| http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,52343,00.html Radio ID Tags: Beyond Bar Codes By Kendra Mayfield 2:00 a.m. May 20, 2002 PDT An emerging technology could usurp the ubiquitous bar code's quarter-century of quiet domination. Radio frequency identification (RFID) tags, which consist of silicon chips and an antenna that can transmit data to a wireless receiver, could one day be used to track everything from soda cans to cereal boxes. Unlike bar codes, which need to be scanned manually and read individually (you have to actually see a bar code in order to read it), radio ID tags do not require line-of-site for reading. Within the field of a wireless reading device, it is possible to automatically read hundreds of tags a second. Not only can these tags be read faster than bar codes, they also contain more information, so they can recall items more efficiently. "This is the basis of the next 50 years of computing," said Kevin Ashton, executive director of MIT's Auto-ID Center. "The impact will be staggering." The applications for this technology are seemingly endless. Radio ID tags can be installed in clothing labels, books, packaging, or even implanted beneath skin. MIT's Auto-ID Center is developing ways to use the tags in consumer product packages with blue chip companies such as Procter & Gamble, Wal-Mart, Gillette, Unilever, Target, Pepsi and Coca-Cola. Retailing behemoths such as Wal-Mart (WMT) and Home Depot (HD) are investing heavily in Auto-ID's technology to improve supply-chain efficiency and track products from the warehouse to the consumer's doorstep. "The supply chain today is a black box," Ashton said. "There is very little accurate data about where things are, what they are, how much there is." "This technology won't just improve the supply chain -- it will revolutionize it in ways we are only just beginning to understand," Ashton said. "Computers are basically blind today. The technology we are developing will enable them to see, for the first time ever." RFID systems originated in the 1940s, when the U.S. government used transponders to distinguish friendly aircraft from enemy aircraft. Through the 1970s, the federal government primarily used the systems for projects like tracking livestock and nuclear material. Radio tags have been used commercially for delivering packages, handling luggage, tracking food in supermarkets and monitoring highway tolls. The airline industry, along with the FAA, has used RFID tags to route baggage and increase air security. McDonald's and ExxonMobile are testing RFID chips to allow customers to pay for food or gas. The Auto-ID Center is in the final stages of developing a standard way for RFID tags to communicate. The standard could be implemented in a mass production tag that would cost about 5 cents. Auto-ID researchers recommend placing a 64-bit (or 96-bit, depending on the version) number called an electronic product code (EPC) on an RFID tag. The EPC identifies every inventoried item with a unique serial number. Approximately 20 companies are participating in what may be the largest scale RFID test to date, prototyping tags based on the Auto-ID Center's protocol. "Basically, we are doing everything we can to make RFID a mass-production technology," Ashton said. According to researchers, companies will be able to use smart tags to connect everyday objects to the Internet, potentially saving billions of dollars in lost, stolen or wasted products. For example, a smart-shelf could tell when a carton of milk or a box of medicine has expired, alerting a store to restock in real time. This type of system could prevent out-of-stock merchandise and reduce obsolete or out-of-date products. The success of RFID in the mass market ultimately depends upon tying the technology to an open standard network like the Internet, according to researchers. "The Internet is absolutely crucial for all this," Ashton said. "(The Internet) enables us to put all the data on the network, not the tag, and that makes tags cheaper, better, faster. By the end of this decade, a majority of the data moving across the Internet could well be EPC related." "We can make the tags cheap by transmitting most of the information on the Internet," agreed Auto-ID Center research director Sanjay Sarma. According to an Auto-ID Center survey, approximately half of the center's sponsors said they can imagine these tags making a significant impact on their business in the next 2 to 3 years, and many anticipate needing billions of EPC tags by the end of the decade. Researchers believe that eventually the technology could be used to improve health care, public safety and recycling. "This isn't just a technology that can help save money," Ashton said. "Used properly, it can help save lives, it can help save the environment." Despite the promise of this technology, cost and lack of standards have been a major barrier for widespread adoption. Today, tags cost upwards of 50 cents each. Until the cost of RFID tags drops to less than a nickel, it's unlikely that this technology will see mass-consumer use, experts say. Researchers believe that the goal of the five cents tag (PDF) is attainable. "I have little doubt that a five-cent tag is achievable in the next few years, if a market of the right size emerges," Ashton said. "We're probably looking at five cents (tags) in 2005." Some privacy advocates are concerned that organizations like insurance companies will want to use collected information to track individual consumers. "Privacy is our biggest single research area," Ashton said. "We need to make sure the technology is not a threat to anyone's privacy and we need to make sure everyone is comfortable with that -- we can't just expect the world to take our word for it." The Auto-ID center has designed privacy protection measures into the ePC system. The chips contain no useful data -- just a unique code number that refers to information held remotely on the Internet. Access to this information is restricted and controlled. The tags cannot be read through walls or from more than about five feet away. The Uniform Code Council, creator of the bar code, has endorsed the Auto-ID Center's efforts. Once costs come down, RFID could become as pervasive as bar codes are today. "It will probably become more ubiquitous than bar codes, in decades to come -- simply because it is the difference between being blind and being able to see," Ashton said. Insiders predict that it will take at least three years for smart tags to become pervasive in businesses, and even longer for consumers to adopt the technology at home. "I wouldn't be at all surprised if there were still bar codes on things 30 years from now," Ashton said. "I also wouldn't be at all surprised if there were ePCs on everything 30 years from now." |
