ITU-T Lighthouse Technical Paper

[Pages:21]ITU-T Lighthouse Technical Paper

RFID Opportunities for mobile telecommunication services

by Christoph Seidler, Intern (TSB)

May 2005 ITU-T Technology Watch

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This paper was prepared by Christoph Seidler , Intern, International Telecommunication Union (ITU), Telecommunication Standards Bureau (TSB). It is published within the framework of the Technology Watch activities of ITU-T . More information on ITU-T's activities can be found at:

The opinions expressed in this paper are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the International Telecommunication Union or its membership. The mentioning of particular company names or products in this paper is not intended to reflect any form of preference for individual companies or products.

RFID ? Opportunities for mobile telecommunications services

Abstract: The technology for radio frequency identification (RFID) enables data to be transmitted by a tiny portable device, called a tag, which is read by an RFID reader and processed according to the needs of a particular application. It is only recently that the technology has begun to take off in the mass market. Analysts predict that RFID will revolutionize areas of industry, such as supply chain management and the retail business, for example by reducing costs with better stock management. This paper focuses on the application of RFID technology in mobile telecommunication services. Several ideas for applications as well as possible areas for standardization efforts are presented. Apart from purely technical concepts, the challenging aspects of security and privacy are discussed.

1. What is RFID? 1.1. Old technology, new implications 1.2. How RFID works 1.3. Out in the wild: Current RFID applications 1.4. Boom times ahead: Analysts expect market growth 1.5. Constraints

1.5.1. Pricing 1.5.2. Security and privacy issues 1.5.3. Standards

2. RFID and standardization 2.1. Key players

2.1.1. Automotive Industry Action Group (AIAG) 2.1.2. European Article Numbering (EAN)/ Uniform Code Council (UCC) 2.1.3. EPCglobal 2.1.4. European Radiocommunication Office (ERO) 2.1.5. European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) 2.1.6. International Air Transport Association (IATA) 2.1.7. International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) 2.1.8. International Committee for Information Technology Standards (INCITS) 2.1.9. International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 2.1.10. International Telecommunication Union (ITU) 2.1.11. Universal Postal Union (UPU) 2.1.12. State driven initiatives

2.2. The need for standardization 2.3. Possible working areas for ITU-T

3. RFID based Mobile Telecommunications Services 3.1. Application scenarios

3.1.1. Information retrieval 3.1.2. Data transmission 3.1.3. Automated messaging 3.1.4. Voice services 3.1.5. Device integration 3.1.6. Presence indication 3.1.7. Mobile payment

3.2. Near Field Communications (NFC) 3.3. Field tests

3.3.1. Information retrieval 3.3.2. Mobile payment

4. Conclusion

1. What is RFID?

Entering the search-term "RFID" into Google web-search produces more than 14.4 million

results. In the public sphere the abbreviation has been around for some time, but what is this Radio frequency identification (RFID) all about?1 In a few words, it is a method of remotely

storing and/or retrieving data from small objects, so-called RFID tags. These tags contain

antennae to receive and respond to queries from an RFID reader. A typical RFID system consists of two main components, tags and readers.2 (see chapter 1.2.)

1.1. Old technology, new implications

Although it has become popular only in recent years, the concept of RFID is not new. It was used in the Second World War to distinguish enemy planes from friendly ones3 and as early as 1948 a research paper on "Communication by Means of Reflected Power"4 was

published. As the components for RFID-systems - tags and readers - have become smaller

and cheaper, the technology has begun to take-off, in a variety of different areas (see

chapter 1.4.).

1.2 How RFID works

An RFID system consists of two main components, tags and readers.

A tag (also called transponder or transceiver) is

a small device equipped with a microchip

carrying data and an antenna. There are two

types of tags; active and passive. Passive tags

require no power and are much more common.

Incoming radio waves induce an electrical

current in the antenna, just strong enough to

feed the tag's circuit and send out a response.

Due to constraints in the on-board power

supply, passive tags have a relatively short

range of operation (from about 10 mm up to

about 5 metres, but typically a few centimetres)

and can only transmit a limited amount of

information. Yet, the lack of a power supply RFID tags

Foto: TI

gives passive tags their unique and main selling

point, that they can be very small in size. One of the smallest passive RIFD chips, Hitachi's "?-chip"5, is only 0.4mm x 0.4mm in size and barely visible with the naked eye. It contains a

unique 128-bit number that is written onto the chip during the manufacturing process and

cannot be changed.

