RFID Prevention of Wrong-Site Surgery Gains Momentum

RFID's adoption by the healthcare industry made progress this week with the announcement by AMTSystems of new pilot programs for its SurgiChip product. The SurgiChip, which was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in November, uses an RFID-based verification system to "prevent wrong-site, wrong-procedure and wrong-patient surgery." Industry analysts estimate that between five and eight surgeries per month are performed in which an incorrect part of the body is mistakenly operated upon. While only a very small percentage of the total number of monthly surgeries, those few mistakes can cause dreadful and traumatic outcomes.

The Palm Beach Orthopedic Institution of Palm Beach, Florida, is one site where the SurgiChip is being used successfully to prevent such mistakes. The hospital has performed about 300 surgeries since implementation of the system a year ago. The cost of SurgiChip falls between $6 and $9 per surgery for the first year, then decreases to $3 the second year. AMTSystems provides the software and integration, while the RFID printers, labels, and associated hardware are products of Illinois-based Zebra Technologies.

Healthcare is an area of increasing focus and innovation among RFID technology providers. In niches like the SurgiChip's, RFID offers extremely high-value opportunities to protect against human error. In other cases, RFID is a way to provide asset tracking for the expensive equipment and instrumentation found throughout hospitals. Patient-tracking is another area of interest, in which an RFID tag is worn that not only signals the patient's whereabouts but also includes encoded medical history information that can be scanned with an RFID reader-equipped PDA. A doctor can then immediately and accurately access the patient's medical history. A related concept is that of the controversial VeriChip, the human-implantable RFID tag that includes an ID number by which an unconscious or otherwise unidentifiable patient can be looked up in a master medical history database.

The field is early yet, and the solutions rather immature. Hospitals are notoriously conservative spenders, so selling them on new-fangled technology is only possible through the demonstration of very compelling benefits. Regardless, there is reason to be optimistic: a report came out just last week predicting that "RFID and its related technologies in the hospital marketplace will skyrocket to $8.8 billion by 2010."

Read the SurgiChip release from AMTSystems

Source : RFID Update

Out on a Limb

Students at the University of Washington in Seattle are using RFID tags to identify trees that have been genetically modified to grow quickly.

Graduate students at the University of Washington in Seattle have gone out on a limb with a project that involves embedding RFID transponders in trees. The idea might not be as wild as it sounds.

The university’s Precision Forestry Cooperative was set up with funding from the state legislature to use advanced technology to improve conservation techniques in the forestry Industry. In 2002, after two years of preparation, students embedded the tags in two-year-old saplings to see if RFID could be used to identify trees that have been genetically modified to grow more rapidly. The trees are planted and monitored. Eventually their seeds are harvested to create a new generation of faster-growing trees. Big money was invested in the genetic modification, so the seeds of the original saplings are very valuable.

“We have used plastic ribbons to mark trees, but the trees are often vandalized by hunters and others,” says Gerard Schreuder, acting director of the cooperative. “Embedded RFID tags are not visible, and they remain in the tree throughout its life.”

Students embedded a 134.2 kHz glass-encapsulated transponder from Texas Instruments in each sapling. Each tag has 80 bits of read-write memory, which can be used to store a serial number and other data about the sapling. A scientist with a handheld computer equipped with a reader can go to an area of the forest where genetically modified saplings have been planted, scan the tag and gather data on the tree in the field.

Trees grow from the top, so the transponders stay at the same height. New growth forms around the transponder, so it becomes completely embedded in the middle of the tree trunk. Because of the moisture in the tree, the only way to get a reading is with a low-frequency tag. That limits the read range to about 2 feet.

The limited read range is a shortcoming, but Washington’s forestry service is still interested in the system. The service is required by law to protect the trees in watersheds and along rivers and streams. Based on the university’s pilot, the service believes that RFID could help it more quickly identify trees in a particular area. An RFID system could also potentially reduce the amount of time, paperwork and money needed to gather data on millions of trees across the state.

