RFID Tracking Advantages - Dissertation Example

? PHD Proposal RFID Tracking and Its Uses. (First sur no qualifications like Dr. College Position in organisation Place of author Abstract Ever since the beginning of the new technology age, developments in the uses of various technologies have been growing. It started in the 1800’s with many of our new technologies having begun then, such as the earliest motorbikes, cars and phones. Much of this development takes many years to come to fruition; one such technology is the Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tag tracking system. Originally developed in 1969, it was patented in 1973 (Granneman 2003). It is a system utilising microchips embedded in a product or item, which can be read by a non-contact reader. It is predicted that RFID will take over from the present-day Universal Product Code (UPC) bar codes in the near future. The problem with present-day bar codes is they are not able to fulfil every function well, they can be slow at the checkout and stocktaking as every item must be scanned and they do not always cover today’s security issues well, whereas RFID systems cover much more from tracking stock to instantly contacting a customers bank for funds at the point of purchase in a retail store by using a system embedded in a mobile phone (Bonsor, et al n.d) how will this develop? What are the good points and what are the negative problems with RFID tracking, there is a lot to be investigated yet with these systems. RFID Tracking Advantages The problems faced by many companies today is how to speed up their processes, there are many retail stores where the customer still waits in line at a queue for their basket of goods to be read through at the checkout. Stocktaking is done item-by-item using the present bar coding system. With RFID tagging it is possible to have a zone set up whereby everything passing through is logged by the RFID radio reader, and not item-by-item as the tag can be read at a distance and through some materials. (RFIDAA 2006) saving time and effort with better accuracy. Another area covered now is where it has been difficult to have a decent system of tracking passports speedily and confirming the person carrying them. The American and Australian governments have decided to do just this; issuing e-passports where there is a microchip embedded into the passport, because of this there is an increasing amount of information held on the chip. The chip is read/write capable so it is possible to delete or add information on the person or product. A step up from the passports issued even by the Australian government. Embedded RFID tags are used for chipping pets and animals, placed just under the skin they can be read easily. Originally used for cattle, now helping with lost animals or with stock control in farms. (Granneman 2003) “On a smaller level, but one that will instantly resonate with security pros, Star City Casino in Sydney, Australia placed RFID tags in 80,000 employee uniforms to put a stop to theft. The same idea would work well in corporate PCs, networking equipment, and handhelds.” Assett tracking, security and biometric controls are all covered by RFID tagging, it has now got to the stage where it is possible for an indivdual to set up their own RFID tagging system by purchasing the tags and radio readers. There are some great examples such as a handbag designed by MIT students, it can tell if up to five items with RFID tags are placed in the bag. If one is missing then it starts a blinking LED on the outside of the handbag (Varias 2011). Clothing is a great area for using tags, they can be used by retail stores to prevent loss, they are placed in the product label and are read as they leave the store. Used in this way by Gerry Weber International, a German-based women's clothing designer and retailer. From (Zaino 2011). Problems with RFID Tracking There are many people complaining that RFID and its associated systems are too much. Although this kind of complaint has been around since the first wheel was made it has to be taken seriously. Is there more that can go wrong with this type of system, is it too intrusive, could it be open to hacking and identity theft using cloning devices, as some have said (Newitz 2006). There were plans to put tags into humans, probably their forearm until there was a question over areas such as, how do you upgrade and what about health issues such as tissue rejection (Alam 2000 – 2010). One big problem is getting the various agencies to agree to work together, on the face of it having a retail company put RFID tagging into its store is great, but there have been arguments about network usage, and getting the banks to set up their end, although Visa the credit card company have been pushing their customers to take up the system, as it cuts down on credit card fraud in their opinion (Marlin 2005). With so many different interest groups it is difficult to know who is gaining enough to make it worth the effort. Management of the systems is not truly clear-cut yet, although as the technology matures this will become clearer. Data is important, where is it held and what is held; it is possible