Radio Frequency Identification - Essay Example

Management of Information Technology Introduction Radio Frequency Identification is into our daily life for nearly 15 years now in various forms and shapes though they started appearing since 1970s. RFID is a technique that is used to identify and authenticate specific people or object for the work it or he is going to do. RFID as a technology has seen many very effective applications that make it possible to track an asset over a limited area or the where about of a person over a limited area for easy contact. This saves huge quantum of money, time and effort. While on the one side, industries have been consistently reaping benefits of using RFID tags for monitoring and controlling production processes, there have been regular alarm bells from human rights activists and others equally concerned about privacy and personal privileges of individuals. This arises because of the simple reason that an wireless monitoring system is capable of checking the work that a person does or claims to have done in addition to even the personal chores that one might attend to. It is like any other personal monitoring system, like say a video-graphy station in a parking lot. There will of course, be occasions when the monitoring station infringes in to the privacy of the individual. The user of such devices has to exhibit caution and responsibility in addition to technical prowess. 2. Technological capabilities and limitations RFID comes under two basic technological models. One, we call the passive RFID tag and the other an active RFID tag. While the passive RFID tag has a pretty long life with no supporting batteries inside the tag, the active RFID tag has a battery inside it which makes the life of the tag relatively lesser though the power consumption of such tags are very small1. The corollary of such a limited life is that, the RFID tags cannot be embedded permanently inside any object or an animal body including man. If it has to be done, then it has to be a passive tag. The passive tags have another major limitation being that they cannot be read from a distance that is greater than two feet effectively. There are passive tags that are supposed to read even from greater distances but are not found effective. Technologically this limitation arises because of the fact that the RFID tag uses the induction technology of the radio frequency waves. There is always an RFID reader that is placed at strategic points. These readers emanate radiations all around and get triggered once it senses a response. These readers are generally directed and emit radiations only in one direction. In case of a passive tag, the waves sent out by the reader induces a current in the tag itself. This powers the operation of the tag and it passes to the reader a specific number or identification that forms the basis of communication between the two. However, in case of an active tag, the active tag receives the signal and is able to boost it and send it back to the reader. Since this has an internal source of power, the active tags can respond to even very feeble signals from the readers. This is the reason why while passive tags can be read out of a distance of one and half feet to two feet, that of the active tag is much more. And as we have seen earlier, the same reason also has a disadvantage that of life time limitation. RFID provides its users the facility of storage, retrieval, erase and rewriting of the data in the RFID tags from the remote reader. This makes the RFID immensely powerful and enables it to have details like the entire patient history in case of hospitals, payment histories in case of customers / vendors and production data in case you need to monitor the work in progress. Remote reading and writing of data into the RFID tags also make it the right kind of tool to monitor animals in a farm and assets or library books that are issued and returned or routed to some body else. All these are massive advantages for industries. However, these can also be misused by having and storing data that goes into the personal preferences of the individuals helping companies in playing the big brother role. This usage needs to be monitored and controlled. While most of the applications that we are currently using the RFID for are small and does not involve large amount of dynamic data getting stored or retrieved from these tags. The limitation also stems from the fact that the memories of such tags are also limited and therefore cannot have any extent of data as the user might will. 3. Advantages and Disadvantages We will try to draw out an exhaustive list of advantages and disadvantages of RFID tag usage in the industrial, social or personal environment. Advantages2: 1. Passive RFID tags are flexible and are made for storage of limited amount of data. Therefore, in all those applications where limited amount of data is to be stored and retrieved for processing, RFID tags form the best solution. Typical applications will include tagging within the cloth, house hold articles, industrial articles etc., 2. RFID tags are rewriteable. They could be recycled and the cost of the RFID tag is recovered within a few cycles of reuse. 