Schreuder says the cooperative hasn’t taken the RFID research beyond the pilot stage, but he hopes to soon hire a new director who can pick up where the students left off. In the meantime, the project has piqued the interest of several forestry companies. In addition to employing RFID to monitor genetically modified trees, some are considering branching into new areas, such as using the tags to certify the quality of wood. Which suggests that RFID could, indeed, take root as a means of tracking trees.

Source : RFID Journal

Microchips tag stray Delhi cows

The authorities in the Indian capital Delhi have turned to microchips to tackle the growing problem of stray cows roaming the streets.

Delhi has about 40,000 cows roaming the streets

A court had earlier ordered authorities in south Delhi to offer a reward of $45 to anyone delivering a stray cow.

The authorities then sell the cow to a new owner but they are concerned people might take advantage by bringing back the same cow for the reward.

A $11 microchip in the cow's gut will now show a cow already brought in.

Protected

Commissioner of the local municipal corporation, Rakesh Mehta, said the chips would allow resident welfare associations to determine whether the cow brought to the local authorities was a stray one or not.

"Otherwise, people can sell their own cows for quick money," he said.

Following the earlier Delhi High Court order, a number of cows and buffaloes have been brought to the authorities by people eager to receive rewards.

Cows are revered as sacred among Hindus and are protected by law.

There are nearly 40,000 thought to be roaming the streets of the Indian capital.

Officials say unauthorised dairy farms are one of the main causes.

They say stray cows pose a serious traffic hazard.

This week a woman broke her arm after a cow being chased by residents slammed into her.

Source : BBC News, New delhi
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4141296.stm

RFID in the Air Industry and Land Transport

With IATA's decision to settle on one standard for RFID tags in airline baggage that sector of the market is due to rise from $20 million in 2006 to $100 million in 2016. RFID will also be used by airlines to tag crucial aeroplane parts and by airports to improve security...says Dr.Peter Harrop of IDTechEX

As the RFID business grows strongly from $2.8 billion in 2006 to $26 billion in 2016, transport will be taking its fair share. A seminal decision was the unanimous vote of IATA, in October 2005, to settle on only one specification for the world's baggage tags, this being based on the UHF frequency band. This was courageous, because UHF works well with dry, non-metallic environments such as retail apparel in the UK and books in shops in the Netherlands, where there are few readers to interfere with each other but air baggage is none of these things. The technologists are wrestling with that one but in Europe and East Asia it is largely a waiting game as they hope for easing of UHF radio regulations to something nearer to the power levels, signalling protocols and bandwidth enjoyed in the US. However, few countries are willing to match the US regulations. Work rounds are on the way and the seven million or so airline bags that are lost yearly in the world, at a retrieval cost of about $100 a time, must surely reduce some time soon.

The split of value sales of RFID systems including tags in the air industry is shown below.

Figure 1 Percentage spend on RFID systems including tags exclusively for the civil air industry by application in 2006

+ includes trailers, Ground Support Equipment GSE, buses, cars, trucks, taxis etc.

*baggage trolleys, food trolleys, Unit Load Devices ULDs, pallets, baggage conveyor containers etc

Source: IDTechEx

Figure 2 Percentage spend on RFID systems including tags exclusively for the civil air industry by application in 2016

Source: IDTechEx

Boeing and Airbus are energetically introducing RFID on parts and equipment to reduce counterfeiting, automate status checks and make the supply chain more efficient. Virgin Atlantic, FedEx and others are deeply involved. UHF is preferred but there is interest in HF where appropriate.

In transport in general, there is a boom in RFID tickets and cards to improve security and speed of transaction and some are increasingly usable for general purchases. Twenty million of the new e-passports are being issued this year, with their RFID labels for security and automated recording of movements. That figure will soon reach 40 million yearly as over 50 countries adopt them. Over eight million ExxonMobil Speedpass key fobs are in use for purchases at gasoline stations. The 4.5 billion credit, debit and account cards from Visa, MasterCard, American Express, JCB and others are gradually being issued in RFID form so they transact faster and are more reliable and longer lived. The first 20 million were issued last year. Well proven HF is used for RFID for ticketing, bank cards and passports.

