemens AG, CT IC 3 (RFID security, encryption technology; AC)

Secure RFID on smartcards, chapter 9.5

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2 Methodology

2.1 Assessment criteria

In an early phase of the project the partners of work package 1 found that the broad range of RFID technologies would need more than one point of view. CE RFID focussed on RFID scenarios that represent high potential of importance and market growth in the near future (i.e. logistics, ambient intelligence, and public security / identity management). To investigate the current state-of-the-art of RFID tech-nologies (first work package topic) a set of different views has been defined in or-der to highlight the various aspects of RFID technologies: ISO/OSI network model view, technology view, transponder classes view, standards and regulations view, data processing view, application view, market view, and intellectual property view. To support the market view and analytical steps a list of international vendors of RFID systems has been collected. The total list is available in spread sheet format (see appendix 17.1).

For the second topic of the work package Relevant R&D activities regarding RFID technologies a classification system (structure) has been developed. This system helps to assess what groups of topics are well covered and where there are gaps to be filled. The structure starts with technological aspects (transponder (tag), inter-rogator (reader), system), followed by application-specific topics, then software, systems, networks (RFID middleware, software, systems and networks). It ends with socio-economic aspects, such as security, data protection, privacy, environ-mental and safety aspects, and general aspects. A large list of international R&D activities from academia, industry, user and business organisations has been cre-ated. Some representative activities have been taken from this list into the system described above. Furthermore, they have been investigated and presented in more detail. The total list is available in spread sheet format (cf. appendix 17.2).

For the investigation of the third topic of the work package bottlenecks and fore-seeable R&D approaches to overcome these bottlenecks the same classification system like the second topic (international R&D activities) has been used. R&D gaps could easily be detected with this approach. The bottlenecks identified can be com-pared with previous R&D activities.

In the section conclusions (see chapter 15), a SWOT analysis has been performed separately for each of the three work package 1 topics. A clustered list of recom-mendations has been extracted out of these findings with respect to the three top-ics.

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2.2 Methods

The consortium members of work package 1 of the coordination action CE RFID (UPM Raflatac and Siemens (lead)) developed a list of additional contributors to support the activities of the work package. Experts of the CE RFID consortium part-ners as well as associated organisations have been asked to make suggestions for who should be asked to contribute to work package 1 (WP1). Under the lead of work package 1 the project partners created a small electronic leaflet that outlined the benefits and opportunities of a contribution to CE RFID and invited potential candidates to work for the project. In order to get maximum input from project partners and additional contributors the leader of work package 1 suggested the following methodology:

a) Additional contributors are asked for any form and degree of contribution. The range starts from reviewing the reports up to full attendance and active contribution to the three workshops of work package 1.

b) Candidates for additional contributors are addressed via telephone or e-mail using the prepared invitation leaflet. Independent of the candidates com-mitment they are asked for suggestions for other contributors that might want to work for CE RFID, in particular for WP1 and WP2. Any suggested contributor will be contacted. Nobody will be excluded. New additional con-tributors may join the project during the whole project duration.

c) Due to the significant task overlap between work packages 1 and 2 the leaders of WP1 and WP2 suggested to combine two of the three workshops of each work package (i.e. WP1 WS2 combined with WP2 WS1, and WP1 WS3 combined with WP2 WS2). All potential contributors are invited to con-tribute to all work packages if they belong to CE RFID. The combination of workshops mentioned above reduces efforts and costs for the contributors to WP1 and WP2 as well as it simplifies the schedule for the workshops.

