GUEST EDITORS’ INTRODUCTION

RFID Technology and Applications

adio frequency identification is a work of static RFID readers. For example, rental wireless communication technology cars with RFID tags fixed to their windshields that lets computers read the identity could store vehicle identification numbers, so of inexpensive electronic tags from rental companies could perform automatic inven- a distance, without requiring a bat- tories using RFID readers installed in parking lots. Rtery in the tags. In the past, the lack of widely This network of readers could also help the com- accepted industry standards and resulting market panies locate their cars: because the system would fragmentation limited RFID use have a record of the reader’s location, it could Badri Nath to a few applications such as approximate the corresponding car’s location. Rutgers University ticketing. “EZ-Pass” highway The airline industry could also exploit static toll booths are one example of readers. Currently, airlines annually transport Franklin Reynolds RFID-enabled smart tickets. about a billion checked bags—more than a billion Nokia Research Center However, the situation is now passengers boarded planes in 2004, according to Roy Want changing, warranting a respon- the US Bureau of Transportation Statistics (www. Research sible debate about RFID’s merits bts.gov) and US Census Bureau (www.census.gov). and implications. As RFID tech- Only a very small percentage of bags are misrouted nology matures, it will likely (less than 0.5 percent), but airlines still incur a sig- unleash a new wave of applica- nificant cost to recover and deliver misrouted tions that will exploit inexpensive and highly items. Embedding RFID tags in luggage labels available automatic identification. could eliminate the need for manual inspection and routing by baggage handlers. A network of read- A new wave of applications ers placed along conveyor belts could read the tags’ Ticketing, purchasing, and inventory manage- routing information and provide feedback to a sys- ment applications have received a lot of attention tem that could then direct the bags onto the correct in the press. But as the industry converges on stan- path. Automatic routing could reduce the number dards that enable tags and readers to be reused and of misrouted bags, lowering costs and improving as the cost of tags approaches a few pennies per customer satisfaction. tag, new applications in new areas will develop. Additionally, in the healthcare industry, tags could help reduce operational problems. A nurse Employing static RFID readers could read a patient’s tag to learn about his or her Looking forward, transportation is just one of medical history and determine the time and dosage the many industries that could benefit from a net- for an administered drug. A networked RFID

22 PERVASIVEcomputing Published by the IEEE CS and IEEE ComSoc ■ 1536-1268/06/$20.00 © 2006 IEEE reader attached to a hospital bed could considerable amount of time at check- obtain information about the physical also read the tag and, if combined with out counters—removing items from their world. A tag could return dynamic envi- centralized patient records, display any cart, placing them on a belt for scanning, ronmental data along with an object’s known drug-induced allergic reactions and then returning them to the cart. Tri- identity. For example, an RFID sensor for the patient. RFID tags could thus als are underway to explore a cart inte- tag attached to an airplane part could eliminate various data entry errors, drug grated with an RFID reader and a wire- record the stress and shock experienced administration mistakes, and incorrect less mobile computer authorized to during the flight. A maintenance crew instructions, which occasionally put make payments as customers add items could read this information using a hand- patients at risk. to the cart. The system displays prices held reader and dynamically update the and then authorizes a batch payment plane’s maintenance schedule, depend- Employing mobile readers when the customer finishes shopping. ing on its condition. The applications described so far high- The productivity gains and cost savings Integrating sensors with RFID tags light static-reader networks that can would likely offset the cost of deploying could also provide a snapshot of wide- identify mobile tags within their range. such systems. area environmental factors found in our Another way of using an RFID system is to let a mobile RFID reader move close to With the remarkable progress in a tagged object and read its identity. We could embed RFID readers in devices that microelectronics and low-power semiconductor people usually carry, such as cell phones. Placing a cell phone in front of a tagged technologies, inexpensive RFID tags are product would bring up the price and other product-specific information on its becoming a reality. display—for example, nutritional infor- mation for food products. Exploiting actuation physical surroundings. If we could effi- Another possibility is to attach RFID Applications that depend on actuation ciently network together tag readers that tags to packages to improve postal work- could also use RFID readers and tags. could communicate with RFID sensors ers’ efficiency. A pickup courier could For example, a hotel could provide auto- in their locality, we could make real-time drive by a mail box, and an RFID reader matic check-in for customers who carry queries about the physical world and mounted on the vehicle would determine phones with embedded RFID tags. As measure environmental effects at a finer if there were any packages to pick up so soon as a customer checks in, the hotel resolution than ever before. This could that the courier wouldn’t have to stop at could send a room number and secure lead to better forecasts, new business an empty box. Similarly, packages in a “key” over-the-air to the customer’s cell models, and improved management warehouse could also be labeled with phone, which would update the infor- techniques. RFID tags so that a robot with a built-in mation in its own built-in tag. The cus- RFID reader could perform a stock check tomer could then go to the assigned Deployment issues simply by moving through the building. room and use the phone to open the elec- With the remarkable progress in Also, a cell phone with an embedded tronic lock. Naturally, the hotel would microelectronics and low-power semi- RFID reader could read a tag to initiate a have to design its doors to incorporate conductor technologies, inexpensive transaction with systems accessible an RFID reader and only unlock the RFID tags are becoming a reality. In the through a wireless General Packet Radio room when the right “key” was detected. near future, the price of RFID will fall Service connection. For example, it could Of course, if a tag’s presence can trigger below a critical threshold and these tags purchase items by scanning an RFID price an action, issues of security and authen- will become commonplace—attached to tag, requesting an electronic payment to tication become paramount. almost every manufactured item. be made. The customer’s credit card com- However, for many of the potential pany would receive payment authoriza- Incorporating sensor technologies RFID applications we’ve discussed to tion through the cell phone network. The use cases highlighted so far assume become a reality, developers will need to Some retailers are already experi- that tags can only store and communicate consider a host of commercial and engi- menting with inventory-control and pay- static data. Interesting possibilities arise neering issues. These range from design- ment systems. Today, people spend a when RFID tags incorporate a sensor to ing affordable RFID tags to under-