3. Since RFID tags are rewriteable, they are used to store the stage of the process in tracking Work in progress or in case of material whose movement is to be tracked. 4. RFID tags are readable by their readers from any angle; this means that they need not be in line of sight to effect a reading. This becomes a very big advantage to read material moving on a conveyor or a production line. 5. RFID tags can be embedded in plastic or in metal casings since they could be read through them. This makes them resistant to weather and other natural and handling mistakes making them more durable. 6. Reduces administrative error and internal theft in a company 7. One would generally find that the applications to which RFID could be used is only limited by their imagination and the kind of advantages that can be derived from them are also limited to ones own ingenuity. RFID is looked at as an enabler. It may not offer solutions by itself but it would enable the company to build solutions around it that would add value to the products or reduce cost of production processes. RFID would also enable the companies to monitor and ascertain whether what was planned is what you get. 8. The Electronic Product Code (EPC) is used and standardized to makr every product with a specific number that would enable the user to identify the product wherever it might be. Disadvantages 1. Price is a major disadvantage for RFID tags as of date. It has to compete in more than one occasion with bar codes which are very inexpensive. 2. RFID tags are still not governed by any standard practice or code of production. This means that the product made by manufacturer A cannot be read by manufacturer B and therefore if you go with one manufacturer's products you continue to buy from them. 3. Though RFID tags and readers are made to work through liquids and metals, they need to be designed for that purpose. This makes the task so much more cumbersome. 4. Since the tags are costly and most of the companies try to reuse the tags purchased, most of the applications initiated by the companies tend to be closed loop applications and the equipment or material manufacturers do not send it out on open loop because of the price consideration. 5. High frequency RFID sources are known to have affected human and other living beings. 6. RFID tags if left in cloth linings or wallets or such other personal objects could lead to misuse by the company concerned or even by the government to track the people and their whereabouts. This is an infringement of the privacy of an individual. 4. Applications for RFID tags RFID tags are typically used in applications where an object has to be identified without having a line of sight to read the input. Tagging the equipments that go through consumer distribution circuit is one such activity3. This will enable to the companies to work towards providing the customer with the kind of material that is expecting. Let us take a look at a case where you are personalizing a car and have released an order for that personalized car. In a typical RFID case, the car will come with a tag that will carry the order number, personalized id, name and any other uniquely defining identification for the order that was placed by you. When the car is issued to you, these are cross referred and the result is that the chances that it would be issued to some body else is fairly remote, even non existent. These kind of applications help the industry in achieving: 1. Zero administrative errors. No issue to unauthorized person. 2. During the quality check, the manufacturer would check whether all that the customer wanted is fulfilled or not. He allows the car or the equipment to pass only if all the conditions laid down by the customer is fulfilled. 3. Net result: a happier customer and therefore he would come back for more business. RFID tags could clearly bring in immense advantage for the users by offering them on line data storage in the production or in the process let be it order processing or otherwise. 5. Ethical Vs Unethical The tracking of the assets, distribution channels, equipments or articles at the super market are all fine as long as the RFID tracking system ends with the super market. It has been repeatedly said that the RFID tags if taken out of the designated zone would certainly infringe into the privacy of the individuals. RFID is supposed to improve the productivity of any manufacturing unit by helping the supervisor in monitoring work in progress at the factory. However, when the equipment or article that is tagged with the RFID tag moves out of the manufacturing facility as of date, the tag is removed and is reused on the next product that enters the production cycle. At the commencement of the manufacturing process or assembly cycle, an RFID tag is fixed to the product. As it progresses down the assembly line, the progress is monitored and various parameters of production is checked and logged using the tag. Many times, the RFID tag itself carries all the data till the last point where the final quality check is done and the product is certified fit. This information is also rated and recorded in the tag. Now, after this is over, the data stored in the tag is downloaded over a reader to a computer and then stored for data processing work later on. The tag is removed from the product that was on