The objective is to collect a set of contributors that represent relevant stakeholders for the WP1 topics (i.e. RFID technology and research & development (R&D)) com-ing from RFID vendors and users as well as from academia. Work package 1 could identify 20 additional contributors. Most of them agreed to attend the workshops or to provide information to topics of the work package, few prepared content to be presented at the workshops, and few proposed to review the reports of WP1 only. Three workshops focusing on the main topics of WP1 had been conducted:

1st workshop

Topic: RFID technologies state-of-the-art Date: 20 October 2006

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Venue: Siemens AG, Munich, Germany Participants: 6 partners, 3 additional contributors

2nd workshop (together with WP2 WS1)

Topic: RFID technologies International R&D activities Date: 7 December 2006 Venue: Gratkorn, Austria Participants: 6 partners, 6 additional contributors

3rd workshop (together with WP2 WS2)

Topic: RFID technologies technology bottlenecks & R&D approaches Date: 2 March 2007 in Essen/German Venue: Tyco/ADT, Essen, Germany Participants: 7 partners, 1 additional contributor

All partners of CE RFID and the additional contributors of WP1 and WP2 have been asked to send their input regarding the workshop topics to the work package lead-ers, especially if they could not attend the workshops. In order to give additional opportunities to contribute to the work package the CE RFID consortium decided to establish an expanded review process based on a stakeholder model (cf. appendix 17.4). It consists of seven stakeholder groups. Each work package added stake-holders to a common stakeholder list. From this list the partners of each work package defined a subset of stakeholders relevant to their work package topics. Each stakeholder group should be covered by each work package.

A new review process for the final reports of all work packages has been intro-duced. It consists of six review steps. The first working draft of the final report is firstly reviewed by the project coordinator and secretariat. After addressing com-ments and recommendations the additional contributors of the work package have been asked to review the draft report. After an editorial step of the secretariat all CE RFID project partners have been asked for their comments. The updated version has been sent to the remaining stakeholders that have not been addressed yet as additional contributors or partners. After processing all further comments and rec-ommendations there will be a clearance step for the final report by the project offi-cer. After the acceptance by EU reviewers the final report will be ready for publish-ing.

The CE RFID project partners think this new review process will enable a broad co-equal review process performed by a large group of stakeholders. The resulting final report will represent a common overview of the work package topics reflecting the contribution of representative groups of stakeholders.

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3 State-of-the-art and Analysis

Work package 1 of the coordination action CE RFID is titled with RFID Roadmap. One basic task in developing such a roadmap is to look at the present state-of-the-art of RFID technologies. RFID stands for Radio Frequency Identification. It is used as an umbrella term for a large range of different wireless technologies using magnetic or electromagnetic fields for identification purposes.

At a very early stage, the project participants together with the additional contribu-tors realised that RFID can be viewed from many different standpoints. RFID sys-tems comprise many different technologies providing different properties and speci-fications. They can be used for a broad range of applications, follow diverse stan-dards and regulations, and serve different data processing systems.

In an attempt to present the whole range of technologies currently available on the market, that claim to be RFID systems or use RFID technologies, the following views have been used to categorise and describe the present state-of-the-art of RFID.

Chapter Point of view Comments

4 Application RFID applications following the CE RFID Reference Model

5 Transponder classes Classes of RFID systems have been intro-duced

6 ISO/OSI network model Network communication models can be used to describe parts of RFID systems

7 Technology RFID systems use a range of different tech-nologies

8 Standards and regulations International standards and national regula-tions have been established

9 Data processing Structure, protection, security and privacy of data

10 Market Database of manufacturers, solution pro-viders, backend system providers

11 Intellectual property Patents, utility patents, patent pools

Table 1 Table of RFID views

The RFID technology State-of-the-art views are discussed in the following chap-ters 4 to 11.

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4 Application View

The most important view on RFID technology from a users perspective is applica-tions. The following table shows an overview, which connects system characteris-tics, used frequency bands and typical application fields.

Frequency band Typical characteristics Applications

100-134 kHz

low frequency (LF)

Short to medium reading range; Inexpensive; Low reading rate

Access control (e.g. keyless entry, keyless go for automobiles); Car immobilisers;

Animal identification; Inventory control; EAS (electronic article surveillance);

RFID Reference Model application fields: A, B, D

13.56 MHz

high frequency (HF)

Short to medium reading range; Inexpensive; Me-dium reading rate

Access control; Smart cards;

Supply Chain applications;

Warehouse management;

EAS;

RFID Reference Model application fields: B, C, D, E, F

840-960 MHz

ultra-high frequency (UHF)

