RFID For Dummies

Patrick J. Sweeney II heads ODIN Technologies, an RFID integration and software development company. He learned the technology at MIT and is considered an industry expert.

• Introduction 1About This Book 1Who This Book Is For 1You Don’t Need a Slide Rule and Pocket Protector to Use This Book 2How This Book Is Organized 2Part I: Now That You Can Spell RFID, Here’s the Rest of the Story 3Part II: Ride the Electromagnetic Wave: The Physics of RFID 3Part III: Fitting an RFID Application into Your World 3Part IV: Raising the Beams for Your Network 4Part V: How to Speak Bean Counter 4Part VI: The Part of Tens 4Icons Used in This Book 5Part I: Now That You Can Spell RFID, Here’s the Rest of the Story 7Chapter 1: Taking the Mystery out of RFID 9What Is RFID? 9The origins of RFID in inventory tracking 10Tracking goods with EPC codes 10Sizing Up the Benefits of RFID 11Tracking individual items with serialized data 12Reducing human intervention 13Moving more goods through the supply chain 14Capturing information in real time 14Increasing security 15Mandates, Womendates, Blind Dates — Forcing Efficiency 16What are the major mandates? 16Responding to the mandates 17Calling All Physicists! Calling All Physicists! 18Finding a physics expert 19The basic physics of RFID 19Finding Success with Four Ps in a Pod 22Planning 22Physics 24Pilot 26Production 27A Ride in the Time Machine 28Chapter 2: Auto-ID Technologies: Why RFID Is King of the Hill 31Planning an Auto-ID Strategy for the Times 32Comparing the major players in Auto-ID: Bar codes, contact memory, and RFID 34Crafting an Auto-ID strategy for your business (Or, why RFID is the wave of the future) 41To EPC or Not to Be: Unraveling the Words, Words, Words of the Electronic Product Code 44How EPC is different from UPC 45Why an EPC RFID tag doesn’t contain more information 47How the EPC works 48How the EPC prepared for the future, and who oversees that 52Addressing Privacy Concerns 53Chapter 3: Making Basic Decisions about Your RFID System 55Midas Touch Points: Where RFID Impacts Your Organization 56Outlining how RFID affects your business processes 57Determining how RFID will affect your facility 60Evaluating your technical needs 61What’s the Frequency, Kenneth? 64Understanding the difference between licensed and unlicensed frequencies 65Examining the most common frequencies in RFID 65Frequencies, power, and countries 67Beyond UHF: Looking toward the future 68Speed, Accuracy, or Distance — Pick Two 69Designing for the right read distance 70Reads — tell me how fast and how many 71Reading multiple tags at once — accuracy considerations 72Now What about the Tags and Objects? 73Part II: Ride the Electro-magnetic Wave: The Physics of RFID 75Chapter 4: What Makes Up an RFID Network 77Elements of a Basic RFID System 77Everything starts with the tag 79Antennas send and receive radio waves 79Readers tell the antennas what to do 80The middleware transforms the system into a network of objects 80Time to Make Some Waves — Electromagnetic Waves 81Frequency is a measurement 83History may repeat itself, but virginity comes only once 84Fields: Electrical and magnetic, near and far 84Creating resonance between the antennas and the field 85Chapter 5: Understanding How Technology Becomes a Working System 87Anatomy of a Passive Tag: Understanding How It Works and Choosing the Right One 88How do tags receive and transmit information? 88How does a tag antenna work, and how do you choose among the different kinds? 90How does the integrated circuit affect performance? 