However, nothing stands still for long in the RFID business and there is now great interest in locating people and things with RFID. For example, one major airport is trying to figure out how to make all people in the airport carry something that lets them be located at all times, the better to eliminate queues and improve evacuations and security. Tracking freight and baggage with the off electronic reader here and there and making heroic assumptions about what happens in between is all well and good but we need Real Time Locating Systems RTLS. These usually consist of RFID at 2.45 GHz because, at this license free frequency, you can locate things using time of arrival from interrogatory beams or be parasitic off pre-existing WiFi networks or use peer to peer ZigBee RFID. However, this is a very busy frequency like UHF and there are a lot of interference issues. The good news is that the cost of RTLS systems and tags is tumbling down. The tag no longer drains its battery in a short time, it is smaller and other impediments are largely overcome. RTLS on vehicles, assets, freight and even people - when they volunteer for queue elimination and other delights - is on its way.

For more read "RFID in Airports and Airlines 2006-2016"

Hot Countries for RFID

It is well-known that the adoption of RFID is happening around the globe. But where are the success stories and in which market sectors? The below excerpt is an Independent research and analysis on RFID by IDTechEx. This highlights the leading adopter nations, the big spenders and surprise niches for RFID implementation.

IDTechEx keeps a close eye on which countries are eagerly adopting RFID and which are not. Our sources include intensive travelling, conferences, literature searches and our IDTechEx RFID Knowledgebase of over 2300 case studies covering over 2500 organisations and 85 countries. The results are rather surprising.

Firstly, the US is the greatest adopter, with by far the largest number of cases of RFID in action and orders that are often the world's largest by value. It has even pulled ahead in the last year, with over 840 recorded projects. More surprising is the UK holding second place by number of cases, though not the money spent, where China has more claim to fame and Korea and Japan are strong rivals.

The top ten countries by number of case studies are shown below but it did not look like this only one year ago. China and Korea have jumped up a notch and, remarkably, Australia has jumped from number ten to number seven. When we saw the unusual activity in Australia we focussed research onto the region for a new report RFID in Australasia 2007-2017 www.idtechex.com and we reveal some of the results here. New Zealand is a follower, with the exception of the work of Fonterra, the world's largest milk cooperative.

What is going on in Australia? The rapid advance of Australia in RFID is on a broad front, from books in libraries to tagging of humans in hospitals, but one could say that about many countries. What sets Australia apart from most of its peers are aspects such as the legal requirement to tag cattle and racehorses, and the trials and rollouts of tagging fish, tomatoes and other foods by its vibrant food industry. Australia will not stop there. It is likely to introduce legislation to tag all four legged livestock ahead of most other countries. With the major trading blocs finding reasons to protect their food industries, external suppliers such as Australia, with the world's largest population of sheep, must be beyond suspicion. RFID is a part of that.

In the Books, Libraries and Archiving sector, Australia is doing more than its size would indicate. The same is true of the Financial, Security, Safety sector which exhibits considerable innovation. For example, we have RFID being used to track police vehicles, criminals in correctional facilities, paedophiles and even forensic samples. That breadth of approach is not seen elsewhere. RFID is used in passports and payment cards and many mass transport card schemes in Australia. One interesting result is that, although Australia mimics the world as a whole in having HF read-write passive RFID dominate its markets, low frequency use comes next not, as so often elsewhere, UHF. LF tags are used on marathon runners' shoes and bicycles etc in other races, on a wide variety of animals and on conveyances in Australia.

Number of case studies in the IDTechEx RFID Knowledgebase for the top ten of 85 countries.