Long reading range; High reading rate; Inexpen-sive

Supply chain applications, Ware-house management;

EAS;

RFID Reference Model application fields: B, C, D, E, F

2.4GHz ultra-high frequency (UHF)

5.8 GHz

super high fre-quency (SHF)

Long reading range; High reading speed; Expensive

Supply chain applications, Ware-house management;

Inventory;

Automotive applications;

EAS;

RFID Reference Model application fields: A, B, C, G, H

Table 2 Overview application characteristics, used frequencies, typical applications

4.1 RFID vs. barcode and OCR

The simplest application of RFID is the identification of objects via an ID number over short distances. This can also be done by other well-established technologies like barcode or OCR (optical character recognition).

36

The following listing shows the benefits and disadvantages between RFID and widely used barcode and OCR systems.

Barcode / OCR (Optical Character Recognition)

Benefits Disadvantages

Very cheap Data capacity

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generally just the type of item is marked. Because of their higher data storage ca-pacity, RFID tags allow single item identification.

Figure 1 RFID applications

Figure 1 tries to show how system cost, tag quantities, and security features corre-late with current RFID applications. E.g. access control systems do need security (data protection, anti-cloning) but usually use low tag quantities. On item level where identification is the main task of RFID security plays a low role providing low system costs.

4.1.1 Mapping to the RFID Reference Model

Table 5 shows the mapping of auto-id technologies to the subcategories of the RFID Reference Model (see chapter 4.2). Y means: Yes, this auto-id technology ap-plies to the corresponding subcategory.

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Current use Possible use RFID application

field

Subcategories

RFID

Barcode

OCR

RFID

Barcode

OCR

AA: Inhouse logistics Y Y Y Y Y Y

AB: Closed loop logistics Y Y Y Y Y Y

AC: Open logistics Y Y Y Y Y Y

AD: Postal applications Y Y Y Y Y Y

AE: Dangerous goods logistics Y Y

A: Logistical track-ing & tracing

AF: Manufacturing logistics Y Y Y Y Y Y

BA: Archive systems Y Y Y Y Y Y

BB: Asset management Y Y Y Y

BC: Facility management Y Y

BD: Vehicles Y Y

BE: Aeroplanes Y Y Y Y

BF: Autom./process control Y Y Y Y

B: Production, monitoring and maintenance

BG: Food and cons. goods Y Y Y Y Y Y

CA: Fast mov. cons. goods Y Y Y Y Y Y

CB: Electronic goods Y Y Y Y Y Y

CC: Textile goods Y Y Y Y Y Y

CD: Fresh/perishable foods Y Y

CE: Pharmaceutical Y Y

C: Product safety, quality and informa-tion

CF: Customer info. systems Y Y Y Y

DA: Access control systems Y Y

DB: Animal tracking Y Y

D: Access control and tracking & trac-ing of individuals

DC: Personal tracking Y Y

EA: Loyalty cards Y Y Y Y Y E: Loyalty, mem-bership and pay-ment

EB: Membership cards Y Y Y Y Y

FB: Hospital management Y Y Y Y Y Y F: eHealth care

FC: Implants Y Y Y Y Y

GB: Rental systems Y Y Y Y Y G: Sports, leisure and household GD: Smart home Y Y

HB: Road tolling systems Y Y Y Y H: Public services

HC: Banknotes Y Y Y Y

Table 5 Mapping auto-id technologies to the RFID Reference Model

OCR (optical character recognition) and barcode systems are well established auto-id systems. They provide advantages (e.g. very cheap, human readable) and disad-

39

vantages (e.g. line of sight required, soiling problems, low data capacity, read-only, and no authentication). RFID can replace or supplement other auto-id technologies while offering the additional advantages of RFID: no line of sight required, reading in dirty environments, writable user data, high data capacity, high data rates, secu-rity functions, robustness, etc. There are many subcategories that function with RFID only or where RFID represents a major improvement: dangerous goods logis-tics (e.g. temperature sensor, localisation), asset management (e.g. localisation, itinerary), facility management (e.g. security features, access control), vehicles (e.g. pressure sensors), aeroplanes (e.g. anti-counterfeiting), automation/process control (e.g. user data), fresh/perishable foods (e.g. temperature sensors), phar-maceutical (anti-counterfeiting, sensors), customer information systems (e.g. us-ability), access control systems (e.g. authentication, anti-cloning), animal tracking (e.g. easy handling, dirty environment, anti-cloning), person tracking (e.g. authen-tication, anti-cloning), smart home (e.g. sensor functionality).

