RFID

The Engine In The Internet of Things

A White Paper on RFID Technology In Education & Research

CoreRFID 2011 All rights reserved. Trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

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The Engine In The Internet of Things

An Introduction
Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers coined the term the Internet of Things to describe the technology framework that connects everyday objects to computer networks and so to one another. It is a concept that has found favour with the European Union, who see it as a potential tool in the growth of Europes knowledge led economies in the future. This short paper has been written to introduce the ways in which the technologies at the heart of the Internet of Things have an important part to play in the business systems, research programmes and student support systems of universities, colleges and research facilities.. It covers issues including: Where has RFID been used for business benefit in universities and colleges? How can universities and colleges pilot and explore the use of RFID technology? What are the trends in RFID that will affect future decisions on its use in the education community?

RFID in Education

Key features of this white paper include: A survey of applications in the education sector Issues for implementing RFID applications Trends in RFID

This introduction has been produced by CoreRFID Ltd, a specialist in this field. CoreRFID works with universities, colleges, laboratories and other research centres and with software solution suppliers to the education sector, identifying and supplying the best technologies for their requirements.

Introduction
Tiny tags, costing only a few pence and consisting of a microprocessor, memory, power supply and transmitter can allow a computer network to identify any object that a tag is attached to. Its a simple concept and one with many applications in universities and colleges. Management Summary The tags use radio frequency identification (RFID). With them students can be linked up to personalised services, university assets can be tracked and controlled, research samples can be automatically identified. By linking things in the real world with systems in the computer world networks become aware of objects, making many new applications possible. An RFID tag can weigh only a few grams. It can be attached to a folder of documents as easily as to a sample bottle. It can be embedded in a credit card for every student. And whenever one of these things is done it allows a computer system to use that data to identify, track and audit the things that have been tagged. The European Union has spelled out its vision in Internet of Things An Action Plan for Europe1 explaining European policy objectives in relation to RFID and outlining the basis of the EUs research agenda in this field. However, RFID is not some esoteric future technology. It is a practical tool that can be used with practical benefits in todays computer systems. RFID is widely used in many supply chain, security and retail applications and is already widely used across the education sector. It is a technology that can change business practices and processes, learning and research approaches too. RFID is too important to be left solely to the IT team. Success in using RFID comes from marrying an understanding of its capabilities (and limitations) with a vision of its relevance to the organisation and the projects that the university or college is engaged in. As a result applying RFID requires the combination of the involvement of technical expertise, those with practical experience of the organisation and leadership from the top. This paper seeks to provide the background needed to identify potential application areas for RFID the information needed by those in a leadership role to initiate and review RFID projects details of areas that need to be considered in creating a cost justification for RFID projects

Brussels 18.6.2009. Available from ec.europa.eu or via tiny url: http://tinyurl.com.m3spee

RFID At Work
Information and communications technologies can make a contribution to improving the effectiveness of academic institutions. One technology in particular, Radio Frequency identification (RFID) has emerged to improve the ability universities and college to keep track of students, books, assets, research samples and a raft of other items. RFID allows information to be read or written, without contact, on tags that can be fixed to documents, files, computers, or sample bottles. They can be embedded in credit cards or key fobs carried by students or staff. As a result it becomes possible to track and trace individual items through what has been termed an internet of things. RFID technology makes it possible to uniquely identify assets and individuals. RFID allows This high performance RFID tag can data carrying tags to be attached to objects. be mounted on metal and read from These tags can be read and written with low up to 6 metres away. cost scanners providing a quick, contact-less, way of establishing where something is, what it is, when it was last used or checked. It can link things and their location; things and the people that use them; people and the places they go. Although significantly more expensive than their simpler cousins, some tags can even announce their location to a network in real time, allowing things to be instantly located across any site that has a WiFi network, without the need for additional infrastructure investments. Continued developments in the field of wireless communication and intelligent tags make an ever growing range of applications practical and create opportunities for costs savings in many administrative areas of organisations. RFID is used to deliver potential cash savings and efficiency improvements through:Application areas Increases in Productivity Improvements in the accuracy of data capture Tracking of work in progress Quality control Stock management Improving customer information

Keeping track of things and people

The importance of RFID

RFID is a versatile, widely used and proven technology for monitoring materials, tools, capital assets and people. It can be used to report on their whereabouts, track the history of their use, and help control where they can (or cannot) be used. It can provide information on the usage of consumable materials and provide the means to keep track of items through the supply chain and on into their eventual installation and subsequent use. Examples of application areas for RFID in universities and colleges include: Enabling research programmes linking people and things Control of the location of valuable assets. Management of student services Tracking research samples

 Advantages from using RFID in universities & colleges.