Source: IDTechEx

Applications of RFID in Australia



Source: IDTechEx

A contrast to Australia is given by another country of similar population and economic size - the Netherlands, which is also unusually active in applying RFID. Primarily, this is based on use of RFID cards and other RFID in the leisure sector, such as in football matches. The Financial, Security, Safety and the Logistics and Postal sectors are also big users of RFID in the Netherlands, with item level tagging by RFID labels an important way of applying RFID there. One thing is common to Australia and the Netherlands: both use High Frequency (HF) far more than any other frequency for their RFID. That is also true of the world as a whole.

Applications of RFID in the Netherlands



Source IDTechEx

'F' in RFID

Before mass-market retailers like Wal-Mart or government agencies issued mandates that companies use RFID products that met specific criteria (such as that set forth by EPCGlobal’s Gen 2 specification), RFID was more a curiosity in the supply chain. When the technology was used, it tended to be in closed-loop applications where a single party controlled all aspects of the deployment (in contrast to Gen 2, a global interoperable standard with wide adoption by hundreds of companies).

With standardization and proliferation, the need to understand the different ‘flavors’ of RF tags and readers was underscored. Here’s how they’re different:

Ultra High Frequency: The Gen2 preference for long range, rapid reads

Ultra High Frequency (UHF), the most commonly utilized frequency for Gen 2 supply chain operations, runs in the 902-928 MHz band in North America, and somewhere between 860-960 MHz internationally. UHF is known for its longer read range (typically cited up to 30 feet rather than the three feet maximum typically defined for HF). Generally, the wider the allowable bandwidth, the more information you can transmit in a shorter period of time.

“Most Gen 2 is UHF because its longer read range and higher data rates make it ideal for retail applications,” says Mr. Melling. “If I have to reach 100 palates as they come through the door, I need to have both the range required to read the tags and the throughput to process that data quickly.”

But there are a few disadvantages to UHF. First, the tagging of objects that contain liquid or metal – two elements that can disrupt radio signals. “Metal reflects it and water absorbs it,” notes Sara Shah, ABI Research. Under normal circumstances, the metal in the object being tagged and the tag’s antenna form what’s called a parasitic capacitor the unintentional presence of which can diminish the tag’s ability to receive power from the reader.

The end result: “it looks dead – it won’t respond to a reader,” notes Clarke McAllister, CEO of ADASA. But companies are coming up with clever ways to combat that problem, Mr. McAllister notes. The manufacturer of a portable tag encoder (i.e. a mobile tag issuing device) recently unveiled its FAT tag (Foam Attached Tag)” for businesses interested in attaching Gen2 RFID tags to metal parts and liquid containers in their supply chains. FAT tags are thicker than standard tags (about an 1/8 of an inch thick), so they can reduce the problems that kill signals in these environments.

Adds Ms. Shah: “Some vendors offer solutions that use Ultra High Frequency bands around metal and water environments but they use various techniques to mitigate these issues, like encase the tag in plastic.”

Some concerns have been raised that the spectrum set aside for UHF RFID differs slightly across the globe – 902-928 MHz in North America and 865-868 MHz in Europe, for example. As Symbol’s Melling points out however, this is not a concern if tags are built correctly. Readers may be slightly different, but it is relatively easy to build one tag that works well globally. Even if your product travels through China or Japan, into Europe, and then back to the states, the same tag responds to all the frequency bands. “You’re not moving readers from country to country, you’re moving tags,” Mr. Melling says.

High frequency: Short range, secure, and resistant to metals and liquids

High-frequency (HF) RFID resides within the 13.56 MHz band in North America, and around the globe. As a frequency, it’s older and more established than UHF, but has a shorter wavelength, which means it can generally only be read within a couple of feet (or as little as 10 cm according to key international standards). Because of this, it’s the frequency most associated with today’s RFID-based payment and access control applications like contactless smart cards or event tickets. HF’s most notable advantages are that it works better around metals and liquids than UHF, and that it is well-established internationally.

