RFID Technology and its Applications (Research Paper Sample)

RFID Technology and its Applications
Abstract— RFID technology is widely used for various applications. With the advancement of technology, Radio Frequency Identification has been introduced as an alternative technology that replaces the conventional universal product code (UPC) barcodes. In contrast to the UPC barcode, RFID identifies an object without a line of sight, making the technology disruptive and applicable across multiple industries. This paper provides an overview of the various RFID-related activities, principles of RFID, its various applications, and current protocols supporting the technology. It also reviews the various advantages and limitations of this technology, possible enhancements of the current algorithms and future work in the field.
Index Terms— EPCglobal Class 1 Gen 2; FCFS; ICIG2MRS; RFID anti-collision; tags; UPC barcode.
INTRODUCTION
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INCE RFID systems use the electromagnetic spectrum, they are relatively easy to jam. It means they can be installed in stores without any problems. An RFID tag can't tell the difference between a reader and another RFID tag; rather, it will read its contents from a distance. Even with a simple RFID solution, many factors can increase the cost of RFID. Some of these include hardware, software, and training. In addition, implementing RFID tags can be very costly. The current protocol supporting RFID is the EPCglobal Class 1 Gen 2 protocol, C1G2; nonetheless, it requires the reader to identify the tag before reading its sensor, making it inefficient to stream data from the sensors. Although RFID is a promising technology, such challenges and gaps create room for more research to address how such protocols can be improved and how the technology can be restructured to meet application needs.
Radio Frequency Identification is a generic term that refers to the technology that uses radio waves to identify people or objects. An RFID tag is placed on an object, and when an object is placed above the tag, the code is transmitted from the tag to the device. The approach makes it easy to identify the object. A barcode scanner is equipped with a line of sight to read the label. However, it is not necessary to have the same line of sight to read data from a tag. RFID technology can also read data from objects without the need for alignment.
Figure 1 shows an active RFID System consisting of an active tag, a reader, power supply, microcontroller and antenna for backend system. A single active RFID reader can read and collect data from multiple RFID tags with a speed of up to 100 km/hr. An active tag memory has a larger data storage and the transit capacity and the memory can be equipped with supplemental sensors such as pressure, humidity and temperature.
Fig. SEQ Figure \* ARABIC 1. The basic structure of an RFID System
RFID has a high reading speed and can work in harsh conditions. The technology is pragmatic in areas where fast scanning and data carrying capability are required. While radio-frequency technology has been around for a long time, its origin can be traced back to the early twentieth century. In recent years, the technology has gained hype due to the convergence of the low cost and augmented functions of the RFID tags [5]. The technology has emerged as disruptive and is revolutionizing various applications such as health and supply chain management. It was first introduced by Leon Theremin, a Russian physicist, in 1946. Radio-frequency identification (RFID) is a combination of radar and broadcasting technology. It was developed in the US during the 1920s. RFID has been used to improve the efficiency of various processes. Its widespread use could benefit libraries.
In the future, smart-sensing RFID solutions will bring the best of the Internet of Things (IoT) to the modern warehouse. Because of the smart sensor RFID, sensors can allow machines to track the temperature and many other factors [1]. Institutions such as the US Department of Defense have assimilated the technology and have now been assimilated by commercial companies such as Walmart to improve product and asset management.
[6] describe Radio Frequency Identification as a technology that incorporates radio waves to recognize objects. The authors discuss RFID technology's principles, operating frequencies, limitations, components, and application areas. An RFID system contains the tag, antenna, reader, communication infrastructure, and application software technologies. The tag, also referred to as the transponder, contains an identification code and a chip that stores information wirelessly transmitted to the reader. The RFID antenna collects the item information. The antenna can be linearly polarized, a stick antenna, a gate antenna, and a patch antenna.
[12] advocates that the antenna should at a minimum satisfy requirements such as small size, it should contain a hemispherical or omnidirectional coverage, be strong, cheap, and provide the highest possible signal to the microchip. The RFID reader transmits and receives radio waves, and its ability to transmit data is influenced by factors such as antenna gain, the frequency used, and the antenna's orientation. RFID systems have different operating frequencies, and the choice of the frequency relies on RFID applications. The operating frequency can be low, high, ultra-high, or microwave.
RFID APPLICATIONS
With the advancement of technology, RFID application has expanded to include manufacturing, agriculture, logistic and supply, military and defense, payment transactions, retailing, disaster warning, and distribution systems. The purpose of an RFID system is often based on aspects such as supervising, tracking and monitoring [12].
Monitoring and Tracking
Monitoring entails recurrent monitoring of the target system to detect any changes in the system functionalities and provide instantaneous responses, including defects. Tracking entails observing object movement and providing real-time data on the then respective location of that particular object. Supervising entails monitoring people's behavior, activities, and changes, and often, it is conducted in an inconspicuous approach.
Fig. SEQ Figure \* ARABIC 2. Architecture of Monitoring and Tracking System
RFID has numerous applications, but its utmost applications include the supply chain management sector, object tracking management, and production process control. Figure 2 shows a typical architecture of Monitoring and Tracking System. The carrier is embedded with an RFID system, and a Global Positioning System that transmit real-time data via the internet and the data is monitored using a browser.
RFID technology can improve asset tracking, which would assist reduce misplacement of items. For instance, every asset would be fitted with an RFID chip that would transmit real-time data on its location, and the database would keep track of the item movement [14]. In a school setting, RFID can be used to track books and assist improve the borrowing and returning of books. RFID can assist improve traffic flow management, as data collected from the moving vehicles can locate the best routes to prevent road traffics.
Food Safety
[8] debate how RFID technology can be applied to improve food safety. Food safety is a fundamental concern globally, particularly in tracing food products. The authors suggest that the RFID technology assists to improve the safety of the food products by providing information regarding the food products. RFID systems are packed together with the food and distributed to vendors and retailers. It's significant to track the food products as its assists in identifying whether the food has expired before reaching the market, particularly for perishable foods such as milk and meat.
Health Sector
Across the health sector, RFID systems can save paramount resources that can improve the patient's health [3]. For instance, an RFID system can minimize error rates by tagging medical objects such as medical equipment and patient files. Recent statistics indicate that there has been an increase in the number of mistreatments due to the improper identification of patients. [13] suggest that RFID systems can improve tracking and data collection, which would improve safety, cost-saving, and operational efficiency in the health sector.
RFID CURRENT PROTOCOLS
The communication protocol indicates a method of organizing conversation between devices. For instance, in an RFID system, the communication protocol organizes conversations between the tags and the reader. In RFID, the protocols are referred to as air-interface protocols, and the air interface defines the modulation of the reader signal, the type of signal sent by the tag, speed, and the form in which information is sent, for instance, discrete packets. The current protocol for RFID is the EPCglobal Class 1 Gen 2 protocol (EPC C1G2).
The protocol is arbitration-oriented and is included in the ISO 18000-6C. The protocol contains various layers that promote communication between the tag and the reader [9]. The protocol includes the identification and sense phase. At the identification phase, the reader attempts to obtain the EPC, which identifies each particular tag. The EPC C1G2 utilizers a Dynamic Frame Slotted Aloha (DFSA) protocol to arbitrate possible tag collisions, following a time division multiple access stratagem [4]. When tags responses collide, the tag waits for the subsequent frame, selects a different slot, and re-transmit the message. The sense phase begins when the tag has been identified, and the reader reads the data from the sensor tag.
The EPC C1G2 requires the reader to identify the tag...