ITU-SUDACAD Regional Forum on Internet of Things for Development of Smart and Sustainable Cities

Khartoum, Sudan 13-14 Dec 2017

RFID Adoption in Smart City & Selection Criteria

Abderrazak HACHANI
RFID/ IoT consultant
Founder RFID Lab, esprit school of engineers
abderrazak@hachani.tn
Abderrazek.hachani@esprit.tn
 Agenda

Introduction
RFID Basics
RFID & WSN Convergence
RFID Adoption in Smart City

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Section 1

Introduction
 Identification History

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 Earlier Work
 Radar Communication.

 IFF Transponder (Friend or Foe ),

British Army 1939.

 Communication by Means of Reflected Power,

Stockman. H, Proceeding of the institute of Radio engineers 1948.
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 Great embassy seal bug

In 1946, Soviet school children

presented a two foot wooden replica of
the Great Seal of the United States to
Ambassador Averell Harriman.

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 Great embassy seal bug
During George F. Kennan's
ambassadorship in 1952, a Secret
technical surveillance
countermeasures (TSCM)
Inspection discovered that the
seal contained a microphone and
a resonant cavity which could be
stimulated from an outside radio
signal.

United Nations 1962

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 Great embassy seal bug
 active only when a radio signal of the correct frequency
was sent from an external transmitter.

 Sound waves caused the membrane to vibrate, which

varied the capacitance "seen" by the antenna, which in
turn modulated the radio waves that struck and were
retransmitted (backscattered modulation).

 A receiver demodulated the signal so that sound picked

up by the microphone could be heard, just as an ordinary
radio receiver demodulates radio signals and outputs
sound.

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 What is RFID?

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 Section 2

Section 2

Physics Behind
RFID Basics
 Fast Growing Business

$ bn 2005 2010 2020

Tags 1.0 2.1 9.9

Other 0.9 3.5 12

Total 1.9 5.6 21.9

Source: IDtechEx: The global market for RFID 2010-2020

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 Making ordinary objects ‘Smart’

Passive
read/write tags
affixed to caps
of containers

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 RFID Basics
RFID Base station
Tags
Middleware

Passive communication is assured thanks to

Load modulation technique (impedance
modulation, Backscattering )

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 RFID Generic Architecture Solution

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 RFID Tags

Chipless Energy Range

 Passive shirt
 Semi Passive Proximity
 Active Vicinity
Read / Write Longue range
 Memory Access basis

Unique Identification Number

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 RFID Tags

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 RFID Reader

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 How does it looks ?

Printed Electronic, Telecommunications, antenna,

wireless energy transfer, on ship design, security
, plastic technologies, RTLS, instrumentation,…

Traceability
Visibility !!

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 Physics Behind

D: Maximum dimension
Distance from the
of the radiating structure
reader antenna

Near Filed communication Fra field communication

860 MHz
125 KHz- 150 KHz 13.56 MHz 433 MHz 960 MHz 2.4 GHz 5.8 GHz

10 KHz 100 KHz 1 MHz 10 MHz 100 MHz 1 GHz 10 GHz

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 Physics Behind
NFC communication

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 Physics Behind
Passive far field Systems

UHF Systems

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 Generic RFID Tag Architecture

Energy harvester
EEPROM
Power on Reset
Computational
Clock recovery capabilities
Modulator
EEPROM
Antenna Demodulator Access control

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 RFID Classes

Class 0 : Read only

Class I : WRITE ONCE READ ONLY (WORM)
Class II : READ WRITE
Class III: Read write with on board sensor
Class IV: Read write with integrated transmitter

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 Section 4

Section 3

RFID Applications
RFIDWSN
&&&Selection
RFID
WSN Convergence
Convergence
Rules
 WSN
Before, RFID & Sensor Network have separate
research and development areas.

Sensors provide information about the

condition of the objects as well as the
environment.

Computation.
Sensing.
Wireless Communication, routing,...