“The real strength is there’s been a global standard for high frequency tags for a long time, you can pretty much use high frequency bands anywhere in the world no problem,” Mr. Melling says. “But the read range is a limited.” In addition to read range, another limitation is its speed: HF operates much slower than UHF, which is why most mass-market retailers and suppliers use UHF tags and accompanying products. But just as with UHF, there are ways to circumvent the ‘read range’ issue, says Mr. McAllister. “Companies like Impinj have demonstrated that UHF antenna structures can be made to fit onto small bottle caps and such. “There are many examples of how both HF and UHF are breaking barriers in size and speed.”

While HF might not be suitable for moving large containers across a supply chain, it is the frequency of choice for one of the biggest, burgeoning RFID small-scale supply chain operations: pharmaceutical tracking and tracing.

“If you take a look at the use of RFID in pharmaceutical applications, you’re talking about putting very small tags on very small items – the primary focus being track and trace that will enable an electronic pedigree,” says Matt Ream, senior manager of RFID Systems at Zebra Technologies, a printing solutions provider that manufactures HF and UHF RFID labels, among other things. “One of the biggest concerns about UHF technology is that UHF technology has not been approved for use on biological agents.”

In other words, UHF technology could potentially raise the temperature of live biological drugs such as vaccines, and render them ineffective.

Right now Zebra and partner Magellan Technology, developer, manufacturer and licensor of advanced read and write 13.56 MHz RFID systems, are working on a product that makes automated pharmaceutical processes faster and more secure – debunking two myths about slow speeds associated with HF, says Mr. Ream.

As RFID begins to be incorporated into pharmaceutical supply chain operations, a major concern of pharmaceutical manufacturers is slowing down line speeds.

The HF technology Zebra is working on with Magellan can program and verify 45 tags per second, more than six times faster than existing HF and UHF products, Mr. Ream says. The technology runs on ISO 18000-3 Mode 2 technology, yields high read rates, and uses a different modulation technique from other HF technology (called Phase Jitter Modulation or PJM).

“It really communicates differently from frequency modulation and amplitude modulation,” says Mr. Ream. “PJM communicates data by shifting the signal’s phase versus the frequency or the amplitude found in most other RFID systems, allowing you to speed up your primary communication speed.” Additionally, the tag has the ability to return the signal on any one of eight return channels: One output channel from the reader and eight simultaneous return channels, increasing the number of tags you can read by a factor of eight.

Low Frequency: 'making hay' with animals and closed loop applications

Low Frequency (LF), the third most commonly used RFID frequency in North America, isn’t a direct competitor in the arena of applications that require any sort of range, but is highly useful for closed-loop applications. Running at frequencies in the bands from 125 kHz to 134.2 kHz, some of the most common LF RFID applications are livestock tagging, Exxon Mobile’s Speedpass, and certain access control applications. Because of its shorter wavelengths, it is better able penetrate objects like glass windows. “(A major application) is the use of Low Frequency tag in automobile ignition systems,” notes Mr. McAllister. In most modern cars, a tiny LF tag is built into the ignition key – a reader in the steering column authenticates the key and allows the car to start

Looking to the future …

So, will UHF become the dominant standard for all supply chain applications? Will more sophisticated additions continue to help solve the metal-water challenges presented by UHF? What applications will we see more of in the future?

“That’s a huge question,” says Mr. McAllister. “Everyone’s watching with interest what the market’s gonna do – because there’s a number of innovations going on. I perceive a big huge play for either HF or UHF is in item level tagging. The question remains, which one will the market choose to adopt for large scale item-level tagging for pharmaceuticals and retail?”

