October 05 Standards

October My own lesson in RFID standardization

October Technology Standards Two types of RFID Standards: Technology Standards: ISO ISO EPCglobal Application Standards: GTAG TM - Supply Chain (EAN/UCC) ANSI MH Returnable Containers and Pallets ANSI MH Parcels, Packages, and Flat Mail. ISO Freight containers/ electronic seals AIAG - Automotive Industry UPU - Universal Postal Union IATA- Airlines 10A10E D00F11

October RFID Technology Standards RFID Chips & Tags Contactless cards Proximity Reading Ticketing Vicinity reading ISO EPCglobal ISO ISO Retail, HLS & Logistics All applications Standard Committees Applications Members International Standards Community Key Vendors : Intermec, Philips, TI, TAGSYS, Magellan etc. MIT Research initiative. Key Sponsors include : P&G, Gillette, Coca-cola, Walmart, Pepsi, Target, UPS, Johnson & Johnson. Then GS1 (EAN UCC) - 1million + member companies. International Standards Community ISO 11784/5 Animal Tagging

October RFID chips/tags Contactless cards Proximity (Ticketing) Vicinity Reading (Access Control) ISO EPCglobal ISO ISO Retail, HLS &Logistics Any application <134 KHz13.56 MHz900 MHz2.45 GHz Standard Committees Applications ISO 11784/5 Animal Tagging RFID Operating Frequencies

October ISO RFID chips/tags Contactless cards Proximity (Ticketing) Vicinity Reading (Access Control) EPCglobal ISO ISO Retail, HLS &Logistics Any application <134 KHz13.56 MHz900 MHz2.45 GHz Standard Committees Applications ISO 11784/5 Animal Tagging RFID Operating Frequencies RFID frequency used by libraries

October ISO RFID chips/tags Contactless cards Proximity (Ticketing) Vicinity Reading (Access Control) EPCglobal ISO ISO Retail, HLS &Logistics <134 KHz13.56 MHz900 MHz2.45 GHz Standard Committees ISO 11784/5 Animal Tagging RFID Operating Frequencies “THE” RFID standard Incorporated in Part C Incorporated in Mode 1

October ISO RFID chips/tags Contactless cards Proximity (Ticketing) Vicinity Reading (Access Control) EPCglobal ISO ISO Retail, HLS &Logistics <134 KHz13.56 MHz900 MHz2.45 GHz Standard Committees ISO 11784/5 Animal Tagging RFID Operating Frequencies “THE” RFID standard Incorporated in Part C Incorporated in Mode 1 LIBRARIES RFID frequency used by libraries

October ISO – Is the « key » RFID technology standard The global home for standards is the International Standards Organisation (ISO). Although the ISO process is by its nature long, involving six stages and several rounds of voting that are conducted on an international level, it does have the positive side that when a standard has completed these phases it truly does have an international acceptance. ISO18000 describes the standard communication interface between an RFID tag and reader. (The Air Interface) ISO18000 is very broad in its coverage. It has several parts, each covers different RFID frequencies. Part 3 covers MHz and Part 6 covers UHF. ISO18000 covers all Classes of RFID tag – Read only, WORM, Read/write etc.

October ISO –relevance to Libraries Parts: (135 kHz) (13.56 MHz) Mode 1 Mode (2.45 GHz) (5.8Hz) (UHF) Type A Type B Type C (EPCglobal Gen2) STAGES: 0 Preliminary 1 Proposal 2 Preparatory (WD Working Draft) 3 Committee (CD/FCD) 4 Approval (Final Draft Int Standard) 5 Publication International Standard RFID Standard dominantly used by libraries

October Considerations re standards Standards change/evolve. Where possible select flexible RFID infrastructure/hardware solutions.

October RFID Technology Standards ISO18000 What IS standardized ? defines 3 things : Physical Layer Commands Anti-collision All these relate to the “Air Interface” between the reader and the tag

October Physical Layer Must standardize : * frequency * coding (whats a “0” whats a “1”) * data rate

October Commands Must standardize : * Commands read tag lock tag write tag wake up retire

October Anti-collision (Multi-read) Must standardize : Algorithm used to handle dialogue with many tags at once.

October RFID Technology Standards ISO18000 What IS NOT standardized ? Security (EAS) not specified in ISO18000 Data structure not defined Memory size not defined Additional proprietary commands

October Library application standards : Future work - Security ? Library Security (EAS on tags) Defines the security mechanisms. Should this be standardized? What levels of security are necessary?

October Library application standards : Future work - Data Structure Data Specification Defines the length, structure and position of Library data on the tag DATA STRUCTURE

October Example: EPCglobal data structure Version 1.1 specification completed Option of 64 bit or 96 bit EPC Codes Data includes: Header : defines length and identifier type - allows compatability to other numbering schemes, GTIN (global trade item number), GLN (global location number) etc. EPC Manager : a code signifying the company or organisation managing the numbers in the subsequent fields. Object Class : a code signifying the product type. Serial Number : a unique identifier for each item within a product type In addition to the EPC unique identifier, some tags will have more memory space for User- defined data.

October Some considerations re memory size Bigger is more expensive Bigger can be slower

October IC complexity drives tag cost Chip (IC): less than 0.04% of the area, but 60% of the cost, of a tag

October Strive for efficient memory use. With 64 bits of memory, which is a very modest size of memory, you could program 18,446,744,073,709,551,616 different tags all with a particular unique number. Or with 96 bits of memory, you could program 79,228,162,514,264,337,593,543,950,336 different tags all with a particular unique number.

October Considerations when working on Data Standards Simple Message: THE BIGGER THE HOUSE, THE MORE COST, THE MORE MAINTENANCE. The same is true for Tag ICs Complexity/Memory size is not free Carefully evaluate how much memory you really need

October TAGSYS with its Partners offers full RFID Library Automation solutions –Tags, Readers, Reader Stations.

October Thank You Alastair McArthur Chief Technology Officer TAGSYS