4.2 RFID Reference Model

In order to provide a common baseline for all work packages in the CE RFID project as well as for other RFID-related projects, the consortium developed an RFID Reference Model containing all application fields where RFID technology is presently used. The CE RFID Reference Model is described in separate documents (see Ap-pendix 17.5). Table 6 shows the basic systematic of the model. The complexity of the systems is increasing from top to bottom of the table (A. to H.).

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Reference RFID application fields Description

A. Logistical tracking & tracing

Solely identification and location of goods and returnable assets (e.g. pallets or con-tainers)

B. Production, monitoring and maintenance

Smart systems in combination with RFID technology to support production, monitor-ing, and maintenance of goods and proc-esses

Mainly object tagging

C. Product safety, quality and information

Applications to insure quality (e.g. sensors to monitor temperature) and product safety (e.g. fight against counterfeiting)

D. Access control and tracking & tracing of individuals

Single function tags for identification and authorisation applications for entries and ticketing

E. Loyalty, membership and payment

Smart Card based identification and authorisation systems for multifunctional applications (e.g. loyalty, payment, and banking systems)

F. eHealth care Systems for hospital administration and smart systems to support and monitor health status

G. Sport, leisure and household

Sports applications, rental systems (e.g. cars or books), smart home

Tagging with reference or potential ref-

erence to people

H. Public services Systems mandated by law or to fulfil public duties (e.g. ID-cards, health insurance cards, road tolling systems)

Table 6 CE RFID Reference Model main categories

In the following table the subcategories covered by work package 1 are marked by X (column WP1).

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Table 7 Subcategories covered by work package 1

RFID application field Subcategories WP1

AA. Inhouse logistics X

AB. Closed loop logistics X

AC. Open logistics X

AD. Postal applications X

AE. Dangerous goods logistics X

A. Logistical tracking & tracing

AF. Manufacturing logistics X

BA. Archive systems X

BB. Asset management (incl. Environ-mental monitoring)

X

BC. Facility management X

BD. Vehicles X

BE. Aeroplanes X

BF. Automation/process control X

B. Production, moni-toring and mainte-nance

BG. Food and consumer goods X

CA. Fast moving consumer goods X

CB. Electronic goods X

CC. Textile goods X

CD. Fresh/perishable foods X

CE. Pharmaceutical X

Mainly object tagging

C. Product safety, quality and informa-tion

CF. Customer information systems X

DA. Access control systems X

DB. Animal tracking X

D. Access control and tracking & trac-ing of individuals

DC. Personal tracking X

EA. Loyalty cards X

EB. Membership cards X

EC. Contactless banking cards

E. Loyalty, member-ship and payment

ED. Payment and advertising via mobile phones

FA. Assistance for the disabled

FB. Hospital management X

FC. Implants X

FD. Medical monitoring

F. eHealth care

FE. Smart implants

GA. Sports applications

GB. Rental systems X

GC. Smart games

G. Sports, leisure and household

GD. Smart home X

HA. Public service maintenance

HB. Road tolling systems X

HC. Banknotes X

HD. ID cards and passports Tagging with reference or potential reference to individuals

H. Public services

HE. Health insurance cards

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Systems where RFID is only a small part and that are dominated by other technolo-gies are not investigated and described in work package 1. E.g. many systems in field E, F, G, and H use additional sophisticated microcontrollers that provide com-plex functions (e.g. encryption, money transfer, data processing). Work package 1 concentrates on the RFID applications logistics, ambient intelligence and public se-curity/identity management.

