RFID (Radio Frequency IDentification acronym in English Radio Frequency Identification) is a system of storing and remotely retrieving data that using devices called tags , transponders or tags .
The purpose of RFID is to transmit the identity of an object (like a unique serial number) via radio waves.
RFID technologies are grouped under the so-called Auto ID (Automatic Identification or Automatic Identification ).
What is an RFID tag?
is a small device that can be attached to or incorporated in a product, animal or person.
does that make up the RFID? Antennas contain
to enable them to receive and respond to requests by radio from an RFID transmitter-receiver. The passive do not need internal power, while active ones needing it. One of the advantages of using radio frequency is not required sight between transmitter and receiver.
These images show the circuits that are introduced into animal products or people
Background Currently, the most widespread technology for object identification is that of barcodes . However, they have some disadvantages, such as low amount of data that can store and the inability to be modified (reprogrammed). The obvious improvement is devised, and is the origin of RFID technology, was to use silicon chips can transfer stored data to the reader without physical contact (equivalently infrared readers used to read codes bars).
History has been suggested that the first RFID-like device known may have been an espionage tool invented by Léon Theremin for the Soviet government in 1945. Theremin device was a secret listening device person, not a label identification, so this application is doubtful. According to some sources, the technology used in RFID have existed since the early 1920's , and used extensively by the British in World War II (source states that RFID systems have existed since the late 1960's and has only recently been popularized by cutting costs).
similar technologies are mentioned as:
- The transponder IFF (Identify aircraft as friend or foe)
- Communication through energy
reflected
Architecture mode of operation of RFID systems is simple. The RFID tag containing identification data of the object it is attached, it generates an RF signal with data. This signal can be detected by an RFID reader, which is responsible for reading the information and pass it in digital format, the specific application that uses RFID.
Therefore, an RFID system consists of three components:
RFID tag or transponder: composed of an antenna, a radio transducer and an encapsulating material or chip (Here the use of sophisticated electronics and technology to create it). The purpose of the antenna is to enable the chip, which contains information, transmit the identification information on the label. There are several types of labels. The chip has an internal memory capacity depending on the model and varies from tens to thousands of bytes. There are several types of memory:
- only reading the identification code it contains is unique and is customized for the manufacture of the label.
- literacy: identifying information can be modified by the reader.
- Collision. These are special tags that allow a reader to identify several at a time (usually labels must enter one by one in the area covered by the reader.)
RFID reader or transceiver: composed of an antenna, a transceiver and decoder. The reader sends signals periodically to see if any tags in its vicinity. When picking up a signal from a label (which contains the identification information thereof), extracts the information and passes the data processing subsystem.
data processing subsystem: provides the processing means and data storage.
RFID architecture is not just a communication system which is basically composed of the elements that characterize it as an issuer (the transponder), receiver (transceiver) and medium (data processing subsystem .)
Types of RFID tags
Comparison of a RFID chip with an antenna and a one Euro coin
RFID tags can be:
• The passive RFID tags.
passive RFID tags not have its own power supply. The minimum power induced in the antenna for radio frequency scanning signal provides enough power to the CMOS integrated circuit (where here comes a bit of linear electronics, basic circuits) of the tag to transmit a response. Due to concerns about energy and cost, the response of a passive RFID tag is necessarily brief, typically just an ID number. The lack of supply makes the device itself can be quite small: there are commercially available products that can be inserted under the skin. Passive tags, in practice are reading distances ranging from about 10 mm up to about 6 meters depending on the size of the tag antenna and power and operating frequency in the reader. While in 2007 the smallest commercially available device such measuring 0.05 mm × 0.05 mm, and thinner than a sheet of paper, these devices are practically invisible.
· The semi-passive RFID tags
Labels semi-passive RFID are very similar to the passive, unless they also incorporate a small battery. This battery allows the tag IC to be constantly fed. It also eliminates the need to design an antenna to pick up an incoming signal power. Therefore, the antennas can be optimized for the backscattering signal. The semi-passive RFID tags respond more quickly, so that they are stronger in reading ratio compared to passive tags.