Enabling interaction in research projects Maintenance control and management Access control to buildings or areas within buildings Monitoring of security staff activities on site Health, safety & environmental compliance

These applications offer potential benefits to the organisation. Some can be translated into a valuable return on investment, while others can contribute to the organisations academic goals by enabling or improving different research projects. Some of the value most often experienced by universities and colleges introducing RFID include: Enhanced security and reduced loss of research equipment and other capital items Speeding information flows on the location of equipment Improving control of maintenance and health and safety processes. Reducing paperwork and making efficient information capture possible in demanding environments Gaining real time information on the progress of projects as an aid to better decision making and improved customer information

Benefits &ROI

These advantages can be translated into financial benefits that provide the basis for a return on investment in the use of RFID technology. Areas where RFID projects contribute to ROI within projects are: Lower asset costs for equipment through better utilisation Less shrinkage in inventory and asset base Cost savings in health and safety compliance Lower administration costs for student services

Applications of RFID in Universities & Colleges Cardiff University Library

Cardiff University implemented an RFID based self-service library system across four sites between 2007 and 2009. As part of a merger of library facilities with the University of Wales College of Medicine, Cardiff University planned to use RFID technology as part of its programme of integration, reducing the number of separate library locations from 21 to 7, helping to deliver savings. Improving self-service book loans for students. By tagging books and giving students identifying cards, the library has been able to move to a self-service system of issuing across the sites. Tags identify both the libraries books and borrowers, providing a continuously up to date picture of where books are. Using the system Cardiff managed to reach and exceed their target of 80% of all issues being self-service within two months of introducing the system and now over 90% is a typical figure.

Example Applications

Cardiff University Library is using RFID to manage self-service book issuing.

Cardiff, typical of many universities, has access to the work of CILIP, the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals. CILIP operates a special interest group covering the use of RFID enabling members to share their experiences.

UAE Universities
Validating Qualifications. One of the more intriguing applications for RFID in the academic world was reported on recently by The RFID Journal2. Universities across the United Arab Emirates are using RFID labels to validate qualifications awarded by 50 institutions across the country. The use of RFID tags for this purpose in part is intended to authenticate qualifications that have been issued but also supports easier registration of students for courses, helping to ensure that they have the relevant pre-qualifications needed for any particular course of study. Similar applications can also be used to connect students with examination scripts, for example.

Lund University
Experimental samples. One of the exceptionally useful features of RFID tags is their compact and robust nature. Tags come in many formats, able to withstand temperature extremes and chemical and other environmental hazards. This quality allows them to be used to uniquely identify experimental samples in a wide range of laboratory and out-in-the-real world experimental scenarios.

Details available on line at http://www.rfidjournal.com/article/view/4961

Lund University3 has applied this technique to tagging small birds as part of their work on migration and animal behaviour. Because the tags can be easily read, repeated collection of data about individuals is always accurately associated with the individual concerned. RFID is often very suitable for use where there are large numbers of samples. Tags costing a few pence can be easily re-used on multiple experiments, providing a feasible solution where more costly identification methods cannot be justified. Of course RFID tags are more expensive than bar code labels but do not suffer from the limitations of readability that bar codes often have.

Londons C Card
Student Identification One of the issues facing Universities is in providing pastoral care for the student body. Londons health community recognised that students represented a group that were at risk of sexually transmitted disease and of unwanted pregnancy. In response health and student groups across the capital collaborated to create a unified scheme managing the issue of free condoms. This project used RFID cards to allow participating outlets to identify the cost bearing authority (rather than the individual). RFID offers the opportunity to identify individuals or groups as a way of managing entitlement to services. More details of the Pan-London C Card project can be found in this short case study.