4.3 Application examples

The following pages present some application examples with real systems available on the market or applications that can be implemented with existing RFID tech-nologies. This chapter shows how the combination of the different RFID views lead to RFID systems that are used in many applications.

4.3.1 Logistics, supply chain management at Metro Group

The most important mass market application is logistics and the supply chain (see RFID Reference Model field A [8]). Due to cost reasons only passive RFID label tags with HF or UHF technology are used here. Some enterprises plan to use HF RFID on item level and UHF RFID on case and pallet level (e.g. pharmaceutical industry). There is also a trend to shift item level to UHF as well.

The METRO Group, the world's fourth largest retailer, will soon require that all pal-lets shipped to 180 locations in Germany be equipped with RFID tags using EP-Cglobals second-generation Electronic Product Code standard (Gen 2 tags [81]). The company's RFID plans were communicated to about 650 suppliers. In 2007 all Metro Cash & Carry stores as well as about 100 real hypermarkets in Germany will be equipped with RFID portals in the goods entrance section. Each RFID tag carries information on it such as a serial number, model number, colour or place of assembly.

The use of RFID throughout the supply chain allows the tracking of the location of a shipment and therefore renders a faster and more reliable flow of goods possible. In 2006 the METRO group introduced EPC Class 1/Gen. 2 RFID chips. In August 2006 suppliers started labelling individual shipping boxes with smart chips.

4.3.2 Identity management, security, access control

Access control systems (RFID Reference Model fields D, E, F) need at least basic security features like secure authentication. Otherwise an intruder might eavesdrop

43

the reader-to-tag communication and clone the tag. Authentication methods are described in chapter 9.5. In order to provide additional security RFID technology with low range capability like HF (13.56 MHz) is used. An eavesdropper has to be very close to the system and the possibility of a mix-up of tags is being reduced.

An example is the TSI PRISM (http://www.tsiprism.com/) system, which tracks and records the location and movement of inmates and officers, resulting in enhanced facility safety and security. The proprietary RFID tracking technology provides real-time inmate and officer identification. The tags cannot be cloned and must be trackable otherwise an alarm will occur. Access control is combined with real-time tracking and tracing.

4.3.3 Contactless smart card Mifare

Mifare is the most widely installed contactless smart card technology in the world, with more than 500 million smart card ICs and 5 million reader components sold. As an example for contactless smart card technology, the different Mifare types are described in the following text. Mifare offers solutions for applications like loyalty and vending cards, road tolling, city cards, access control and gaming. (RFID Reference Model fields D, E).

Mifare is compliant with ISO 14443 A. It has 80% market share in the automatic fare collection market (source: Frost & Sullivan 2001). The product portfolio covers reader components as well as contactless and dual interface smart card ICs. Multi-ple sourcing exists on all levels of the value-chain (ICs, readers, cards, etc.).

Tickets based on NXP Mifare Ultralight ICs can act as single trip tickets in public transportation networks, loyalty cards or even day passes at big events. They are a replacement for conventional ticketing solutions such as paper tickets, magnetic-stripe tickets or coins.

Mifare Standard 1k is primarily used in closed loop systems, where value is ex-tracted in a secure and authorised way from the card by the service provider, or for fixed value tickets (e.g. weekly or monthly travel passes). Another important appli-cation is physical access control. Here Mifare Standard 1k cards are widely used for ID cards, employee cards and company or building access. Today Mifare Standard 1k ICs are in use around the globe in different applications like public transport, road-tolling and parking meters, accessing car parks and paying at fuel pumps.

Mifare Mini is a further optimised version of the Mifare Standard 1k to meet the requirements of the access control and loyalty cards market. It provides signifi-

44

cantly decreased memory size (320 Byte) making it the perfect solution for access control or loyalty applications.

Mifare Standard 4k opens up new service opportunities by enabling public transport authorities to implement multi-modal systems. It allows combination with contact-less e-commerce and e-business applications on one single Mifare smart card. The Mifare 4k Standard IC provides increased memory size for multi-application cards.