Source: RFID News

Gaming Gets Physical with RFID

New generation of games use ID technologies to bridge gap to virtual environments

The days of gaming were once spent with crowded rooms of onlookers peering into a fluorescent screen being brought to life by millions of electrons firing down a tube. Over recent years the technology behind the playing field of video games has changed as smaller, thinner, and more visually defined displays emerged. But just as high-definition television sets have now started to work their way into the mainstream, a new way to experience video games has started, ever so slightly, to fall into the gaze of the tech savvy public. It’s a way to play games that takes human interaction beyond pressing buttons or waving controllers at a screen, instead relying on direct human movements and locations to act as inputs. And identification technologies – barcodes, RFID, and smart cards -- are making it possible.

Live action gaming for the physical world: Pac-Man and La Fuga go RFID

Pac-Man – a classic franchise that has been around nearly as long as video games themselves – recently made the transition to a new medium. A group called Mobile Radicals created a mixed reality game that uses mobile phones and RFID technology coupled with human bodies running around a playing field. The game is played almost identically to the classic formula with teams divided up into ‘ghosts’ and ‘Pac-Men’ (only in this game they’re known as Pac-Lan, just to avoid any copyright issues). Situated on the field is a series of color-coded discs, each with its own unique RFID tag. Each Ghost and Pac-Man is uniquely identified by an RFID tag worn in the costume. Pac-Lan can also read the location of the ghosts in relation to the last pill that he collected, and just like the classic arcade game, the hero can collect power pills so he can hunt down and kill the ethereal stalkers who then have to restart at the center of the map.

A similar game has popped up across the pond, in Madrid, Spain. A company called Négone opened an interactive game called La Fuga (The Breakout) in which up to 300 participants dawn passive RFID tags (meaning that they don’t require a power supply) and a PDA attached to a wrist strap. The objective of the game is to escape from a futuristic prison environment that contorts itself depending on player performance. As contestants move into different sections of the playing field their location is picked up by several RFID readers that tell the game system to spit out questions to the PDA on the player’s wrist. Answer the questions correctly and the pathway continues to open up, doors popping open like something out of a new-age horror movie. Get out of the prison before time runs out and victory is yours.

Similar technologies are in fact nothing new to the realm of live action games. Laser tag games at local amusement parks have been using identification technologies for reload stations for some time. Players who run out of “bullets” have to run within the range of a reload station, and then press a button to recharge the ammunition. Each team has a separate reload station, and each gun has its own unique ID signature, making it possible for the station to differentiate between a friendly gun, and the gun of an enemy. But the level to which these new games rely on the ID technology is revolutionary.

Video games systems test RFID for player ID and character interaction

In recent months, ID technology has increased its reach into the video game industry itself. During the spring Electronic Entertainment Expo, Sony Executive Phil Harrison showed the world a game called The Eye of Judgment that makes use of ‘ID signatures’ on the back of playing cards. Ken Watanabe, the mastermind behind nearly everything to do with Sony’s Playstation, dubbed the signatures “Cyber Codes.” They are actually 2D barcodes that interact with a standardized 3 x 3 playing surface and Sony’s EyeToy (essentially a digital video camera) that reads the barcodes. As the cards move along the playing surface, the character that each represents mirrors those movements on the display screen.

In Japan, a number of arcade games have been using trading cards to dictate character movements and even to store a player’s information so they can come back to the arcade and pick up where they left off.

But, arguably the largest step forward for RFID-based gaming is Mattel’s announcement of their HyperScan console, a system that is totally based around radio frequency identification and the possibilities it affords users. The system is scheduled to ship for the 2006 holiday season, and should retail for around seventy dollars. Games will cost about ten dollars, and will come complete with six, RFID equipped, trading cards. Apparently each trading card is an active RFID tag, meaning that they have a standalone power source. Sadly that also means that each card has a limited number of hours of play. Mattel has been quoted as saying that the amount could range from 20 to 40 hours, depending on the specific use of the card.

Will RFID bring new appeal or simply hinder the gaming experience?