The TOTeM Project

RFID is at the heart of the TOTeM project. Brunel University, Edinburgh College of Art, University College London, University of Dundee, and the University of Salford are working together to explore the ways in which things can carry their stories with them. Using RFID to explore the relationships between people and things. TOTeM stands for Tales of Things and Electronic Memory. Using the TOTeM web site, members of the public can link video or audio stories about objects that have been tagged with RFID or QR tags. The project has enabled exploration of the relationships that people have with things and how this might influence the nature of future retail models.

TOTeM uses RFID and other tagging technologies to explore how people and things interact.

As part of the project TOTeM took these ideas to the public with Oxfam in an art installation as part of the Future Everything festival at Manchester. In a more immediate way the same approach could be used to support the creation of more interactive museums in which visitors not only look at objects but also record their responses and reactions to them in a way that can then be shared with others.

A case study of the work done by Lund is available at http://www.corerfid.com/case-studies/casestudyLundUniversity.aspx

Other Projects in Education & Research

Other examples of the use of RFID in education & research include: A programme exploring the role of ID technologies in user-centred systems has been established at the University of Washington under the title The RFID Eco-System. The European Commission has published a road map for its research into RFID and the Internet of Things. A list of European research programmes is published by the Commission on the CERP web site.

Issues To Consider In Introducing RFID

This White Paper doesnt seek to provide an exhaustive guide to implementing RFID projects but it is worthwhile to consider some of the issues mentioned here before embarking on use of the technology. Probably of greatest importance is to use care when selecting the area in which RFID is to be used. Application areas need to have the payback potential sufficient to reward the risk and need to be sufficiently straight forward to be feasible with current resources and technology. This White Paper has identified a number of application areas where existing practice or visionaries within the education sector are pointing the way forward. Today a wide range of RFID application areas (access control, quality control, library management, asset management especially IT asset management, safety management and others) have reached maturity and others specific to the education sector (such as research sample tracking) are also found. However there remain a range of issues that need consideration, including: Practical performance of the technology in the application environment Ease of integration of the technology with current or planned working practices Privacy and security issues (considered by the EU in their Data Protection legislation) Use of international standards in radio frequencies, device protocols and data formats Promotion and support of planned applications to ensure user take up..

Key Trends in RFID & Their Importance

One of the difficult issues facing organisations planning to deploy RFID is that the term covers a wide range of different technologies, each with their own associated capabilities, standards and risks. Certain RFID technologies have a pedigree of over fifteen years of use while others are brand new, lacking in standardisation and with uncertain performance and reliability. For organisations to be successful with RFID technologies they need to keep a clear eye on which class of technology they are working with and what the trends in technology are.

Five key trends can be identified within the RFID sector: Key Trends Standardisation is broadening to ensure that pan- company and pan-country projects are practical. Increasing availability of solutions based on active tags. Technically more capable UHF systems are becoming feasible as the price of tags and readers falls in response to standardisation initiatives. Application implementation is becoming easier through the availability of integrated data collection terminals based on software platforms such as Windows CE, and RFID-aware software systems such as SAP and Microsofts BizTalk. The understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of the technology is growing as more solutions are implemented. Greater knowledge amongst implementers reduces risk.