92Some tag examples for the geek in you 94Tracking the Tags with a Reader 95Holler back, young ’un — Transmitting and receiving signals 95The DSP chip: Examining the brain of a reader 96Ring around the dipole and other bad antenna stories 98Air in Her Face — Blowing Sweet Nothings 100Chapter 6: Seeing Different RFID Systems at Work 103Setting Up RFID Interrogation Zones 103Coming and going — Reading at a dock door 104Your gateway to good reads — Other portals 106Keep on rollin’ — Setting up RFID at a conveyor 108That’s a wrap — Interrogating at a shrink-wrap station 109One at a time — Reading objects on a shelf 110From Ski Resorts to Airlines: Applying RFID in the Real World 112Ski resorts 112Law enforcement 113Pharmaceuticals 113Additional business applications 114Part III: Fitting an RFID Application into Your World 117Chapter 7: Seeing the Invisible: The Site Assessment 119Planning for Your Site Assessment 120Getting the right test equipment 122Setting up for RF testing 124Measuring for AEN during Normal Operations (And Beyond) 126Testing key points around the warehouse 127I’ve been a wild rover for many’s a year 127I don’t hear anything; time to make my own noise 129Solving interference problems 130Testing to Plan Your RFID Installation 130Gathering your equipment 131Comparing the perfect signal to the actual signal 132Setting up the equipment 133Conducting the test 134Putting your results to use 136Chapter 8: Testing One, Two, Three: Developing Your Own Lab 139To Lab or Not to Lab 140Beyond a Swanky White Lab Coat: The Tools You Need for Successful Testing 141Setting Up Your Lab 142X-ray marks the spot: Find the perfect location 143Physics eye for the lab guy: Design the physical layout 145Set up the test equipment 148Build specific test equipment 151Develop and implement standardized test procedures 153Chapter 9: Tag, You’re It: Testing for Best Tag Design and Placement 159Ready, Set, Test! 160Looking at the Material Composition of the Items You’re Tagging 162Examining RF transparent, reflecting, and absorbing materials 163Using the RF friendliness pyramid to understand the optimal spot for testing 164Choosing a Tag to Test 166Testing Tags in an Applications Test Facility 168Setting up the testing environment 170Carrying out the test 170Frequency Response Characterization: Testing Tags with Physics 171Encoding and Applying Tags 174Tag and ship 174Inline production application 176The Secrets of Read Success 177Avoiding cross talk 177Ensuring high-speed reads 178Executing full pallet reads 178Chapter 10: Hooked on Phonics: Reader Testing, Selection, and Installation 181Choosing a Hand-held, Mobile, or Fixed-location Reader 182Reading between the Lines: Critical Buying Criteria 183Consider all the costs involved 184Test reader performance 186Assess connectivity 192Evaluate how well the reader can be fine-tuned 196Installing a Reader and Antennas 201Mount the reader 202Mount and connect the antennas 203Power up the reader 203Test the interrogation zone for RF path loss 204Chapter 11: Middle Where? It’s Not Just about the Readers 205Filter, Smooth, Route: Understanding What You Need Middleware to Do 206Exploring Middleware Vendors and Their Offerings 208Piecing Together a Middleware Architecture 210No more tiers: Grasping the many levels of a middleware architecture 211Taking stock of existing investments and skills 213Early bird or late bloomer? Prioritizing your middleware needs 215Getting the Most from Your RFID Middleware 216Part IV: Raising the Beams for Your Network 219Chapter 12: From Pilot to Admiral: Deploying RFID Successfully 221Creating a Pilot Project Plan 222Start with your major tasks and timeline 223Deliverable tracker 224There’s always an issue with you: Tracking and resolving problems 225There is no I in team (but there is an M and an E) 226Factors for a Successful Pilot Test 227Clearly defined scope 227Experienced project manager 228Key executive support 228User involvement 228Specific measurements and metrics 229Risk mitigation 229Phased approach 229Moving from Pilot to Production 231Getting the most of your pilot data: The project debrief 231Tips for a successful production system 232Chapter 13: Getting Set to Administer and Maintain Your System 233Configuring and Setting Up Tag Readers 234Before you begin 234Stepping through a reader setup 235Creating configuration classes 236Getting the Digits 238A simple hierarchy for assigning numbers 238Allocating unique numbers across many lines and locations 239Applying Tags to Objects 240Applying tags without breaking them 240North by northwest as the corrugation travels: Orienting tags on objects 241Sending Objects through Your Business 242Lining up tags and readers 242Just like the neonatal ward: Handle with care 243School’s in Session — Training Your Staff 244Starting readers manually 244Identifying and responding to missed reads 245Reinforcing processes versus changing them 246Explaining how RFID affects employees 247Chapter 14: Ping-pong, the Tags Are Gone: How to Monitor Your RFID Network 249Why Monitor an RFID Station? 