RFIDs and the Future Logistic System Dr. Hayden So Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering 17 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 Country code Company code Product code

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) Passport E-money Access Control Access Control

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 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 Awards Most Innovative Use of EPC/RFID: Gold Medal Hong Kong RFID Awards Most Innovative Use of EPC/RFID: Gold Medal

Other Places You Can Find RFIDs? Automatic Toll Collection System Passport Access 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