Active tags function the same way as their passive counterparts, except that they have their own power source and thus longer ranges (dozens of metres) and more memory. Because of this power source, active tags today are bigger and more expensive. Becoming smaller and cheaper, they might be the choice of the future. For example, a new generation of active tags called "Dice" was presented by YRP Ubiquitous Networking Labs in April 20056. They are about 15mm x 15mm x 15mm and according to the manufacturer, the battery will last for 2 years and 3 months if the tag communicates every 5 minutes. If manufactured in volume, the price of a "Dice" tag will might be at the "lower end of several dollars".

1 An excellent RFID glossary can be found here: 2 For an introduction to the basics of RFID-tagging see e.g. Robertson, I.D., Jalaly, I.: "RFID Tagging Explained" in IEE Communications Engineer, February 2003, p. 20-23.. 3 For technical details of the IFF (Identification, Friend or Foe) -system see e.g. 4 Stockman, Harry: "Communication by Means of Reflected Power" Proceedings of the IRE, pp1196-1204, October 1948. In his paper Stockman states: "...considerable research and development work has to be done before the remaining basic problems in reflected-power communication are solved, and before the field of useful applications is explored." 5 6 More information on the following site:

A reader communicates with a tag in order to capture the data stored in the tag. The reader usually sends a low-power radio signal to activate the tag and the tag then sends data back to the reader. Most readers are ? as their name suggests ? only capable of reading data, although some also have the capability to write to certain tags. Normally, readers forward the data to other systems (such as PCs) for subsequent processing. In comparison to tags, readers consume more power, are larger - and more expensive.

RFID systems use radio-signals to communicate, but only certain frequency bands are available for license-free use. There is international variation in the frequencies and power levels available for RFID systems. Due to different national regulations, an RFID system produced in one country may not work in another country.7 Four different kinds of frequencies are currently used8: Low frequency (125 to 134 kHz), High frequency (13.56 MHz), Ultra High Frequency (868 to 956 MHz), and Microwaves (2.45 GHz). The main differences are in the Ultra High Frequency band, where for example the EU (865-868 MHz, 869.4-869.65 MHz), the USA (902-928 MHz), Korea (908.5-914 MHz), Australia (918-926 MHz) and Japan (950-956 MHz) use different frequencies and the power limits.

1.3. Out in the wild: Current RFID applications

Implementations of RFID technologies have seen a boom in recent years. Many parts of industry are using these technologies to some extent. Naming particular applications of RFID technology would thus lead to a very long list ? without being close to comprehensive.9 Therefore, only some sectors are named below, the footnotes provide further information on applications in the particular field:

? Transport and logistics: toll management10, tracking of goods11, etc. ? Security and access control: tracking people (students etc.)12, controlling access to

restricted areas, etc. ? Supply chain management: item tagging, theft-prevention, etc. ? Medical and pharmaceutical applications: identification and location of staff and

patients13, asset tracking, counterfeit protection for drugs14, etc. ? Manufacturing and processing: streamlining assembly line processes, etc. ? Agriculture: tracking of animals15, quality control, etc. ? Public sector: passports16, driver's licenses, counterfeit protection for bank notes,

library systems17, etc.

7 8 The White paper "Demystifying RFID: Principles & Practicalities" by the Auto-ID Center (October 2003) addresses this topic more in-depth (full text here: ). 9 A more complete list can be found in Lara Srivastava's background paper: "Ubiquitous Network Societies: The Case of Radio Frequency Identification" that was produced for ITU's Strategy and Policy Unit's (SPU) workshop on "Ubiquitous Network Societies" in spring 2005 (full text: ). Videos of sample RFID applications can be found for example at Accenture: \rfid\insights\rfid_insights_prototypes.xml 10 E.g. Singapore's Electronic Road Pricing System (ERP) (details here: ) 11 Authorities in South Korea announced in March 2005 that the port of Busan, which is the third largest port in the world will implement an RFID tracking system for containers.(see: 07369&_requestid=712272) 12 E.g. a school in the Wakayama prefecture in Japan uses RFID to track student's attendance in class-rooms, which bus-stop they get off and other things (more information: ) Nevertheless some schools like the Brittan Elementary School in Sutter (California, USA) have decided to abandon experimental RFID programs because of privacy concerns (more information here: ) 13 A patient tracking-system has recently (April 2005) been implemented in the hospital of the German City of Saarbr?cken (more information here: ). Additional information on patient tracking provides the CRM magazine article ,,Using RFID To Keep Track of Patients" from March 2005 (fulltext here: ) 14 More details can be found for example in the US-Food and Drug Administration (FDA)'s report ,,Combating Counterfeit Drugs" (full text: ) 15 The Website of the US Food Safety Research Information office provides a good list of projects for electronic animal identification (). 16 An important standard for RFID enabled passports is the ICAO ,,e-passport" standard (more information here: ). E.g. the United States' Department of State is working on the introduction of such passports beginning by late 2005, but prefers to call them "contactless smart-cards" instead of using the apparently more controversal description "RFID" (more information here: ) 17 E.g. the Vatican Apostolic Library has announced that it will subsequently implant RFID tags in its 1.6 million volumes (more information here: )

? Sports and leisure: tracking runners18, automated payment for ski lifts19, ticketing20, etc.

