Tom, Adam, Nick, and Chris

1. Tom, Adam, Nick, and Chris

3. RFID Agenda • What is RFID • History • Cost and Future Implementation • Current Users: Walmart, Department of Defense • Current Uses • Potential Future Uses • RFID Controversy – Advocates and Opponents • Spychips – Suspicious Uses • Big Brother on Steroids • Implications – Why do we care?

4. What is RFID • Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) is an automatic identification method, relying on storing and remotely retrieving data using devices called RFID tags or transponders. An RFID tag is a small object that can be attached to or incorporated into a product, animal, or person. RFID tags contain silicon chips and antennas to enable them to receive and respond to radio-frequency queries from an RFID transceiver. Source: RFID Journal Online

5. 2 Basic Types of RFID • There are two basic types of RFID, one is a passive system where the transponder wakes up and reflects back a signal or there is an active system which actually broadcasts a signal. • Passive tags require no internal power source, whereas active tags require a power source. Source: RFID Journal Online

6. History • The most primitive form of RFID was actually discovered by the Germans. They found that if their planes rolled in a certain way as they returned to base it would change the radio signal that was reflected back. Source: RFID Journal Online

7. History • The first patent was by Mario W. Cardullo on January 23, 1973. That same year, Charles Walton, a California entrepreneur, received a patent for a passive transponder used to unlock a door without a key. Source: RFID Journal Online

8. Early Examples of RFID • Military – trucks opening gates (1980s) • Cows – Trying to remember which cows got hormone shots (1980s) Source: RFID Journal Online

9. Early Problem • Expensive • This all changed in 1999, when the Uniform Code Council, EAN International, Procter & Gamble and Gillette put up funding to establish the Auto-ID Center. • These MIT professors essentially changed the way people thought about RFID in the supply chain. What they really did is turned RFID into a networking technology by linking objects to the Internet through the tag. Source: RFID Journal Online

10. Early Problems • For businesses, this was an important and revolutionary change. Now a manufacturer could automatically let a business partner know when a shipment was leaving the dock at a manufacturing facility or warehouse, and a retailer could automatically let the manufacturer know when the goods arrived. • Since 1999 the Auto-ID Center gained the support of more than 100 large end-user companies, plus the U.S. Department of Defense and many key RFID vendors. Source: RFID Journal Online

11. Cost and future implementation • As of right now it costs $.30 for each RFID tag. • In the next couple years the cost of RFID should come down to $.03. • According to a study of 500 companies 4/5 of the companies plan to implement RFID in the near future, and 69% are planning to implement it this year. http://news.zdnet.co.uk/communications/wireless/0,39020348,39210275,00.htm

12. Wal-Mart • As of 2005 six distribution centers, and 250 stores have implemented RFID. • By late 2006 they plan to have twelve distribution centers, and 600 stores want to implement RFID. • Only major problem was that in some cases RFID tags were only being read 66% of the time. • An advantage was that there was 16% reduction in out-of-stocks. • A study of twelve stores using RFID and twelve stores not using RFID showed that the stores using RFID were 63 percent more effective in replenishing out-of-stocks than the control stores. http://www.idtechex.com/products/en/articles/00000161.asp

13. US Department of Defense • The Department of Defense stated that everything they bought had to be RFID tagged by 2005. • The US government has over forty-five million items that will have to be RFID tagged. • There are 23,642 suppliers that would have to switch to RFID tagging. • This would help commanders on the battle field to know what supplies are at their forward depots. • The only problem with this is that the suppliers will have to make huge investments to implement RFID tagging into their product line. http://www.computerworld.com/mobiletopics/mobile/story/0,10801,85869,00.html

14. Intel • Intel is working with academic and industry leaders to develop powerful, integrated RFID-EPC solutions using hardware and software based on robust, open standards and distributed computing architectures. • Intel considers RFID technology very important because it makes it easier to scan hundreds of items from a few hundred feet away, instead of having to scan everything within line of sight. Intel Mote prototype chip http://www.computerworld.com/mobiletopics/mobile/story/0,10801,85869,00.html