Mifare DESFire is based on open global standards for both air interface and crypto-graphic methods. It is compliant to all 4 levels of ISO / IEC 14443A ([78], [79]) and uses optional ISO / IEC 7816-4 commands. Contactless ticketing and related applications such as payment at vending machines, access control or event ticket-ing are possible. Mifare DESFire is intended for service providers wanting to use multi-application smart cards in transport schemes, e-government or identity appli-cations. It complies with the requirements for fast and highly secure data transmis-sion, flexible memory organisation and interoperability with existing infrastructure.

Mifare PROX is a high-security, high performance dual interface IC solution at the high-end of the portfolio. Mifare PROX meets the requirements of financial applica-tions and delivers the flexibility and security to support multiple applications and service providers on a single card IC ranging from banking, e-commerce, e-government, e-business, ID card and biometric applications to electronic ticketing and other contactless services.

The cards support dynamic download of Java applications. This means that addi-tional applications, such as payment for public transport, access to a public library or a loyalty scheme can be added or removed even after the card has been issued.

SmartMX enables the easy implementation of state-of-the-art operating systems and open platform solutions including Java Card Global Platform and MULTOS. MULTOS (which stands for "Multiple Operating System") is an operating system that allows multiple application programs to be installed and to reside separately and securely on a smart card with the highest levels of security.

The SmartMX platform is positioned to service high volume, mono- and multi-application markets such as e-government, banking/finance, mobile communica-tions, public transportation, pay-TV, conditional access, and network access.

An anti-collision method (acc. ISO/IEC 14443-3) enables multiple cards to be han-dled simultaneously.

45

4.3.4 Contactless smart card FeliCa

Sony Corp. offers a system very similar in function to the Mifare system, called Fe-liCa. In Nov 2006 NXP and Sony have signed a memorandum of understanding to create a joint venture that will develop, manufacture and market an integrated cir-cuit (IC) combining NXP's Mifare technology and Sony's FeliCa platform on a single chip (see http://www.rfidjournal.com/article/articleview/2842/ [9]). Contactless-payment applications using FeliCa technology are widespread in parts of Asia, while contactless payment applications using the Mifare platform are common in Europe. (RFID Reference Model fields D, E)

In Hong Kong the Octopus Card was initially a payment system for public transport (bus, metro, ferry boat and light rail). The services have expanded to pay for pur-chases at a convenience stores, fast food stores, and vending machines. The card also serves as employee ID, student ID and other ID cards, and has grown into a major choice for office entry/exit control, parking area entry/exit control.

The "ez-link Card" an automatic public transport payment system for bus, metro and railroad was introduced in April 2002 in Singapore using the FeliCa technology. About 8 million cards are already issued in Singapore, daily processing adding up to roughly 4 million transactions per day.

The metro system of Shenzhen (China) uses FeliCa technology for passenger tick-ets. The passenger tickets are available in various forms and types depending on their purpose of use. These include regular commuter passes called the Trans Card, as well as student discount tickets and tokens as payment for a one-way metro ride.

The metro in Delhi, the capital of India, started application of FeliCa technology in December 2002 for the passenger ticketing system. The Travel Card, a card-shaped ticket, is reusable by charging values to the card.

The first metro system in Thailand started operations in Bangkok in July 2004 and employs FeliCa technology.

Suica, implementing FeliCa technology, was comprehensively introduced in the Tokyo metropolitan area and the peripheral access by East Japan Railway Com-pany.

After touching the reader with Suica, the automatic ticket gate reads and charges the IC card. This way, the passage through the wicket is very convenient for the passengers. Since it was first introduced, Suica has rapidly spread in use with 10

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million cards in circulation in about 3 years, with the statistics rapidly over 14 mil-lion today (source: Sony Corp.).

The "Tokyo-Mitsubishi VISA-Super IC Card is a multi-functional IC card. The dual interface IC card system employed by the bank uses Sony's contactless FeliCa IC card technology.

Iyo Railway Group kicked off the "IC e-Card" services, applying FeliCa technology, for their public transport system in Matsuyama City, Ehime.

