Radio Frequency Identification: Supply Chain Impact and Implementation Challenges

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology has received considerable attention from practitioners, driven by mandates from major retailers and the United States Department of Defense. RFID technology promises numerous benefits in the supply chain, such as increased visibility, security and efficiency. Despite such attentions and the anticipated benefits, RFID is not well-understood and many problems exist in the adoption and implementation of RFID. The purpose of this paper is to introduce RFID technology to practitioners and academicians by systematically reviewing the relevant literature, discussing how RFID systems work, their advantages, supply chain impacts, and the implementation challenges and the corresponding strategies, in the hope of providing guidance for practitioners in the implementation of RFID technology and offering a springboard for academicians to conduct future research in this area

Design and Implementation of Multiplatform Indoor and Outdoor Tracking System

RFID berupaya mengatasi kekurangan GPS dalam persekitaran yang tertutup. Manakala, WSN mampu untuk memanjangkan jarak komunikasi antara dua nod sensor dan GSM boleh menyokong komunikasi WSN semasa gangguan rangkaian. Oleh itu, satu sistem baru platform pelbagai pengesanan dalaman dan luaran (ER2G) yang beroperasi pada frekuensi 2.4 GHz berdasarkan piawaian ZigBee IEEE 802.15.4 diperkenalkan bagi mengatasi kekurangan setiap teknologi. Sistem ER2G dengan fungsi M2M menggunakan mod API untuk menghantar dan menerima data masa sebenar secara wayarles dan menyediakan pensuisan antara lokasi dalamanluaran dan platfom WSN-GSM. Semua ujikaji dijalankan dalam persekitaran sebenar sebagai POC dalam mencapai komunikasi M2M. Prestasi sistem ER2G dinilai dan dibandingkan dengan sistem RFID berdiri sendiri dan ERG, dan ianya didapati lebih cekap daripada dua sistem berkenaan. Sistem ER2G menyediakan perambatan isyarat LOS yang lebih baik daripada sistem RFID berdiri sendiri dengan 2.66 % dalaman dan 26.49 % luaran. Kadar pensuisan adalah 0.95 % dan 16.47 % lebih tinggi daripada sistem ERG dalam persekitaran dalaman dan luaran. Algoritma yang dicadangkan berdasarkan arahan permintaan AT menggunakan mod API berupaya menghantar dan menerima data dengan 10.11 % lebih cepat daripada mod AT. Purata masa pengumpulan tag bagi sistem ER2G untuk TTF dan RTF protokol adalah 14.29 % dan 7.14 % lebih tinggi daripada sistem RFID yang berdiri sendiri. Daya pemprosesan sistem RFID berdiri sendiri adalah 18.06 % lebih rendah daripada sistem ER2G untuk TTF, manakala 7.09 % lebih tinggi daripada sistem ER2G untuk RTF dalam persekitaran pelbagai hop dengan nisbah penghantaran 100 %. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ RFID has the potential to address the inadequacy of GPS inside closed environment. While, WSN is capable to extend the communication range between two sensor nodes and GSM supports WSN during network disruptions. Therefore, a new multi-platform indoor and outdoor tracking (ER2G) system that operates at 2.4 GHz based on ZigBee IEEE 802.15.4 standards is presented to overcome the disadvantages present in each technology. The ER2G system with M2M functionalities utilizes API mode to transmit and receive real time data wirelessly and provides switching between indoor-outdoor location and WSN-GSM platform. All tests are conducted in real environments as POC in achieving M2M communication. The performance of ER2G system is evaluated and compared with standalone RFID and ERG system, and it is found to be more efficient than both systems. The results indicate that the ER2G system provides better LOS signal propagation than the standalone RFID by 2.66 % indoor and 26.49 % outdoor. In addition, the switching rate between indoor and outdoor is faster than the ERG system by 0.95 % indoor and 16.47 % outdoor. The proposed algorithm based on AT command request using API mode is able to transmit and receive data by 10.11 % faster than the AT mode. The average tag collection times of ER2G system for TTF and RTF protocols are 14.29 % and 7.14 % respectively, which are higher than the standalone RFID. Furthermore, the average throughput of the standalone RFID is 18.06 % lower than ER2G system for TTF and 7.09 % higher than ER2G system for RTF in multi-hops environment with 100 % delivery ratio

