1 00:00:00,003 --> 00:00:05,172 [MUSIC]. 2 00:00:05,172 --> 00:00:09,427 Today we have with us John Volakis. Today, he's going to be sharing with us 3 00:00:09,427 --> 00:00:13,490 the basics of how radio frequency identification works. 4 00:00:13,490 --> 00:00:16,415 All of you have probably seen bar codes on the back of packages that you may have 5 00:00:16,415 --> 00:00:20,292 purchased. RFIDs, the acronym for Radio Frequency 6 00:00:20,292 --> 00:00:24,700 Identification is the latest thing that has come. 7 00:00:24,700 --> 00:00:28,669 And John is going to be sharing with us great ideas about how this can be applied 8 00:00:28,669 --> 00:00:32,552 across consumer products, and in our cities. 9 00:00:32,552 --> 00:00:40,449 >> RFID is a, an abbreviation. And means Radio Frequency Identification. 10 00:00:41,520 --> 00:00:46,823 This presentation will provide you with an introduction as to what RFIDs are. 11 00:00:46,823 --> 00:00:50,422 Why are they going to become so important to our lives? 12 00:00:50,422 --> 00:00:54,643 And a little bit on how they work, and with that background, we will be able to 13 00:00:54,643 --> 00:01:00,736 understand why they're so po, they will become so popular in the future. 14 00:01:00,736 --> 00:01:06,901 What these RFIDs are? Well, they will be replacing the Barcodes 15 00:01:06,901 --> 00:01:11,460 on our products. That is, today we go and we buy a shoe, 16 00:01:11,460 --> 00:01:15,778 as indicated on the left-hand side here, of the slide. 17 00:01:15,778 --> 00:01:20,170 But, in the, and it will have a Barcode. Or we buy a piece of gum and it will have 18 00:01:20,170 --> 00:01:23,681 a Barcode. We buy a piece, a can, and it will have a 19 00:01:23,681 --> 00:01:26,650 Barcode. In the future. 20 00:01:26,650 --> 00:01:30,997 Instead of a bar code, we will replace it with an RFID tag which is shown to the 21 00:01:30,997 --> 00:01:34,859 bottom left. This particular you know, tag will have 22 00:01:34,859 --> 00:01:38,930 the product number. It will have the manufacturing date. 23 00:01:38,930 --> 00:01:46,460 It will also say where was produced, what ports it was being enter the country. 24 00:01:46,460 --> 00:01:48,360 What temperatures, perhaps, you went through. 25 00:01:48,360 --> 00:01:52,648 But most importantly, it will also allow us to read this information without 26 00:01:52,648 --> 00:01:58,430 looking at the product. And that's the big advantage of RFIDs. 27 00:01:58,430 --> 00:02:02,574 That is, the information will be transmitted to a central location 28 00:02:02,574 --> 00:02:08,844 wirelessly and we will be able to do inventory all the time, at any time. 29 00:02:08,844 --> 00:02:13,432 And in the future you will be able to pack up your groceries or any items that 30 00:02:13,432 --> 00:02:17,875 you will by from the store, or superstore. 31 00:02:17,875 --> 00:02:22,981 You will go through a door that will have RFID, the readers, and your bill will be 32 00:02:22,981 --> 00:02:28,081 sent to your house. And you would not even have to take out 33 00:02:28,081 --> 00:02:32,580 your products at all. It would allow you to have information 34 00:02:32,580 --> 00:02:36,500 about the product that you do not have right now. 35 00:02:36,500 --> 00:02:40,038 Who made it, when it was made, any information about the history of the 36 00:02:40,038 --> 00:02:42,826 product. How it was transported? 37 00:02:42,826 --> 00:02:46,846 What temperatures it went through, if it was defrozen at any moment, and so on and 38 00:02:46,846 --> 00:02:50,580 so forth. So that's for safety at the same time. 39 00:02:51,670 --> 00:02:56,150 A key aspect of the RFID is a little chip which is on the right-hand side here in 40 00:02:56,150 --> 00:03:02,938 red and an antenna that goes with it. The antenna is the largest piece of this 41 00:03:02,938 --> 00:03:09,950 component that we call RFID. Let's proceed to talk about how it works. 