4.3.5 -chip

The -chip (Hitachi Ltd.) is a passive IC (tag chip) containing 128-bit read only memory to store a unique ID. The ID is written by the manufacturer and cannot be altered afterwards. It has no anti-collision control. In other words a reader cannot read more than one chip at a time. Chip size is 0.4 mm x 0.4mm. The passive chip does not contain a battery. A corresponding reader generates a microwave signal at 2.45 GHz. The tag chip converts the microwave into electric power and transmits its -chip ID back to the reader. The maximum reading range is about 25 cm. The chip needs an external antenna to form a complete tag. The antenna offered by Hitachi has the size of 56 mm x 4.75 mm, which is smaller than the typical coil antenna used for 13.56 MHz smart cards. A typical reader has 300 mW output power and a 4 patch antenna with circular polarisation. The response time of the chip is 20 msec. The -chip was used at the Expo 2005 in Nagoya, Aichi in Japan for admis-sion tickets. (RFID Reference Model fields A. Logistical tracking & tracing, D. Access control and tracking & tracing of individuals, H. Public services).

The -chip has been developed by Hitachi Ltd. for banknote identification (RFID Reference Model subcategory Banknotes).

4.3.6 Animal identification

Destron Technologies offers tamperproof full duplex (FDX-B) electronic transpond-ers for the cattle industry. These tags are suited for harsh environments. They carry a 15 digit numeric ID, by which the animal can be identified (RFID Reference Modelfield D. Access control and tracking & tracing of individuals).

There are products for animal identification (compliant with ISO 11784 and ISO 11785 defining data structure and air interface), e.g. ear tags that can be also read visually or glass embedded tags (about 23 mm x 4 mm), which is implanted. A bo-lus (about 65 mm x 21 mm) may be placed in the rumen of an animal. Another

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possibility would be to put a collar containing an RFID tag on the animal. This is primarily used on pets, like cats or dogs, but may also be used on cows. These tags are passive and work at 134.2 kHz. Security functions are not always needed unless access control is required. In order to identify an animal or object unambi-guously low range systems like HF RFID (13.56 MHz) and LF RFID (134.2 kHz) suit well.

4.3.7 Automation, production management, manufacturing

A big industrial application field is the area of automation, production and manufac-turing (RFID Reference Model field B). In most cases so-called closed loop sys-tems without security functions are used. Tag and reader usually stay inside the same production hall. Proprietary systems with special system parameters (e.g. high robustness, high reliability) that do not need to follow standards like ISO/IEC 18000 ([78], [79]) or EPCglobal ([81]) can be used here. The choice of frequency bands and system properties (memory capacity, temperature range, robustness, etc.) directly follows system requirements of the application.

At the Munich plant of BMW, Moby identification systems (RFID Systems SIMATIC RF by Siemens AG) are used for transmission and storage of quality and safety relevant data.

Integrated data management is done by suitable tags. E.g. Moby E is used in the front and rear axle assembly. The different work piece carriers are marked with tags to bring them to the correct workstations. RFID is likewise used in the cable harness assembly, the power train elements assembly, car body and final assembly and for locating vehicles on the factory premises. The data stored on the tags dur-ing production ensure that vehicle-specific parts are being assembled correctly and the relevant quality data are recorded.

4.3.8 Automotive

In the automotive sector there are various RFID applications (Reference Model fields D. Access control and tracking & tracing of individuals, E. Loyalty, member-ship and payment, H. Public services). Data security, data protection and privacy are most important system properties. Card type tags with built-in security func-tions (authentication, secure data access, encryption) are needed to fight tag-cloning, data tampering and deception. Dependant on the reading range the appli-cation requires HF or UHF systems with security functions that are suited for these applications.

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A high security intelligent license tag system may be used to detect and prevent vehicle misuse. Parked cars can be checked without owner/driver attendance. The vehicle data can instantly be verified by authorities. The tag may contain public data (e.g. license number) and/or protected data (owner, taxes, etc.).These data could be used to enforce payments for registration, tax and/or insurance. Protected storage levels can be licensed to privat

Documents

A Roadmap for Rfid Applications and Technologies