DESIGN AUTOMATION FOR LOW POWER RFID TAGS

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags are small, wireless devices capable of automated item identification, used in a variety of applications including supply chain management, asset management, automatic toll collection (EZ Pass), etc. However, the design of these types of custom systems using the traditional methods can take months for a hardware engineer to develop and debug. In this dissertation, an automated, low-power flow for the design of RFID tags has been developed, implemented and validated. This dissertation presents the RFID Compiler, which permits high-level design entry using a simple description of the desired primitives and their behavior in ANSI-C. The compiler has different back-ends capable of targeting microprocessor-based or custom hardware-based tags. For the hardware-based tag, the back-end automatically converts the user-supplied behavior in C to low power synthesizable VHDL optimized for RFID applications. The compiler also integrates a fast, high-level power macromodeling flow, which can be used to generate power estimates within 15% accuracy of industry CAD tools and to optimize the primitives and / or the behaviors, compared to conventional practices. Using the RFID Compiler, the user can develop the entire design in a matter of days or weeks. The compiler has been used to implement standards such as ANSI, ISO 18000-7, 18000-6C and 18185-7. The automatically generated tag designs were validated by targeting microprocessors such as the AD Chips EISC and FPGAs such as Xilinx Spartan 3. The corresponding ASIC implementation is comparable to the conventionally designed commercial tags in terms of the energy and area. Thus, the RFID Compiler permits the design of power efficient, custom RFID tags by a wider audience with a dramatically reduced design cycle

Authentication and Centralized Control of Electrical Devices Using Zigbee Protocol

In buildings, lighting accounts for more total energy cost, reducing this energy consumption is a major goal of this project. Energy reduction comes from turning off lights when they are not needed, optimizing light levels to suit worker needs. Through the use of modern enterprise-class wireless networking technology, the difficulty of control wiring is eliminated. In this project, the analysis, design and implementation of an intelligent office room whose two main components are realized using two emergent wireless technologies, namely, wireless sensor networks (ZigBee) and Radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags. The combination of these two technologies produces a powerful and versatile solution that can offer automated access control to an office room as well as the monitoring of entry or exit of an employee and also to perform automated job as described in the profile

Design and Implementation of Multiplatform Indoor and Outdoor Tracking System

RFID berupaya mengatasi kekurangan GPS dalam persekitaran yang tertutup. Manakala, WSN mampu untuk memanjangkan jarak komunikasi antara dua nod sensor dan GSM boleh menyokong komunikasi WSN semasa gangguan rangkaian. Oleh itu, satu sistem baru platform pelbagai pengesanan dalaman dan luaran (ER2G) yang beroperasi pada frekuensi 2.4 GHz berdasarkan piawaian ZigBee IEEE 802.15.4 diperkenalkan bagi mengatasi kekurangan setiap teknologi. Sistem ER2G dengan fungsi M2M menggunakan mod API untuk menghantar dan menerima data masa sebenar secara wayarles dan menyediakan pensuisan antara lokasi dalamanluaran dan platfom WSN-GSM. Semua ujikaji dijalankan dalam persekitaran sebenar sebagai POC dalam mencapai komunikasi M2M. Prestasi sistem ER2G dinilai dan dibandingkan dengan sistem RFID berdiri sendiri dan ERG, dan ianya didapati lebih cekap daripada dua sistem berkenaan. Sistem ER2G menyediakan perambatan isyarat LOS yang lebih baik daripada sistem RFID berdiri sendiri dengan 2.66 % dalaman dan 26.49 % luaran. Kadar pensuisan adalah 0.95 % dan 16.47 % lebih tinggi daripada sistem ERG dalam persekitaran dalaman dan luaran. Algoritma yang dicadangkan berdasarkan arahan permintaan AT menggunakan mod API berupaya menghantar dan menerima data dengan 10.11 % lebih cepat daripada mod AT. Purata masa pengumpulan tag bagi sistem ER2G untuk TTF dan RTF protokol adalah 14.29 % dan 7.14 % lebih tinggi daripada sistem RFID yang berdiri sendiri. Daya pemprosesan sistem RFID berdiri sendiri adalah 18.06 % lebih rendah daripada sistem ER2G untuk TTF, manakala 7.09 % lebih tinggi daripada sistem ER2G untuk RTF dalam persekitaran pelbagai hop dengan nisbah penghantaran 100 %. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ RFID has the potential to address the inadequacy of GPS inside closed environment. While, WSN is capable to extend the communication range between two sensor nodes and GSM supports WSN during network disruptions. Therefore, a new multi-platform indoor and outdoor tracking (ER2G) system that operates at 2.4 GHz based on ZigBee IEEE 802.15.4 standards is presented to overcome the disadvantages present in each technology. The ER2G system with M2M functionalities utilizes API mode to transmit and receive real time data wirelessly and provides switching between indoor-outdoor location and WSN-GSM platform. All tests are conducted in real environments as POC in achieving M2M communication. The performance of ER2G system is evaluated and compared with standalone RFID and ERG system, and it is found to be more efficient than both systems. The results indicate that the ER2G system provides better LOS signal propagation than the standalone RFID by 2.66 % indoor and 26.49 % outdoor. In addition, the switching rate between indoor and outdoor is faster than the ERG system by 0.95 % indoor and 16.47 % outdoor. The proposed algorithm based on AT command request using API mode is able to transmit and receive data by 10.11 % faster than the AT mode. The average tag collection times of ER2G system for TTF and RTF protocols are 14.29 % and 7.14 % respectively, which are higher than the standalone RFID. Furthermore, the average throughput of the standalone RFID is 18.06 % lower than ER2G system for TTF and 7.09 % higher than ER2G system for RTF in multi-hops environment with 100 % delivery ratio