to know even more about customers and their choices, but does this impinge on their privacy? Some say it does (McIver 2005). RFID active scanning has been introduced in Alexander Maconochie Centre prison in Canberra. The system had to be shut down when it became overloaded as the batteries in each unit started to die. As they did alarms were triggered in security until the system was overloaded, NEC the suppliers of the system are looking into the battery life issue (Hopewell 2011). Tags are still relatively expensive especially compared to the existing bar coding systems in place, for RFID tagging of mass cheap consumer goods to happen they must be very cheap. The tags can come from different standards, which is best if a company has invested in a standard it is unlikely to want to change in a years time. At present the financial situation is not helping companies take up on any new systems if they can avoid it, hopefully this will change soon. Proposal The research for RFID tagging to be implemented is massive, there are many areas of research from the RFID system to the networks, to the banks and tagging of items, is there anything that truly cannot be tagged? Some limitations have been exposed such as the RFID radio waves will not pass through certain materials, so making it impossible to scan items inside. Either the materials are changed or some other way to use RFID tags has to be found, maybe something like the MIT handbag where there are tags on the outside of the container, although this means there are dangers with access by fraudsters or that a tag simply drops off in transit. The following graph illustrates the results of questions on RFID use included in the Sensis Business Index SME survey conducted in February 2006 (RFIDAA 2006). Figure 1: SMEs use RFID Sensis Business Index. (RFIDAA 2006) Although there is now a bigger take up than the graph shows from 2006, it is still relevant in the area of who is taking the technology up fastest (RFIDAA 2006). To get other areas of industry involved means showing exactly what the RFID system can do for them, preferably cheaply and easily. Such as the handbag example developed by people still at college, hotels are now taking up RFID to track towels and other consumables so stopping theft from rooms, no more freebies! (Herald Sun 2011). (Foreshew 2011). The technology is moving forward with the latest innovations including chip less tags being developed at Monash University in Australia. These are utilising “back scatter” systems, using small silver and black printed squares and are much cheaper than the present RFID tags at present it is thought such a system would be useful in libraries, but there are other possibilities such as on cars where something simple is needed to identify the vehicle through its lifetime or in an area such as Avis Rentals are now using it to create virtual parking lots for rental vehicles at companies away from their own locations, giving customers better service (Swedberg 2011) or for tagging the large containers travelling across the globe (Protrac ID 2010). The best investigation for a thesis would be in the developing RFID tagging systems and their uses; this would include pricing and implementation of such a system. Especially into SMEs in Australia, where there is a need for constant improvement to processes for more efficiencies and customer satisfaction. References Alam Shah Newaz (2000 – 2010) RFID chip in humans. Buzzle.com viewed: 31 August 2011. . Bonsor Kevin, Keener Candace, Fenlon Wesley (No date) How RFID works. HowStuffWorks.com, viewed: on 30th August 2011. Foreshew Jennifer. (2 August 2011) Chipless tracker to transform the library industry. Australian IT viewed: 31 August 2011. Granneman Scott (27 June 2003) RFID chips are here, Your privacy is at stake. The Register, SecurityFocus.com viewed: 30 August 2011. Herald Sun (29 July 2011) Hotel towels electronically tagged with traceable microchips. Herald Sun viewed: 31 August 2011. . Hopewell Luke (14 February 2011) Faulty RFID tags taken offline in prison. ZDNet.com.au viewed: 31 August 2011. Marlin Steven (24 February, 2005) Visa debuts RFID-enabled card payment system. Information Week viewed: 31 August 2011. McIver Rich (22 March 2005) RFID privacy issues. How RFID will impact customer privacy. RFID Gazette viewed: 31 August 2011. Newitz Annalee (May 2006) The RFID hacking underground. Wired.com viewed 31 August 2011. Protrac ID (14 July 2010) Asset tracking made easy with RFID tags from Protrac ID. Ferret.com.au viewed: 31 August 2011. RFIDAA. See, RFID Association Australia. RFID Association Australia (July 2006) Getting the most out of RFID: A starting guide to radio frequency identification for SMEs. Commonwealth of Australia viewed: 31 August 2011. Varias Lambert (17 July 2011) Deja Vu RFID Purse Concept: for Forgetful Geeks. Technabob viewed: 30 August 2011. Swedberg Claire (30 August 2011) Avis uses RFID for Remote Location Rentals. RFID Journal viewed: 31 August 2011. Zaino Jennifer (25 July 2011) 2011 RFID Journal award winner: Best RFID implementation—Gerry Weber's pain-free RFID revolution. Case Studies, RFID Journal viewed: 30 August 2011. Read More