· The active RFID tags
active RFID tags, other hand, must have a source of energy, and can have greater range and larger memories than passive tags, as well as the ability to store additional information sent by the transceiver. Currently, active tags have a smaller size of a coin. Many active tags have practical ranges of ten meters and a battery life of up to several years.
Despite the advantages in the cost of passive tags over active ones are significant, other factors including accuracy, performance in certain environments such as near water or metal, and reliability make the use of active tags is very common nowadays.
RFID systems are classified depending on the frequency range they use. There are four types of systems:
UHF systems can not be used around the world because there are no global regulations for their use.
RFID standards address four key areas:
- Air Interface Protocol: Specifies the way in which RFID tags and readers communicate via radio. Content
- data: specifies the format and semantics of communicating data between tags and readers.
- Certification: evidence that products must meet to ensure they meet the standards and can interoperate with other devices from different manufacturers.
- Applications: RFID systems applications.
As in other technology areas, standardization in the field of RFID is characterized by the existence of several groups competing specifications. On one side is ISO , and other Auto-ID Centre (known from October 2003 as EPCglobal, EPC, Electronic Product Code). Both share the goal of achieving low cost tags operate in UHF .
standards for EPC tags are of two kinds:
- Class 1: tag simple, passive, read-only programmable nonvolatile memory once.
- Class 2: Read-only label which is programmed at the time of manufacture of the chip (not reprogrammable later.)
The classes are not interoperable and are also compatible with ISO standards. Although EPCglobal is developing a new generation EPC standards are (called Gen2), with the aim of achieving interoperability with ISO standards, is still in discussion about the AFI (Application Family Identifier) \u200b\u200bof 8 bits.
On the other hand, ISO has developed standards for RFID for automatic identification and management of objects. There are several related standards such as ISO 10536 , ISO 14443 and ISO 15693 , but strict set of standards related to RFID and the frequencies used in these systems is the number 18000.
frequency control
Even today there is no agency or public corporation that governs the frequencies used for RFID, so that each country has chosen to establish its own rules for these frequencies.
RFID tags, low frequency (LF (for its initials in English Low Frequency): 125 - 134 kHz and 140 - 148.5 kHz) and high frequency (HF (for its initials in English High Frequency): 13.56 MHz) can be used globally without a license., in other words it is public domain.
ultrahigh frequency (UHF (for its initials in English Ultra High Frequency): 868 to 928 MHz) can not be used globally as there is no single global standard. In North America UHF can be used unlicensed frequencies between 908 to 928 MHz, but there are restrictions on power output. In Europe, ultra high frequency is under consideration for 865.6 - 867.6 MHz Unlicensed Use is only for the range of 869.40 - 869.65 MHz, but there are restrictions on power output. The standard North American UHF (908-928 MHz) is not accepted in France and Italy and that interferes with military bands. In China and Japan there is no regulation for the use of UHF. Each application for UHF in these countries need a license, which must be sought from the local authorities, and may be revoked, to be used for military purposes or violate the law. In Australia and New Zealand, the range is from 918 to 926 MHz for unlicensed use, but there are restrictions on power output.
In some European countries, there have been additional regulations, but they are not related to the restrictions on transmission power, if they are related to health and environmental conditions, an example of this, this given by regulation Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment), which prohibits the RFID tags are disposed, which means that RFID tags that are in its box, usually cardboard, shall be removed prior to disposal or dispose of them.
The cost, scope and varied applications of RFID tags will depend on the frequencies used in these systems. For example, systems that use low frequencies have a low cost - relatively - but have a short use, and those using higher frequencies provide greater reading distances and faster read speeds. Thus, the lower ones are commonly used to identify people, animals is sometimes inserted into small chips pets so they can be returned to its owner in case of loss, to track shipments, or as several key anti-theft system objects as automobiles, homes, safes, etc..
In the United States two frequencies used for RFID: 125 kHz (the original standard) and 134.5 kHz (international standard). The high-frequency RFID tags used in libraries and monitoring books, access control in buildings, tracking airline baggage in , track items of clothing and now Finally in patients in hospitals to track your medical history, or a domestic surveillance in the hospital to monitor its status.