42 00:03:11,570 --> 00:03:15,440 There are a number of components that make the system work. 43 00:03:15,440 --> 00:03:20,258 The two major components is the reader, which is a big structure shown to the, to 44 00:03:20,258 --> 00:03:24,698 the left over here. And the reader has a big antenna and it 45 00:03:24,698 --> 00:03:29,640 will be sitting somewhere. And the user will never know that it 46 00:03:29,640 --> 00:03:32,482 exists. But it's much like when you walk through 47 00:03:32,482 --> 00:03:36,136 the airports. You're being scanned, and this reader in 48 00:03:36,136 --> 00:03:40,734 essence will scan the products. But all thousands of those products will 49 00:03:40,734 --> 00:03:44,780 do it, and we'll see in a moment how this is being done. 50 00:03:44,780 --> 00:03:48,410 Of course, this reader will be connected either with a wire, or wirelessly, to a 51 00:03:48,410 --> 00:03:51,322 computer. The computer will contain all the 52 00:03:51,322 --> 00:03:55,633 information about the products that is going to be collected by the reader. 53 00:03:55,633 --> 00:03:58,873 And it will therefore be used for inventory purposes, or for collecting 54 00:03:58,873 --> 00:04:03,050 information as to who bought what, and when, and so on. 55 00:04:03,050 --> 00:04:07,910 We have the tag itself, this is the tag that will be on the product. 56 00:04:07,910 --> 00:04:11,816 And every product will be assigned a specific tag that will have a number of 57 00:04:11,816 --> 00:04:17,200 information which relates to the type of product you are able to buy. 58 00:04:17,200 --> 00:04:21,424 We have the RFID tag component that is on that particular tag that you see here in 59 00:04:21,424 --> 00:04:25,090 red. You have an antenna, as I mentioned, 60 00:04:25,090 --> 00:04:29,748 which is the largest piece. You also have a very important aspect 61 00:04:29,748 --> 00:04:33,919 which is the volitile, nonvolitile memory. 62 00:04:33,919 --> 00:04:39,310 Nonvolitile memory means a memeory that can, that cannot be erased by anybody. 63 00:04:39,310 --> 00:04:42,334 Because if you can erase the memory, then you can be able to change the type of 64 00:04:42,334 --> 00:04:45,096 product. So you will not be allowed to change the 65 00:04:45,096 --> 00:04:47,588 type of product. Unless you destroy the tag, of course, or 66 00:04:47,588 --> 00:04:50,420 if you remove it. So it will be permanent. 67 00:04:50,420 --> 00:04:53,110 There's also what's called an oscillator there, that you see. 68 00:04:53,110 --> 00:04:57,772 And the oscillator is responsible for generating the frequency with which 69 00:04:57,772 --> 00:05:03,190 you're going to speak, the reader is going to speak to the RFID. 70 00:05:03,190 --> 00:05:07,474 This oscillator is nothing else but simply tuning the tagged communicator 71 00:05:07,474 --> 00:05:11,310 certain frequency, just like your radios do. 72 00:05:11,310 --> 00:05:14,964 So, in this particular case, it's around 900 megahertz. 73 00:05:14,964 --> 00:05:19,620 And there will be a controller. a tag controller in a power management. 74 00:05:19,620 --> 00:05:23,148 The controller tells the tag when to talk, when not to talk, so it manag-, and 75 00:05:23,148 --> 00:05:26,490 the power management very, very important. 76 00:05:26,490 --> 00:05:30,774 The reader will transmit a certain signal that will charge a capacitor which is on 77 00:05:30,774 --> 00:05:36,475 the tag and then the tag will be able to use that energy to respond to it. 78 00:05:36,475 --> 00:05:42,860 Let's now see a little bit more in detail how this technology works. 79 00:05:42,860 --> 00:05:46,720 Where's the energies taken to communicate the reader and the tag? 80 00:05:46,720 --> 00:05:52,348 We have the power, P sup T, P superscript T, which is the transmitter power, which 81 00:05:52,348 --> 00:05:57,660 is sent by the reader. This is a signal, much like any antenna 82 00:05:57,660 --> 00:06:02,080 sends a signal, just like your cellphone sends a signal, in this particular case a 83 00:06:02,080 --> 00:06:09,054 900MHz signal will be sent to the tag. The signal will be coded, it will respond 84 00:06:09,054 --> 00:06:13,014 because it will recognize a code or a key rather which is specific to that 85 00:06:13,014 --> 00:06:18,261 particular tag or product. Then the Tag, if it does want to talk 86 00:06:18,261 --> 00:06:22,810 back then you will send another signal back to the reader. 