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 WSN Applications

Forest Greenhouse

Military Healthcare

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 Difference between RFID & WSN
Most Major key points

 RFID tag inexpensive in large quantities.

 WSN contain relays .
 Classical RFID systems are composed of RFID tags and readers.
 Price and power consumption of the tags is a very important issue, most of the complexity is
transferred to the reader side.
 Communication between node is multi-hope.
 Sensor nodes’ firmware can be easily reprogrammed which is not the case for RFID tags.
 RFID readers can be parameterized, and easy to interface with existing IT infrastructure.

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 RFID & WSN convergence
I. Integrating RFID Tags with Sensors
The same RFID protocol is used to carry sensor data ( distance, antenna
design).
a. Passive tags with integrated sensors
Tag harvest energy from reader and power the onboard sensor.

b. Semi-passive tags with integrated sensors

On board energy source to power the sensor, however the communication
process relay on the reader carrier.
c. Active tags with integrated sensors
More advanced functionalities and autonomy .
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 RFID & WSN convergence
II . Integrating RFID Tags with Wireless Sensor Nodes and Wireless Devices
Tags of this family may communicate together and other wireless device.

III. Integrating Readers with Wireless Sensor Nodes and Wireless Devices
Reader are equipped with communication interface and I/O port.

IV. Mix of RFID and Sensors

Generic solution.
Interference.
Delay.
Cost.

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 Section 3

Section 4

RFID Applications & Selection

RFID Adoption in Smart City
Rules
 RFID enables city digital transformation
Retail
Healthcare
Administration
Environment
Security
Industry
Defense
Etc

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 RFID Applications : Just imagine !!

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 NFC
 Near field communication
 Mobile phone, is an enabler of new
smart services
 Mobile operator ecosystem

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 Towards a better customer experience
Smart Payments
Tolls, Tickets, vending
Goods, services, …

Enhanced user experience

Service notification
NFC connection Handover
Customer analytics

Smart Authorization
Access to transport, buildings
Rental or sharing
Fleet management
VIP retail experience

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 Live stock traceability
 Livestock management.
 Optimizing productivity.
 Helping ensure food safety and
quality.

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 Retail
• EAS (Electronic Article Surveillance)
• Inventory management
• Information system visibility
• Increase work efficiency
• Boost sales

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 Supply Chain Monitoring

Reliable product life cycle

tracking (status, inventory,…)

Satellite
Cellular

Container On Board
Reader/ Unit (OBU) Sensors
On Board Communicator
Unit (OBU) *
17364 Tags
10891 Tag

Fingerprint Reader 17363 Intrusion

17365 Tags Sensor
Transportation Worker ID Card (TWIC) 17363 Tag
with Fingerprint Biometric
ISO/IEC 14443 Chassis Tag
Tractor Tag TC 204 Standard
TC 204 Standard

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 RTLS
 Real time location system
 Active / Passive Tags

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 Section 5

RFID Selection Criteria

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 RFID System selection criteria
• RFID is not a technology, it is a set of technologies.
• RFID ecosystem is the IoT mainstay.
• An RFID system could not be used on a plug & play basis.

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 RFID System selection criteria
 Where (Attached to and surrounded by what?)
 How far?
 How fast?
 How many?
 How much?

 Tag & base station have to respond to the following rules:

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 RFID System selection criteria
1. Size and form factor – where does the tag have to fit?
2. How close will tags be to each other?
3. Durability – will the tag need to have a strong outer protection against regular
wear?
4. Is the tag re-usable?
5. Resistance to harsh environments (corrosive, steam...).
6. Polarization – what will be the tags orientation with respect to the reader field?
7. Exposure to different temperature ranges
8. Communication distance.
9. Influence of materials such as metal and liquids.

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 RFID System selection criteria
10. Environment (Electrical noise, other radio devices and equipment).
11. Operating Frequency (LF, HF or UHF).
12. Supported Communication Standards and protocols (ISO, EPC,…).
13. Regional Regulations (US, Europe and Asia).
14. Will the tag data need to store more than just an ID number ?

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 Thank You

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