Some highways use RFID tags for electronic toll collection . The cards are read while the vehicles pass, the information is used to collect tolls on a regular account or deducted from a prepaid account. The system helps reduce interference with traffic caused by toll booths, this in order to expedite the transit of vehicles is being implemented in several countries in Europe and the U.S. besides cards with embedded RFID chips are widely used as electronic money either in supermarkets or on public transport in several countries.
Beginning in 2004, was available an "intelligent key" that uses an active RFID circuit allowing the car to recognize the presence of the key to a meter sensor. The driver can open the doors and start the car while key remains in a purse or pocket. In August of that year, the Department of Rehabilitation and Correction Ohio (ODRH) approved a $ 415,000 U.S. dollars to test tracking technology with Alanco Technologies . This company placed a inmates transmitters the size of a wristwatch that can detect if prisoners have been trying to remove them and send an alert to computers of prison. This project is the first work on developing chips tracking U.S. prisons .
But the use of RFID chips and makes a lot of years, as in the 40 U.S. military use the RFID system since the Second World War to the remote recognition of aircraft which identified them as Friend or Foe (friend or foe). Already in 1969 U.S. registered the first patent for RFID technology used to identify locomotives carrying valuables. In the 70 RFID technology is still used in a restricted and controlled, for example, for the safety of nuclear plants. In the 80's the first application of RFID technology in Europe is the identification of cattle in the private sector. Then come many other commercial uses, particularly in the production lines of the automotive industry. And the 90 gives the miniaturization of the system as IBM integrates RFID technology into a single electronic chip.
currently the largest application of RFID is the logistics . The use of this technology would be located any product within the supply chain, companies either size Wall-Mart and other companies carrying out self internationally. The Department of Defense U.S. in partnership with Wal-Mart have published requirements for manufacturers to place RFID tags on all transport to improve the quality and efficiency of transport supply, and due to size these two organizations, their requests have caused a large impact on thousands of companies around the world, which have been adapted in infrastructure and technology, as well as financially to address how big business leaders and not be very strange that in a while smaller companies are able to put RFID tags on their transport.
Since January 2005, Wal-Mart has set a requirement for its top 100 suppliers to apply RFID tags on all shipments. To meet the requirement, manufacturers use RFID encoders to label cases and various packages that require EPC tags to Wall-Mart. These smart tags are produced by integrating the RFID within the label material, and printing the bar code and other information visible on the surface of the label. Also see in them the means to optimize the traceability of goods throughout the distribution chain, from the warehouse to the box: more accuracy in inventory management, cost reduction, protection against theft. Especially if we consider that each tag carries a unique serial number to identify and control the individual object.
But these electronic tags also provide many benefits to the consumer. For example, there's no checkout lines of supermarket because the contents of the cars will be identified with a simple remote radio reading.
from implantable RFID chips were originally designed to tag the animals from the competition and VIPs, and are being used to humans. Applied Digital Solutions proposes their chip "unique under-the-skin format" (format under-the-skin only) as a solution to identity fraud, secure access to a building, access to a computer, storage medical records, anti-kidnapping initiatives and a variety of applications for health safety and security of person.
The Baja Beach Club in Barcelona uses an implantable Verichip to identify their VIP customers, who use it to pay for drinks. The police department Mexico City has implemented the Verichip about 170 of its police officers, to allow access to data bases and police to follow in case of abduction.
Amal Graafstra Left Hand with the planned location of the RFID chip
Just after the insert operation was completed
label Potential applications
In the not too distant can achieve that RFID replace bar codes UPC or EAN bar codes as RFID have large advantages such as easier to carry out inventories. While it may fail completely to replace bar codes because of how expensive it can be.
As RFID codes are often so long in comparison with bar codes that have a single code for all instances of a particular product, RFID codes can say that each product has a unique code and that means it can be tracked individually, while the product is moving and make sure it really ends up in the hands of the consumer and also to prevent the product is stolen or other forms of product loss.
Standards in RFID tags
The organization EPCglobal is working on an international standard for the use of RFID and EPC in the identification of any item in the supply chain for companies in any industry, anywhere in the world.
in December 2004 was adopted a standard called EPC Gen2 is short for EPCglobal UHF Generation 2 "created by EPCglobal. It is believed that this standard could be the basis for the standards of RFID tags.
