Work in Progress: RFID Sports Timing System

Timing plays a critical role in most sporting events. RFID-based timing solutions offer a high level of automation. Current timing solutions are high in cost and frequently do not offer live results to spectators. Existing RFID hardware is evaluated for suitability in a new timing solution. An architecture for an open source timing solution is then evaluated. The new solution offers a novel combination of features making ownership feasible for smaller sporting events

Design of a Covert RFID Tag Network for Target Discovery and Target Information Routing

Radio frequency identification (RFID) tags are small electronic devices working in the radio frequency range. They use wireless radio communications to automatically identify objects or people without the need for line-of-sight or contact, and are widely used in inventory tracking, object location, environmental monitoring. This paper presents a design of a covert RFID tag network for target discovery and target information routing. In the design, a static or very slowly moving target in the field of RFID tags transmits a distinct pseudo-noise signal, and the RFID tags in the network collect the target information and route it to the command center. A map of each RFID tag’s location is saved at command center, which can determine where a RFID tag is located based on each RFID tag’s ID. We propose the target information collection method with target association and clustering, and we also propose the information routing algorithm within the RFID tag network. The design and operation of the proposed algorithms are illustrated through examples. Simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the design

Energy Efficient Protocols for Active RFID

Radio frequency identification (RFID) systems come in different flavours; passive, active, semi-passive, or semi-active. Those different types of RFID are supported by different, internationally accepted protocol standards as well as by several accepted proprietary protocols. Even though the diversity is large between the flavours and between the standards, the RFID technology has evolved to be a mature technology, which is ready to be used in a large variety of applications. This thesis explores active RFID technology and how to develop and apply data communication protocols that are energy efficient and which comply with the different application constraints. The use of RFID technology is growing rapidly, and today mostly “passive” RFID systems are used because no onboard energy source is needed on the transponder (tag). However, the use of “active” RFID-tags with onboard power sources adds a range of opportunities not possible with passive tags. Besides that Active RFID offers increased working distance between the interrogator (RFID-reader) and tags, the onboard power source also enables the tags to do sensor measurements, calculations and storage even when no RFID-reader is in the vicinity of the tags. To obtain energy efficiency in an Active RFID system the communication protocol to be used should be carefully designed. This thesis describes how energy consumption can be calculated, to be used in protocol definition, and how evaluation of protocols in this respect can be made. The performance of such a new protocol, in terms of energy efficiency, aggregated throughput, delay, and number of collisions in the radio channel is evaluated and compared to an existing, commercially available protocol for Active RFID, as well as to the IEEE standard 802.15.4 (used, e.g., in the Zigbee medium-access layer). Simulations show that, by acknowledging the payload and using deep sleep mode on the tag, the lifetime of a tag is increased. For all types of protocols using a radio channel, when arbitrating information, it is obvious that the utilization of that channel is maximized when no collisions occur. To avoid and minimize collisions in the media it is possible to intercept channel interference by using carrier sense technology. The knowledge that the channel is occupied should result in a back-off and a later retry, instead of persistently listening to the channel which would require constant energy consumption. We study the effect on tag energy cost and packet delay incurred by some typical back-off algorithms (constant, linear, and exponential) used in a contention based CSMA/CA (Carrier Sense Multiple Access/ Collision Avoidance) protocol for Active RFID communication. The study shows that, by selecting the proper back-off algorithm coefficients (based on the number of tags and the application constraints), i.e., the initial contention window size and back-off interval coefficient, the tag energy consumption and read-out delays can be significantly lowered. The initial communication between reader and tag, on a control channel, establishes those important protocol parameters in the tag so that it tries to deliver its information according to the current application scenario in an energy efficient way. The decision making involved in calculating the protocol parameters is conducted in the local RFID-reader for highest efficiency. This can be done by using local statistics or based on knowledge provided by the logistic backbone databases. As the CMOS circuit technology evolves, new possibilities arise for mass production of low price and long life active tags. The use of wake-up radio technology makes it possible for active tags to react on an RFID-reader at any time, in contrast to tags with cyclic wake-up behaviour. The two main drawbacks with an additional wake-up circuit in a tag are the added die area and the added energy consumption. Within this project the solution is a complete wake-up radio transceiver consisting of only one hi-frequency very low power, and small area oscillator. To support this tag topology we propose and investigate a novel reader-tag communication protocol, the frequency binary tree protocol

DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION OF TEMPERATURE MONITORING USING ZIGBEE WIRELESS TECHNOLOGY

The human body temperature is one of health factors that needs to be monitor continuously especially for those who are suffering in health problem because in can lead to severe condition. Currently in Malaysia, there are still no continuous monitoring systems even in hospitals. The project will be focus on temperature sensing and displaying the result continuously. The objective of the author to do this project is to design and implement an effective body temperature monitoring system through the best wireless network as transmission medium. This approach is selected to research and use the Zigbee Wireless Network as the communication medium. Zigbee Wireless Network is new emerging technology which had been discovered centuries ago as suitable system in transmitting long range information. Thus this project is based on implementing Zigbee wireless network as solution in solving the ineffective wireless temperature monitoring