15. Texas Instruments • Revenues from RFID division were over $215 million in 2005. • When they were selling off part of the company connected to RFID they decided not to sell off the RFID division because it is has high growth potential. • They believe that is has a high growth potential and it will continue to grow in 2006. http://www.rfidupdate.com/articles/index.php?id=1028&from=rss

16. Current Uses • Credit cards use it for fast pay. • Track gourmet food in restaurants to prevent from spoilage. • Used in Iraq to search supplies and keep tabs on patients. • Used in military aircraft to verify that they are theirs and not the enemies. • In Italy a washer was made so that it can read RFID tagged garments and launder them accordingly. http://www.time.com/time/globalbusiness/article/0,9171,1101030922-485764,00.html

17. Potential Future Uses • Family fridge keeps track of contents and notifies you when you are low, to get rid of an outdate product and even if you need to cut back on cholesterol consumption • RFID tags will be no bigger than a piece of glitter • Think of RFID as the me-generations version of a bar code • Auto restock shelves of the most popular items in a store to increase sales, reduce inventory needed in the back room, and reduce labor • DHL worldwide express plans to go global with RFID tracking of approximately 160million packages per year, which could scan the items at a rate of 300 per second vs. 1 every couple seconds with a bar code http://www.time.com/time/globalbusiness/article/0,9171,1101030922-485764,00.html

18. Examples from movies • A good example is the fridge in Sixth Day where it tells Arnold Schwarzenegger to order more milk. • Demolition man uses RFID tags in their hands to track people, to pay for products and services, and charge people with crimes.

19. RFID Controversy Advocates • Walmart, US Government, Intel, TI • City Watchers Opponents • Air Transport Association • American Civil Liberties Union • Jonathan Westhaus

20. RFID Strengths and Weaknesses Strengths: • Ability to pinpoint a RFID chip anywhere on the globe in real time • Easy access to secure areas, cars, houses, computers, bank accounts….anything electronic Weaknesses: • Security threats • Difficult to remove • Hard to modify

21. Spychips – Suspicious Uses • Registered Traveler Program – by the end of this year, US passports will contain computer chips. • City Watchers – government contractor of surveillance projects – accessing secure areas • Keyless Entry – a couple recently had matching chips implanted so they could access each others cars, computers, and apartments.

22. Big Brother on Steroids Government Plans – Department of Homeland Security • Recently released request for information outlines goals of a new RFID technology. • This new chip should be able to: “identify the exact location of the read such as a specific pedestrian or vehicle lane in which the token is read.- The solution presented must sense the remote data capture technology carried by a pedestrian traveller at distances up to 25 ft.- The solution presented must sense all tokens carried by travelers seated in a single automobile, truck, or bus at a distance up to 25 ft. while moving at speeds up to 55 mph.- For bus traffic, the solution must sense up to 55 tokens.- For a successful read, the traveller should not have to hold or present the token in any special way to enable the reading of the token's information. The goal is for the reader to sense a token carried on a traveler's person or anywhere in a vehicle.” Source: http://www.spychips.com/DHS-RFID.pdf

23. Implications – Why do we care? • This could get out of hand. • RFID has many valid uses but its capabilities can easily overstep personal and legal boundaries.

24. References • http://www.time.com/time/globalbusiness/article/0,9171,1101030922-485764,00.html • http://www.spychips.com/DHS-RFID.pdf • http://www.rfidupdate.com/articles/index.php?id=1028&from=rss • http://www.computerworld.com/mobiletopics/mobile/story/0,10801,85869,00.html • http://www.idtechex.com/products/en/articles/00000161.asp • http://news.zdnet.co.uk/communications/wireless/0,39020348,39210275,00.htm • RFID Journal Online