Identifying patients
In July 2004 the Food and Drug Administration (Food and Drug Administration) made a publication to begin a study to determine whether hospitals should use RFID systems. The FDA recently approved the first U.S. RFID chips that can be implanted in humans, this was done in order to identify patients to incorporate personal medical information and could save lives or to allow access by the relevant staff of the hospital medical records.
has also been proposed for use in the home, to allow, for example, that a refrigerator could know the expiration dates of food it contains, but there has been little progress beyond simple prototypes, which need constantly updated each time you enter or remove a food from the refrigerator. In addition to ordering from the same device and delivery at home.
Another proposed application is the use of RFID for intelligent traffic signals on the road or RBS (acronym in English Road Beacon System). It is based on the use of RFID buried under the pavement that are read by a unit that takes the vehicle (OBU, the onboard unit ) that filters the various traffic signals and translates them to voicemail or given a virtual projection using a HUD (Heads-Up Display ).
Its main advantage compared with satellite-based systems is that they need digital mapping and providing a symbol of traffic signal and position information by themselves, are also useful to complement satellite positioning systems in places like tunnels or indoors or in guiding the blind. Controversy
But these labels are nearly invisible and identifiable from a distance, are controversial. They are accused of violating the privacy of citizens and consumers. The new technology is concerned with the consumer advocacy organizations as they consider it a means to retrieve personal data without permission, especially if you consider that brands like Gillette, Prada, Benetton Wall-Mart or use it as an experimental ... sometimes without warning customers.
Several scandals have alerted public opinion and forced companies to moderate their plans for using RFID. After a discreet experience in July 2003 in a supermarket in the American giant Wal-Mart supermarkets, the association CASPIAN (Consumers Against Supermarket Privacy Invasion and Numbering) called for a boycott of this new means of intrusion and monitoring privacy of individuals. More recently, the German group Metro has admitted distributed in a supermarket in the Ruhr region of about 10,000 loyalty cards equipped with RFID chips without telling customers. The consumer protests succeeded in getting the group left the experience on 26 February 2004.
In France the Commission Nationale de l'Informatique et des Libertés (CNIL) has classified as RFID tags between the technologies of risk to individual liberties because they are considered personal data in light of the French Law and Freedoms 1978.
There are several theoretical solutions to control the use of RFID tags, but implementation is problematic.
The simplest would be to disable the chips out of stores. The German association of consumer advocacy, FoeBuD also is developing the DataPrivatizer, a small portable device to identify hidden chips in products.
The CNIL recommends integrating a technical device to make the product, to neutralize the RFID system and a simple display system to see if a chip is activated or not. But the essential point remains the law of technology.
Passports.
In some countries proposed the deployment of RFID devices in new passports, to increase the efficiency of the machines reading of biometric data. Passports with integrated RFID to uniquely identify the wearer, and the proposal being considered also include other personal information.
This could do much more simple some of the abuses of RFID technology just discussed, and could expand the amount of data to include, for example, abuses based on reading a person's nationality.
The Department of State United States initially rejected this hypothesis because they thought the chips could only be read from a distance of 10 cm, regardless of more than 2,400 critical comments from security professionals, and clearly demonstrate that with special equipment can read the passports from 10 meters. As of May 2005, the proposal is being reviewed passports Authority of Pakistan has started issuing passports with RFID tags.
Driving License.
In Virginia (USA) has been designed to put RFID tags on the cards with the aim of driving the police and other officers conducted checks more quickly.
The proposal was presented for the first time in the Driver's License Modernization Act of 2002, which was not enacted, but in 2004 the concept was still being considered.
Apparently this idea was not widely accepted in the same situation that occurred in the passports (the risk of privacy and freedom), the use of RFID tags do not hinder those who try to use fake IDs. The weakness of the system is that it fails when validating documents in the time, but fails to verify identity before issuing them. Under the proposal, any information would be stored on the label unless the number of the bearer information in a database, accessible only by authorized personnel. In addition, to deter counterfeiting of identity would only be necessary to wrap a driver's license with foil.
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/RFID
http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/RFID
Authors: García Correa
Benjamin.
Carmona Jesús Guzmán. Martínez Orozco
Dilery.
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