the production floor and product is shipped out. The tag is fixed on another product and goes for the next round. However, it is increasingly observed that the manufacturer tries to leave the RFID tag in the equipment with the details of the sale made4. This implies that when the equipment is brought back for service or say, replacement, the manufacturer is able to read and find out what is the date and time of manufacture, the lot it went in, the buyer and the entire history of the equipment or article including the person who assembled a specific component and the person who did the quality check. It is also used to identify the kind of problems noticed during the assembly or testing of the product. This will enable the manufacturer to provide a comprehensive service to the customer. This is an ethical use. Though as of date, the technology to read the RFID tags enable only reading up to 15 meters in case of active tags, it is a known technology that the power of the Radio frequency waves could be increased and enable reading beyond this range as well. What this implies is that the whereabouts of the equipment can be traced using adequately powerful radio transmitters and receivers, and hence the owner of the equipment and the usage of the equipment can all be tracked. This will be an infringement into the privacy of the individual. And this is unethical. Such equipments or products could be something as common as a camera to Gap shirt that you might decide to buy. Most of the garment units all over the world are slowly and steadily switching over to the RFID tags to monitor their production efficiencies and any rejects that could happen at the buyer end. This will enable them to track the entire production process for the specific garment. This is an ethical application which could turn unethical if it is employed by the manufacturer or if he should allow the police or the government to use these tags to monitor the current position or location of the commodity or product. Some of the companies in the distribution channel, put their RFID tags to monitor them on the store shelves, also leave them open when the material flows out of the store. Super Stores lose nearly USD 50 billion on theft alone and it is highly imperative that they stop such occurrences. Therefore, many of them like Wal-mart are switching over to RFID tags. This will let them know the moment the article is picked up from the shelf and also when it goes out of the shop without billing. This will help them in controlling their inventories and managing stock at the time of requirement. Many of them do not allow their RFID tags to go out of their store. Some allow them to go out if the customer should opt of it. Of course, their readers are also not powerful enough to pick up any tag outside the designated area. The use of RFID tags for quick stock monitoring, removal of a good from the store shelf there by reducing the chances of a theft are all towards ethical usage of the tag. However it is possible that the tags can flow out of the store along with the article and can get tracked if some one should be inclined to. This lends itself to unethical operation. It is also possible that a criminal could always track a shirt or a RFID tag in the dustbin and try to identify the owner by just reading the tag since it carries all the information about the owner of the product. Careless strewing of such tags could also prove very costly for the owner of the product. There could be number of loop holes if RFID and the data that it possesses is not handled properly and safely. While handling RFID tags it is always good if certain predetermined rules are followed: 1. RFID tags should be destined for specific purpose and at the end of the specific purpose it should be removed and the content of the tag should be clearly erased. 2. Personal details of the buyers or any other individuals should not get written into the tags. 3. There should be a clear methodology for destruction of RFID tags These simple rules should make using the RFID tags more safe for the consumers. 6. Conclusion RFID is a technology that is an enabler for many companies and it is in the hands of the users who would use them to make sure that it is used for the right purpose. It is like any other technology, like the internet. With the right kind of people and adopting the right kind of rules we will be able to reap the benefits of optimal usage, improve productivity, gain on profitability, give a better service to consumers and make life easier. Where as once it is being adopted by the wrong set of people and if the rules are not dictated, then the usage could very well become unethical as in the case of any other technology that this world has seen. 7. References 1. "RFID Technology and Architecture", Tutorial-reports.com available at http://www.tutorial-reports.com/wireless/rfid/technology.php 2. "RFID Journal FAQ", available at http://www.rfidjournal.com/faq 3. Abhay Kulkarni & Ritesh Parmar, "RFID Demystified", National Institute of Industrial Engineering, 2005, available at http://www.indiainfoline.com/bisc/ari/rfid.pdf 4. Decllan McCallaugh, "RFID Tags: Big Brother in Small Packages", Cnet News.com, Jan 13, 2003 available at http://news.com.com/2010-1069-980325.html Read More