How will the games play, and how will they benefit from RFID technology? The HyperScan website indicates that the system will come with a fairly standard looking video game controller, while the RFID integration will come in the form of character cards. The website calls it “scanning in” whereby players will scan a character into the game and then be able to play as that character. The demo shown is an X-Men fighting game, where characters from the Marvel Comics universe are scanned into the system to do battle with one another. Chances are Mattel will have to come up with more inventive uses for the RFID aspect of the console, beyond what will likely seem little more than scanning a barcode. To truly make a noise in the already crowded gaming industry, the company that has traditionally been responsible for dozens of children’s games will have to find a more innovative way to bring RFID to the masses.

There’s no question that radio frequency identification has begun to work its way into the minds of game developers, but to truly become a viable additive to the games industry they’ll have to think up truly creative uses for the technology beyond just storing information. It seems as though the arcade trading card games are the next logical step, with different movements and positions dictating the movement and position of characters on the screen. But will this be enough to make ID technology an integral part of gaming’s future? Like so many things, only time will tell.

---

Source: RFID News
Article by: Nate Ahearn, Contributing Editor

Operators want RFID in phones

David Meyer ZDNet UK

Published: 20 Nov 2006 16:57 GMT

Mobile phones could have moved a step closer to being used as credit cards, car keys and concert tickets, after operators around the world said they would work together on the technology.

The GSM Association (GSMA), which represents operators serving more than 40 percent of the world's phone users, said on Monday that it was pushing for a global standard on near field communications (NFC).

The short-range wireless technology would be based on having a radio frequency identification (RFID) chip embedded in the handset, along with some sort of NFC software. As for cost, a GSMA spokesperson told ZDNet UK on Monday that "we don't have a figure for it but we reckon it's a relatively modest cost to add it to the handset".

There could be wide-ranging applications for such technology. "You could have it as a key for your car — it would recognise who you are, open the car door, put the right music on the stereo, that kind of stuff," the spokesperson said. Such a phone could also act in a similar way to Transport for London's Oyster card, itself an NFC device, or as a payment device in shops

A user could also use the phone to download a concert ticket which would then be recognised by an RFID reader at the venue, suggested the spokesperson, who added that NFC would, in effect, let you "integrate both your wallet and your keys into your mobile phone".

However, the timeframe for phones with integrated NFC remains unclear. The GSMA's spokesperson said the organisation was hoping to submit a white paper on the subject to the NFC Forum and the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) by the end of this year. Beyond that, said the spokesperson, "it depends on how fast those particular bodies move".

The GSMA represents operators around the world. The 14 operators working together to develop business cases and user requirements for NFC include Orange, Vodafone and 3.

Nokia brings RFID to mobile phones

This article is an addendum to my last article on Nokia's plan on fusioning mobile phones and RF Identification. Nice read on.

Nokia brings RFID to mobile phones

Nokia is attempting to push radio frequency identification (RFID) into the mainstream with its launch of a kit that adds the technology to its mobile phones.

The company said that by combining its Nokia Mobile RFID Kit with a standard handset it has created the first GSM phone product with RFID reading capabilities.

The kit, which was unveiled on the opening day of the CeBIT IT trade show, can extend the mobility of field force personnel by integrating RFID reader technology into "familiar" mobile phone-based devices, according to the mobile phone giant.

The product can improve task and workflow management, providing businesses with a new way to collect data such as meter readings and time and attendance information, said Nokia.

Part of the company's field force product range, the kit uses the 13.56MHz radio frequency range at the very short range of typically 2-3cm using the ISO-14443A standard.

By touching RFID tagged objects, users will be able to initiate tasks in their Nokia phones, call and send text messages, access databases and record new data entries.

"The phone reader will read the content of the smart object and translate it to an action," said Gerhard Romen, head of market development at the Nokia Ventures Organisation, in a statement.

"For example, a field service engineer can intuitively start browsing the latest service instructions to repair a machine on site."