? Shopping: facilitating checkout procedures21, etc.

1.4. Boom times ahead: Analysts expect market growth

Analysts expect to see a tremendous development of the worldwide RFID markets in coming years and foresee growth rates in double-digits. Nevertheless, there are dramatic differences between forecasts on how much the market will grow. A recent study by Frost & Sullivan22 estimates revenues to grow to 11.7 billion USD by the year 2010. But, a new study published by Research and Markets23 is a little less enthusiastic, predicting revenues of just 3.8 billion USD in 2011. To achieve this, the researchers estimate the average market growth to be 67 per cent per year. Another study published by IDTechEx24 in spring 2005 sees continuing growth, and predicts 26.90 billion USD in 2015.

The various existing studies of RFID market growth do not only differ in their perception of the future but also when it comes to describing the existing situation. Frost & RFID-tagged pallets in a store in Neuss Foto: Metro Sullivan saw a total revenue of 1.7 billion USD in 2003, whereas according to Research and Markets, RFID markets valued at some 503 million USD in 2004. IDTechEx sees the global market for RFID at 1.94 billion USD in 2005.

The differing results of the studies (existing market volume, growth rates, etc.) might be explained in part by the different definitions of the term "RFID market." It has to be determined whether this includes both RFID products and integration services or the products only.

1.5. Constraints

1.5.1. Pricing

The ultimate incentive for deployment of RFID technology is cost. Only cheap tags (and readers) will allow businesses to implement RFID-solutions on a broader scale. Lars Godell, analyst at Forrester, explained almost three years ago: "It is starting now, but it won't have a big impact for a while. It will take time for the chips' prices to get low enough and until systems are implemented"25. A widely perceived goal in terms of pricing is the "5-cent-tag" (0.05 USD per tag). Industry consortium the Auto-ID-Center, now EPC Global, emphasises that only a tag-price in that range would make widespread RFID tagging commercially viable.

18 One of the solutions for tracking runners, bikers etc. is the ,,ChampionChip" that was first used in the Berlin Marathon in September 1994. (for more information see: ). 19 Many ski-areas in diffrent parts of the world use RFID systems. An example is the Dolomiti area in Italy (more information here: ) 20 E.g. all tickets for the soccer world cup finals 2006 in Germany will be equiped with an RFID tag to prevent counterfeiting (more information here: ) 21RFID technology for speedy self-checkout is used for example by the German retailer Metro in its RFID Innovation Center in the city of Neuss (more information here: and here: ) 22 The report (June 2004) entitled "World RFID Based Applications Market" is available here: 23 The report (March 2005) entitled 'RFID: Market Opportunities, Strategies, and Forecasts, 2005 to 2010'.is available here: 24 The report (April 2005) entitled "RFID Forecasts, Players and Opportunities" is available here: 25 Cited from the RFID Journal, 17 June 2002,

"At 5?, our research shows that total demand will be explosively larger", wrote Sanjai Sarma of the Auto-ID Center in 2001.26

Currently, prices for tags are far from being that low, and worldwide demand is not sufficient for prices to come down soon. Currently, a passive tag costs around 0.40 USD. But the manufacturers promise that prices will fall: "Users need to see that there is a roadmap toward the 5-cent tag, and step by step our volumes and production costs are going the right way to pass savings onto our customers," says Stav Prodromou, of tag-manufacturer Alien Technology.27 Analysts differ about when exactly to expect the 5-cent-tag. A study published by ARC in 2004 indicates that the supply chain RFID tag market will not reach the 5 cent price point until 2008. Nevertheless, the report states that "individual suppliers may be able to reach there through the combination of high-volume contracts and low-cost form factors."28

1.5.2. Security and Privacy Issues

Further constraints that could hinder a boom of RFID technology are security and privacy issues. A main security concern is that eavesdroppers could be able to read RFID tags without knowledge of the owner. This is very delicate especially in the case of RFIDequipped passports etc. Anybody spying on RFID chips could potentially obtain personal information on the passport holder.

Researchers have found that security and privacy issues are of different importance to

customers in different regions of the world. "Overall, Asians are not as worried about security issues as Americans are"29, says Renia Lopez, strategy consultant at Fusion.

Notwithstanding, security and privacy issues have to be addressed by the industry as they

will be decisive for a truly global success of the technology.