250Setting up Two Types of Monitoring 251Checking That a Reader Is Active 251Choosing the right method 252A simple human interface: Enabling operators to monitor the system 252Measuring and Interpreting System Behavior 255Building a statistical monitoring approach 255Breaking data into time intervals 257Measure 1: The average tag traffic volume (ATTV) 259Measure 2: Read errors to total reads (RETR) 261Measure 3: Read error change rates (RECR) 262Measure 4: Actual versus predicted traffic rate (APTR) 262Measure 5: Mean time between failure (MTBF) 263Monitoring as you expand your RFID network 265Setting up a monitoring system 265Part V: How to Speak Bean Counter 269Chapter 15: Making the Business Case 271Finding the First-Round Draft Picks for Your RFID Team 271A Game Plan Is More Than Xs and Os — Use a Proven Methodology 274Step 1 Refine the process and conduct team training 275Step 2 Determine scope and assumptions 276Step 3 Determine drivers, strategies, and enablers 277Step 4 Identify and assess business processes and interfaces 279Step 5 Identify complementary or competing business initiatives 280Step 6 Identify strategic and economic benefits 281Step 7 Develop investment requirements 284Step 8 Develop an implementation road map 285Step 9 Communicate the business case 286Chapter 16: Fitting RFID into Strategic Plans 289Just in Time to Justify: Overcoming Skepticism with Strategic Thinking 290Calculating ROI — A Tactical Approach to RFID 291Cha-ching! Finding ways to save with RFID 292Tallying up the estimated costs 300Putting together a costs/benefits analysis 303ROI as a tool for strategic expansion 303Tag and You’re It: RFID as a Competitive Strategy 304Chapter 17: What to Look for When Considering Outsourcing 307Why Outsource Your RFID Network? 308Identifying and Avoiding the Risks 308Is Outsourcing Right for You? 309Do your goals and timeline indicate a clear need to outsource? 310Do you need to run or own the system? 312Analyzing your resources 314Money, money, money: Comparing outsourcing and internal costs 316Performance anxiety: Can you build a network that works? 317Finding the Perfect Match 318Figuring out the RFP process 318Spelling out your needs in an RFP 320Selecting potential outsourcing partners 326Evaluating responses to your RFP 327Sealing the Deal with an SLA 327Drafting the initial SLA 328Negotiating an SLA with a vendor 331Part VI: The Part of Tens 333Chapter 18: Ten (Or So) Equipment Vendors 335Alien Technology 335ACCU-SORT 336Applied Wireless Identifications (AWID) 336FOX IV Technologies 337Impinj 337Intermec Technologies 338MARKEM 339Symbol Technologies, Inc (Formerly Matrics) 339ODIN technologies 340OMRON electronics 340SAMSys Technologies 341Texas Instruments (TI) 341ThingMagic 342Chapter 19: Ten Web Sites for Information on RFID 343RFID Journal Online 344EPCglobal 344IDTechEx 345RFID Solutions Online 345RFID Exchange 345RFID Update 346Auto-ID Labs 346Auto-ID Lab @ Adelaide 346The RFID Gazette 347UCLA’s RFID@WINMEC site 347Slashdot 347Chapter 20: Ten Tips from the Experts 349Chris Fennig, ODIN technologies 349Joe White, Symbol Technologies (Formerly Matrics, Inc.) 350Duncan McCollum, Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC) 351Dr Daniel Engels, MIT Auto-ID Labs 352Dr Patrick King, Michelin Tire Corporation 353Steve Kowalke, ACCU-SORT Systems 353Team Tag-IT, Texas Instruments 354Kevin MacDonald, Lead RFID Architect, Sun Microsystems 354Mark Nelson, Savi Technology 355Chapter 21: Ten (Or So) RFID Standards and Protocols 357EAN.UCC 357EPCglobal 358UCCnet 358ISO/IEC JT1/SC17 359ISO/IEC JTC1/SC31/WG4 360AIAG 361Container Shipments 361Container Security Initiative (CSI) 361Smart and Secure Tradelanes 362Appendix: Glossary of Electrical, Magnetic, and Other Scientific Terms 363Index 373