RFID Technology in Real Time Attendance Register System

RFID stands for Radio Frequency Identification which provides the ability to identify, locate and sense the conditions of animate and inanimate entities. Radio frequency identification or RFID is a generic term for technologies that are used for auto identification of people or object using radio waves. In this technology a unique serial number is stored to identify a person or an object and other related information, on a microchip of silicon that is attached to an antenna which in turn is attached to a RFID reader. The antenna enables the chip to transmit the identification information to a reader then the reader converts the radio waves reflected back from the RFID tag into digital information that can then passed on to computers running RFID application middleware, that can make use of it. The system stores the absent and present student’s attendance details in electronic format so that management of attendance becomes easy. Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID) is a technology that uses radio waves to transfer data from an electronic tag, called RFID tag or label, attached to an object, through a reader for the purpose of identifying and tracking the object. RFID technology which is a matured technology that has been widely deployed by various organizations as part of their automation systems. In this study, an RFID based system has been built in order to produce a time-attendance management system. This system consists of two main parts which include: the hardware and the software. The hardware consists of the motor unit and the RFID reader. The RFID reader, which is a low-frequency reader (125 kHz), is connected to the host computer via a serial to USB converter cable. The Time-Attendance System GUI was developed using visual basic.Net. The Time-Attendance Management System provides the functionalities of the overall system such as displaying live ID tags transactions, registering ID, deleting ID, recording attendance and other minor functions. This interface was installed in the host computer. Keywords: Systems, RFID, Technology, Attendance, Register, DOI: 10.7176/CEIS/12-2-06 Publication date: September 30th 202

REFRIGERATOR TEMPERATURE MONITORING USING RFID

Food poisoning is a common, usually mild, but sometimes deadly illness. Typical symptoms include nausea, vomiting, abdominal cramping, and diarrhea that occur suddenly (within 48 hours) after consuming a contaminated food or drink. The known causes of food poisoning can be divided into two categories: infectious agents and toxic agents which is can make our food to be rotten. One of the way to prevent this is by make a good decision during buying food from supermarket but sometime we don't even know whether the food is good or not. Supermarket also must make sure all of their products are in good condition. As an outcome for this problem, the author comes with a solution called `Refrigerator temperature monitoring using RFID'. Transponder with temperature sensor will be placed in every refrigerator in the supermarket and the transponder will keep taking the refrigerator temperature as a data send to the reader. System from a host or computer will detect if the data of refrigerator temperature exceed the limit (max 4.5 degree Celsius) and system will alert the user of the system. As an interface for the RFID application, Microsoft visual basic 2008 is used and Microsoft Office Access is used for the database. ActiveWave Demonstration Kit which is the RFID hardware chosen for this project. Besides, the system also provides a system for reviewing and editing the details of refrigerator. This will make a record documentation work easier. Upon completion of the project, supermarket that using this product can monitor easily the refrigerator in their supermarket and customer will be more satisfied. This will make all the products in the refrigerator always in good condition and always save for customer

Novel Passive RFID Temperature Sensors Using Liquid Crystal Elastomers

When transporting perishable foods in the Cold Supply Chain (CSC), it is essential that they are maintained in a controlled temperature environment (typically from -1° to 10°C) to minimize spoilage. Fresh-food products, such as, meats, fruits, and vegetables, experience discoloration and loss of nutrients when exposed to high-temperatures. Also, medicines, such as, insulin and vaccines, can lose potency if they are not maintained at the appropriate temperatures. Consequently, the CSC is critical to the growth of global trade and to the worldwide availability of food and health supplies; especially, when considering that the retail food market consists mostly (approximately 65%) of fresh-food products. The current method of temperature monitoring in the CSC is limited to discrete location-based measurements. Subsequently, this data is used to assess the overall quality of transported goods. As a result, this method cannot capture all the common irregularities that can occur during the delivery cycle. Therefore, an effective sensor solution to monitor such items is necessary. Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) is a pragmatic wireless technology with a standardized communication protocol. Thus far, passive RFID temperature sensors have been investigated. However, each design has a limitation from which a set of design guidelines for an improved sensor solution is developed. That is, the new sensor should: (a) be compact to be applicable on individual products, (b) utilize purely passive technology to ensure longevity and cost-effectiveness, (c) monitor goods in a continuous fashion (e.g., operate through multiple room-to-cold and cold-to-room temperature cycles), and (d) operate in an independent mode, so that no resetting is required. In this research, antenna systems and RF circuit design techniques are combined with Liquid Crystal Elastomers (LCEs) to develop three novel temperature sensors. LCEs are temperature responsive polymers that are programmable and reversible. Notably, LCEs return to their original state when the stimulus is removed. Also, for the first time, cold-responsive LCEs are incorporated into the designs presented in this research. Two of the developed sensors convey temperature changes through the controlled shift in the operating frequency. The third design conveys temperature threshold crossings by reversibly switching operation between two RFID ICs (or two Electronic Product Codes). Finally, all designs have been fabricated and tested with favorable results in accordance to the above mentioned guidelines