1.5.2.1. Concerned consumers

A main privacy concern, of importance namely in business-to-consumer (B2C) relations, is

the ability of RFID systems to track persons and goods

without consent. Because RFID tags are getting

smaller and smaller, it is easily possible to hide tags in

such a way that consumers are unaware of their

presence. This could be an attractive option to

businesses as they would be able to profile and identify

consumer pattern and behaviour. In recent years, RFID

technology has encountered massive criticism by

various consumer groups such as Consumers against

Supermarket Privacy Invasion and Numbering30 (CASPIAN), Electronic Privacy Information Centre31 (EPIC) or the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF)32. In

Demonstration against RFID equipped supermarket (Metro's Future Store) Foto: CASPIAN

a statement issued in November 200333, various

consumer groups have requested a moratorium on the use of RFID technology in consumer

products to provide enough time to assess the impact of the technology. Companies using

RFID technologies like Benneton34, Gillette35 or Tesco36 faced consumer boycotts.

26 The white paper (November 2001) ,,Towards the 5? Tag" is available here: 27 Cited from the RFID Journal, 1 April 2004, 28 The report (August 2004) ,,RFID Systems in Manufacturing Supply Chain Outlook" is available here: 29 Quoted from RFID Journal article ,,RFID enabled Credit Cards Apt to lead", 25 March 2005 (full text here: ). 30 and 31 32 33 34 35 36

In fact, consumers become more and more aware of RFID technologies and its possible threats to privacy. In the USA, the "RFID Consumer Buzz"37 survey by market intelligence company BIGresearch saw the percentage of people having heard of RFID go up from 28 per cent in September 2004 to 41 per cent in March 2005.38 Interestingly, notwithstanding the greater familiarization with the technology, the level of concerns regarding possible privacy problems remained relatively constant at 65 per cent.

1.5.2.2. Concerned policy makers

Policy making in various parts of the world has responded to such fears, debating legal solutions to the problem. Some sort of binding and non-binding privacy guidelines39 on the protection of personal data could be such a measure. The guidelines would have to be adhered to by businesses using RFID technologies. These guidelines could be modified for certain sectors of the industry to include specific needs, but should nevertheless maintain a set of core standards, such as a notification of the use of RFID tags, limits of the amount of data collected, the guarantee that information on the chip is destroyed after the intended use has been achieved, an option for the customer to have the data on the RFID chip destroyed upon request, a user's right to read the information on the tag etc.

US-researcher Simson Garfinkel has developed an "RFID Bill of Rights"40. He calls for the right to know whether products contain RFID tags, the right to have RFID tags removed or deactivated when products are purchased, the right to use RFID-enabled services without RFID tags, the right to access an RFID tag's stored data and finally the right to know when, where and why the tags are being read. 41

Additional to approaches like policy guidelines or the "Bill of rights", legally binding options are under debate. E.g. in the European Union, the "Article 29 Data Protection Working Party"42 of the Commission's DG Internal Market has been dealing with the data protection issues related to RFID technology. The group issued a working document43 in early 2005. It contains different concerns "about the possibility for some applications of RFID technology to violate human dignity as well as data protection rights". In particular, the group fears that businesses and governments could use RFID technology to pry into the private sphere of individuals. In a public consultation, several business associations responded in a joint statement: "RFID technology ? as any technology ? can be abused or misused"44. The Business Associations explain that they do not see "the need for any changes in data protection laws, as the use of RFID technology is well protected by existing laws".

In the US, a long discussion on privacy implications of RFID technology started when the Department of State announced that it planned to issue RFID enabled passports45. Privacy groups and researchers criticized that it was not planned for the data on the chip to be encrypted46 which meant that data could potentially be read by unauthorized third parties. According to media reports, the government received more than 2400 critical comments on the plan. It subsequently announced in late April 2005 that it was "taking a very serious look" at implementing a privacy solution.47

37 38 39 An example on how such guidelines could look has been discussed e.g. by the the APT Standardization Program (ASTAP)'s Expert Group Meeting on Information Security during its 2005 meeting in Bangkok (Thailand). Full text here: 40 Full text here: 41 A good read on the topic of privacy is also: Stephanie Perrin: "RFID and Global Privacy Policy" in: Simson Garfinkel and Beth Rosenberg (eds.), RFID: Applications, Security, and Privacy, 2005, p.95-122 (full text of the chapter here: ) 42 This group has been set up under Article 29 of Directive 95/46/EC. The full text of the directive can be found here: 43 44 45 More information on the initial plan can be found in a proposal in the US Federal Register: (full-text here: ) 46 No Encryption for E-Passports, Wired News 24 February 2005 (full text here: ) 47 Feds Rethinking RFID Passport, Wired News 26 April 2005, (full-text here: )

 ................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download