The Nokia Mobile RFID Kit, which will be available from this summer, contains two Xpress-on RFID reader shells compatible with the Nokia 5140 mobile phone, application software for the phone and 20 RFID tags.

Nokia Unveils RFID Phone Reader

The world's largest provider of cell phones is offering a kit that will enable workers to scan tags remotely and transmit data via their cell phones

March 17, 2004—Nokia, the Finnish cell phone maker, today unveiled the world's first RFID-enabled GSM cell phone at the CeBIT2004 trade show in Germany. The Nokia Mobile RFID Kit features two RFID reader shells—plastic housings that fit over a cell phone—20 13.56 MHz tags and software to enable mobile workers to scan tags and access information remotely.

Nokia expects the kit to appeal to companies such as Halliburton and Schlumberger, which provide field services for the oil and gas industry, as well to utilities and companies providing security for buildings.

"About two and a half years ago, we started looking at RFID as a way of empowering people to do things," says Gerhard Romen, head of global market development at Nokia New Growth Business, the product development unit that created the RFID kit. "Today, RFID tags tend to be mobile and readers are stationary, but things get really interesting when you turn that around and make the tags stationary and the readers mobile."

The RFID phone might be used by a engineer in the field checking a meter on a gas pipeline or other industrial equipment. The engineer would scan the tag attached to a meter to identify which meter was being read. The phone-reader would record the time of the read, and then the engineer could key in the meter reading into the phone using the buttons on the phone. The data could be stored in the phone and downloaded to a PC via an infrared connection.

Data can also be transferred via the GSM system. For example, a security guard walking a building could read a tag at each door whenever the guard checks the door to confirm it is locked. That information could be sent to a control center via the cell phone, and someone in the control center could monitor the guard's progress in real time.

In another application, a telecommunications repair technician could read a tag on a malfunctioning switching station or other remote asset. The phone would be programmed to go to a specific Web site to download a service history and a schematic diagram of that switching station to the cell phone. The engineer could then learn what previous problems that site had and which cables are carrying electric current.

Another feature triggers the phone to call a predefined number when a particular tag is read. So for instance, a security guard might scan a tag on his belt when in trouble and the cell phone would automatically call for help.

The software for the reader is written in the Java programming language. Nokia has a community of developers who create software for the phones, and Romen says he expects these developers to create new applications for customers.

The new RFID reader works with the Nokia 5140, a GSM phone that is water resistant and more rugged than a typical cell phone. Users simply slide off their existing Xpress-on cover and slide on the RFID reader. The software needed to run the reader is automatically loaded into the phone and the reader becomes operational.

The readers, which are made by third-party manufacturers that Nokia is not identifying, use the ISO 14443A communication protocol, so companies that purchase the kit can buy additional tags from Philips Semiconductor and other vendors. The read range is typically 2 to 3 centimeters (0.8 to 1.2 inches).

Nokia has been working with several companies over the past year to test how convenient and easy to use the device is. This is an important issue, according to Romen. "We've been testing it in the energy, gas supply and security industries," he says. "One of the key things with a new technology is understanding the requirements of end users who are not IT experts. Can they read the screen without glasses? What happens if I drop it? How long does the battery last?"

Romen says that the battery in the cell phone will last several days when reading 50 to 80 tags per day. The company believes there is a significant business market for the device, but also expects consumers will eventually discover the benefits of using their cell phone to control RFID applications. While it will be several years before consumer applications are common, he envisions consumers one day scanning items in stores and automatically downloading information on the product from the Web, or scanning the tag on a product to register it with the manufacturer.

Pricing for the RFID kit, which will be available at midyear, will be set by Nokia resellers. Several companies, including Minec and Magnatec Technologie, sell a handheld, GSM-enabled computer that can be equipped with an RFID reader. These sell typically sell for $1,200 to $1,500. The Nokia kit should be significantly less than that, since the GSM-enabled phone is sold separately and it doesn't have all the capabilities of a handheld computer.

Source : RFID Journal