RFIDs and the Future Logistic System

Dr. Hayden SoDepartment of Electrical and

Electronic Engineering17 Sep, 2008

What we have today…

UPC(Universal Product Code)

JAN(Japanese Article Number)

EAN(European Article Number)

Article Identification – Bar Code

UPC, EAN, JAN: Uniquely identify a type of product with a set of digits + check-digits• UPC: 12 digits• EAN, JAN: 13 digits

Identify products at• point-of-sale• Online shopping

Countrycode

Companycode

Productcode

RFID: Radio Frequency ID

Limitations of Bar Codes

Only useful with line-of-sight Limited information Error Prone

• Dirt on label, wear, etc Alternatives:

Electronic Product Code (EPC)

PassportE-money

AccessControl

RFID

Radio Frequency IDentification• A method to retrieve/store information remotely using

RFID tags Three parts in the system:

• An RFID tag• An RFID reader• IT Applications

3 Categories• Passive• Active• Semi-Active

Inside Passive RFID tags

Many shapes of antenna NO power source

• Come from antenna CHEAP!

RFID at work – Octopus Card

Introduced in Hong Kong in September 1997

Today• 50,000 readers• > 17 million cards (HK’s

population is 7 million)• > 10 million transactions per

day• HK$85 million per day

Sony FeliCa technology

World Information Technology and

Services Alliance's 2006 Global IT Excellence

Award:Chairman's Award

RFID at Work – Credit Card

All three major credit card companies have RFID embedded cards• VISA: payWave• MasterCard: PayPass• American Express: ExpressPay

All cards use the same international standard• ISO 14443

RFID at Work – Hong Kong International Airport

110,000 bags per day = 1.27 bags per second

RFID at HKIA

Hong Kong RFID AwardsMost Innovative Use of EPC/RFID: Gold Medal

Other Places You Can Find RFIDs?

Automatic Toll Collection System

PassportAccess Card

Olympics Ticket

and more…

Future Shopping – RFID Mirror

Clothes tagged with RFID tags

Smart mirror display corresponding information automatically

Touch surface allows user interaction

Security and Privacy

People concern with security and privacy because information is transmitted over-the-air• Easy for sniffer to steal information

without stealing your card Many levels of encryption and security

measures in place• But… still need to be low cost

Many system hacked already• E-Passport cloned• Encryption for popular access card using

Mifare technology cracked

Summary

RFID is going to be everywhere Still need better engineering

• Need very smart antenna and low-power electronics design

• Need very large IT systems to manage all the information scanned

• Need to make it secure• Need to be CHEAP

Hong Kong has the most advance RFID systems in the world