JANUARY–MARCH 2006 PERVASIVEcomputing 23 GUEST EDITORS’ INTRODUCTION

the AUTHORS

Badri Nath is a professor in the computer science department at Rutgers University. His research interests include wireless and mobile computing, manageability of new networks and devices (such as RFID and sensor networks), and information assur- ance methodologies for sensor networks. He received his PhD from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. He’s the associate editor of IEEE Transactions on Mobile Computing and ACM Transactions on Sensor Networks. He’s a member of the ACM The authors study the ability of a hybrid and of the Wireless Information Network Laboratory at Rutgers University. Contact RFID system to track the movement and him at [email protected]; www.cs.rutgers.edu/~badri. location of semiconductor wafers dur- Franklin Reynolds is an engineering fellow at the Nokia Research Center in ing production. They describe the track- , Massachusetts, where he leads a group that studies and develops ing system’s architecture, provide details technologies for and self-organizing networks. His research of their custom long-range active RFID interests include the research and development of network protocols and distrib- uted systems. Contact him at [email protected]. tags, and summarize the lessons learned. In “Self-Powered Wireless Temperature Sensors Exploit RFID Technology,” Karn Opasjumruskit, Thaweesak Thanthip- Roy Want is a principal engineer at Intel Research in Santa Clara, , and wan, Ohmmarin Sathusen, Pairote Siri- leader of the Ubiquity Strategic Research Project. His research interests include proac- namarattana, Prachanart Gadmanee, tive computing, ubiquitous computing, wireless protocols, hardware design, embed- ded systems, distributed systems, automatic identification, and micro-electromechan- Eakkaphob Pootarapan, Naiyavud ical systems. He received his PhD for his work on “reliable management of voice in a Wongkomet, Apinunt Thanachayanont, distributed system” from Cambridge University. He is a Fellow of the IEEE and ACM. and Manop Thamsirianunt describe the Contact him at Intel Corp., 2200 Mission College Blvd., Santa Clara, CA 95052; roy. [email protected]. technology behind integrating a temper- ature sensor into a passive RFID tag. They describe the chip’s architectural plan and the sensor’s implementation. standing how RF propagates in complex cell phones. He also considers privacy Finally, “The Evolution of RFID Secu- environments such as a shopping car. At issues related to RFID deployment and rity,” by Melanie R. Rieback, Bruno the system level, managing and validating examines how to mitigate such concerns. Crispo, and Andrew S. Tanenbaum, pro- the vast amount of data collected can also “RFID-Based Maintenance at Frank- vides a historical perspective of RFID be a difficult task. Furthermore, the chal- furt Airport,” by Christine Legner and technology in the context of security. lenges extend to the important social Frédéric Thiesse, is a case study of RFID They also track the evolution of security issue of protecting personal data and user deployment in an asset management and privacy threats from RFID’s incep- privacy as the tags become pervasive in application at Europe’s second largest air- tion to the present day. our daily lives. Effective solutions for col- port. The study describes how RFID can lecting and managing electronic identi- improve the efficiency of the airport’s rou- ties will, to a large extent, determine the tine maintenance operations. It also dis- he potential to obtain instant success of future RFID applications. cusses how to comply with strict govern- detailed information about the ment standards designed to improve physical world through RFID’s In this Issue safety in public areas. T mass deployment presents We had an enthusiastic response to the In “Requesting Pervasive Services by opportunities for research and technol- call for papers and, out of the many sub- Touching RFID Tags,” Jukka Riekki, ogy development as well as new chal- missions we received, accepted six arti- Timo Salminen, and Ismo Alakarppa lenges. We hope this special issue pro- cles. We hope that you find their ideas present a middleware architecture for vides a glimpse into RFID’s future, provocative and that the articles guide providing touch-based interfaces for per- inspires your own work, and helps further research and provide lessons for vasive services using RFID tags. The extend the scope of RFID applications in successful deployment of this nascent authors also document a usability study the field of pervasive computing. technology. and their experience in using touch- In “An Introduction to RFID Tech- based interfaces. nology,” Roy Want provides an in-depth “LotTrack: RFID-Based Process Con- overview of RFID technology. He gives trol in the Semiconductor Industry,” by examples of various types of tags, includ- Frédéric Thiesse, Markus Dierkes, and ing devices that employ sensors and Elgar Fleisch, presents a system design For more information on this or any other comput- memory, and he discusses novel reader for RFID deployment that is also in use ing topic, please visit our Digital Library at www. technologies that can be integrated into to support semiconductor fabrication. computer.org/publications/dlib.

24 PERVASIVEcomputing www.computer.org/pervasive