Of all of these trends, improvements in standardisation are likely to offer industry the greatest opportunities. Role of Standards The recent introduction of the GEN2 standard for UHF tags and readers has, for the first time, created a single global standard in one area of RFID. This is helping to drive innovation in reader and tag technologies as suppliers see a global market for their products and it also provides a basis on which customers can plan to use the technology across company or country boundaries. Where WalMart in the USA was able to mandate RFID tags on stock shipped by its suppliers, it will now become possible for major purchasers in other sectors, such as education, to take up a similar stance, knowing that they can implement common systems wherever goods are received. Active tags, that is those with their own on-board battery that can power the identifying chip, offer the benefit over passive tags that they can be read from a greater distance and can announce their presence, rather than waiting to be read. New forms of tag with on-board sensors can detect if they are moved for example. Some can be used in conjunction with existing wi-fi infrastructure, so that a site network becomes the carrier for data about individual tagged items and can allow a tag to detect where it is in relation to the network. While more expensive today than conventional, passive tags, such tags can be useful in allowing valuable items to be quickly located anywhere across a site or complex of sites. Developments in battery technology and standards in this field can be expected to increase the potential of active tags over the coming years. UHF The introduction of ultra high frequency (UHF) tags and readers has significantly increased the distances across which tags can be read and the speed with which tags can be read. The possible distances between the tag and the reader has risen from a few centimetres to as much as 10 meters (or with active tag technologies up to 100 metres) and UHF tags can be read at the rate of hundreds per second. As a result it is feasible to consider portal style reading stations where a lorry could have its identity confirmed and data collected from all the tags relating to the stock items carried on it while the vehicle is driving through the portal or a trolley carrying samples, books or IT equipment could have each item identified as it passes a certain point The combination of improved speed and greater range will make a wider range of applications practical. Software is often at the heart of an RFID project. RFID provides a way of collecting vast amounts of data. The challenge is then to collate and understand the information collected. Improved data visualisation tools help in this process as does the use of data compression to

Procurement

Active Tags

Software

optimise the data held on a tag so that reliance on a central database is reduced. Development in these two spheres, together with the emergence of improved interconnecting software (middleware) that is more RFID-aware will make it easier to design applications that integrate RFID data within the overall business ERP system. Knowledge & Expertise Finally the growth in knowledge and expertise as a result of the implementation of more and more RFID projects helps to reduce risk. Although RFID continues to be an area in which the pace of change creates many potential pitfalls, the growing use of the technology means that there are more and more technicians in the supplier community and in the user community that have had experience of real world projects and the real life problems that these create. As is often the case with emergent or relatively new technologies, the availability of expertise has limited the use of RFID. Now, with more experience staff available and more capable suppliers and solution integrators, it becomes possible for many more projects to be delivered with confidence.

About CoreRFID
CoreRFID works with over 1100 customers across the UK, Europe, the USA and the rest of the world, providing them with the systems and support they need for their applications. Many customers have continued to do business with CoreRFID over a number of years. Users of CoreRFID solutions are found in finance, broadcasting, construction, defence, government and telecommunications. Customers include the BBC, Capita, Nokia, BAA, Thames Water, the Channel Tunnel, Galliford Morgan and Amec. CoreRFID specialises in the complete range of technologies for track, trace, audit and control applications, assisting customers in making the right choices for business critical applications. CoreRFID provides customers with: RFID tags, sourced worldwide or custom manufactured Tag reader / scanner devices. Hand held computers for tag reading / scanning. Design and development of the software. Training and implementation service.

Experts In Track, Trace, Audit & Control

In a field where new development makes new applications practical, CoreRFID keeps in touch with the latest advances and makes it easy for clients to get the benefit of them. CoreRFID selects RFID components from a range of best-in-class technology providers. CoreRFID Pilot Packs provide a low cost way to try out RFID technology and assess the feasibility of potential applications. CoreRFID has strategic partnerships with portable computing suppliers and providers of Ultra High Frequency and active RFID components, making it possible for CoreRFIDs clients to exploit these technology. CoreRFID software solutions are developed using the Microsoft .Net Framework making it easy to integrate track, trace audit and control applications with other back office systems.

Our Organisation
CoreRFID Ltd has established a reputation in the global RFID industry for delivering innovative products and services that help its customers to deliver successful solutions. With bases in the US, UK and Europe, CoreRFID is now working on some of the most advanced RFID projects, delivering RFID based systems, often in short timescales. The business invests in products and in its staff and enjoys the strength provided by profitable growth, loyal customers and an experienced team. The CoreRFID team of experienced engineers and its sales and administration centre is based in Warrington, in the North West of England.
Core RFID Ltd 2011 CoreRFID Ltd. Dallam Court, Dallam Lane, Warrington, WA2 7LT T: +44 (0)845 071 0985 F: +44 (0)845 071 0989 W: www.CoreRFID.com www.rfidshop.com Publication: 084 E: info@corerfid.com