Segurança em ambientes de proximidade

Mestrado em Engenharia de Computadores e TelemáticaA crescente adopção de dispositivos móveis, com cada vez mais capacidades de computação e comunicação, leva inevitavelmente à questão de como podem ser explorados. O objectivo desta dissertação passa por explorar algumas dessas capacidades de forma a melhorar e evoluir a interac ção segura entre o utilizador e os serviços que utilizada no seu dia-a-dia. É particularmente interessante o uso destes dispositivos não apenas como sistemas de armazenamento, mas como peças activas na interacção entre o utilizador e o mundo que o rodeia, um cenário potenciado pelas crescentes capacidades de comunicação em proximidade destes dispositivos. Esta dissertação debruça-se sobre o estudo e possível integração da proximidade física entre um utilizador e os sistemas que usa diariamente como um requisito extra na autenticação e comunicação entre eles, usando o seu dispositivo móvel para interagir com os mesmos. De forma a demonstrar uma possível integração destes elementos num sistema, este trabalho apresenta uma implementação que explora o uso de tecnologias de curto alcance como meio de comunicação e como requisito de autenticação, recorrendo a mecanismos de segurança para estabelecer comunicações privadas sobre redes públicas e garantir e veri car a autencidade da informa ção trocada e armazenada.The increasing adoption of mobile devices with more computing and communication capabilities inevitably raises the question of how to explore them. The goal of this dissertation is to explore some of those capabilities to improve and evolve secure interactions between the user and the services that he uses in his daily life. It is particularly interesting to use these devices not only as storage systems, but also as active elements in the interaction between the user and the world around him: this objective is boosted by the increasing proximity-based communication capabilities of those devices. This dissertation focus on the study and possible integration of the physical proximity between a user and the systems he uses every day as an extra requirement for authentication, using his mobile device to interact with them. To demonstrate a possible integration of these elements into a system, this work presents an implementation that explores the use of short-range wireless technologies as a communication mean and as a requirement for authentication, using security mechanisms to establish private communications through public networks and to ensure and verify the authenticity of the information exchanged and stored

ANALYSIS AND DEVELOPMENT OF A MATHEMATICAL STRUCTURE TO DESCRIBE ENERGY CONSUMPTION OF SENSOR NETWORKS

Collections of several hundred, thousands, or even millions of small devices scattered or placed throughout an area monitoring the environment called sensor networks have several useful applications. Until recently, the economic cost of development, manufacture, and deployment limited the use of sensor networks to military and government applications. Recent advances in technology provide a means for economical development, deployment, and manufacture of sensor networks.Current methodology designs, then implements and simulates the sensor network, then goes back and redesigns to better meet the specifications. The model developed in this dissertation provides an early indication of what types of solutions will meet the requirements and what types of solutions will not. With this ability, the time required for simulation and proof of concept is reduced, allowing more time and money for design and testing of the real world system. The model developed characterizes the energy consumption of a sensor or RFID network as a whole is extremely beneficial and is needed. The model provides a means to benchmark different types of sensor networks (i.e. different protocols, hardware, software) and to determine which type is the better solution. A model such as this removes the requirement to develop a simulation to compare different types. Using the model reduces the time (and save money) needed to verify the solution and helps with development as multiple designs can be quickly tested and compared possibly at a much earlier stage in the development cycle allowing a thorough investigation of different design alternatives

AN ARCHITECTURAL APPROACH FOR REDUCINGPOWER AND INCREASING SECURITY OF RFID TAGS

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology is currently employed for a variety of applications such as RFID-based wireless payment, healthcare, homeland security, asset management,etc. Due to newer privacy requirements and increasingly secure applications, typical RFID tags are required to expand security features such as data encryption and safe transactions. However, RFID tags have extremely strict low-power consumption requirements. Thus, reduced power consumption and secure data transactions are two main problems for the next generation RFID tags.This dissertation presents an architectural approach to address these two main problems.This dissertation provides a multi-domain solution to improve the power consumption andsecurity, while also reducing design time and verification time of the system. In particular, Idescribe (1)a smart buffering technique to allow a tag to remain in a standby mode until addressed,(2)a multi-layer, low-power technique that transcends the passive-transaction, physical, and data layers to provide secure transactions, (3) an FPGA-based traffic profiler system to generate traces of RFID communications for both tag verification and power analysis without the need of actual hardware, and (4) a design automation technique to create physical layer encoding and decoding blocks in hardware suitable for RFID tags.This dissertation presents four contributions: (1) As a result, based on a Markov Process energymodel, the smart buffering technique is shown to reduce power consumption by 85% over a traditionalactive tag; (2) The multi-layer, low-power security technique provides protection againstmalicious reader attacks to disable the tag, to steal the information stored in or communicatedto the device. The power consumption overhead for implementing these layers of security is increased approximately 13% over the basic tag controller; (3) In addition, the FPGA-based traffic profiler system has been able to generate traces for ISO 18000 part 6C (EPC Gen2) protocol; and (4) The designs of endocing/decoding blocks are generated automatically by the Physical LayerSynthesis tool for five protocols used in or related to RFID. Consequently, any power consumption of five designs is less than 5 £gW. Furthermore, compared with five designs implemented by hand, the difference of the power consumption between two of them is less than 7% at most