87 00:06:22,810 --> 00:06:26,645 And the reader, that and that would generate a power and the reader will 88 00:06:26,645 --> 00:06:30,675 receive that power in a back in to it, and you will have a certain code or keys 89 00:06:30,675 --> 00:06:36,350 though. A major functionality of the tag, is 90 00:06:36,350 --> 00:06:41,180 shown right to the bottom, you know, right of, of the slide. 91 00:06:41,180 --> 00:06:45,892 While the signal is being transmitted back to the reader, there is a switch 92 00:06:45,892 --> 00:06:51,482 inside the chip, possibly. And the switch changes, left and right, 93 00:06:51,482 --> 00:06:56,144 and it changes the impedance, and as a result you will get sometimes a strong 94 00:06:56,144 --> 00:07:01,474 signal, sometimes no signal. So sometimes you get a pulse back, 95 00:07:01,474 --> 00:07:04,990 sometimes you get a weak pulse back. And that's the code. 96 00:07:04,990 --> 00:07:09,211 So how fast it actually turns on and off the switch, and, and how many times it 97 00:07:09,211 --> 00:07:13,506 does it, you will generate what we call a key. 98 00:07:13,506 --> 00:07:16,750 And that key is exactly the code of the product. 99 00:07:16,750 --> 00:07:20,341 So this is, all will be done through the code, and the code is generated by the 100 00:07:20,341 --> 00:07:24,046 switching of the chip, which is already pre-programmed and you cannot change 101 00:07:24,046 --> 00:07:28,454 that. That's why we call that as a non-volatile 102 00:07:28,454 --> 00:07:33,100 in a memory, the Radar Cross-Section, or RCS, of the tag. 103 00:07:33,100 --> 00:07:37,348 And that is what is being changed to a strong or weak pulse by using these 104 00:07:37,348 --> 00:07:42,324 switchers. In addition you see the R which is the 105 00:07:42,324 --> 00:07:48,900 distance between the reader and the tog. And if therefore you are very far away 106 00:07:48,900 --> 00:07:52,440 from the tag, you will not be able to read it even if you're not in a direct 107 00:07:52,440 --> 00:07:57,070 path. So you need to be close enough. 108 00:07:57,070 --> 00:08:00,000 And that will depend also on how good your antenna is. 109 00:08:00,000 --> 00:08:03,477 So there's a number of design characteristics that we must ensure in 110 00:08:03,477 --> 00:08:07,381 order to be able to read the product from let's say 50 feet away or 100 feet away 111 00:08:07,381 --> 00:08:13,028 or, you know perhaps even longer. What kind of deployment we're talking 112 00:08:13,028 --> 00:08:15,604 about here? We're talking about putting tags 113 00:08:15,604 --> 00:08:18,470 everywhere. Instead of a barcode, we will you know, 114 00:08:18,470 --> 00:08:22,480 put it to track the products that go into your automobile. 115 00:08:22,480 --> 00:08:27,260 The products that and the items that go into the assembly of your airplane. 116 00:08:27,260 --> 00:08:31,166 Already your car keys have an RFID tag, so that when you go very, very close to 117 00:08:31,166 --> 00:08:36,018 your car, the car will open. That's because it recognizes the fact 118 00:08:36,018 --> 00:08:41,322 that you have the right key through the RFID tag which is embedded in the key. 119 00:08:41,322 --> 00:08:46,180 In addition, you will have RFID tags on your IDs. 120 00:08:46,180 --> 00:08:50,086 And therefore, as you walk by, the door will open for you because you have an 121 00:08:50,086 --> 00:08:55,680 antenna and a chip on your ID that will identify who you are. 122 00:08:55,680 --> 00:08:59,462 Pharmaceutical products will have a specific tag on them, instead of a bar 123 00:08:59,462 --> 00:09:03,976 code telling when they were generated their history what they contain, and so 124 00:09:03,976 --> 00:09:10,402 on and so forth. In my last technical slide, I will show 125 00:09:10,402 --> 00:09:15,748 sort of a little miracle you may call it, of how the RFID tag and the reader 126 00:09:15,748 --> 00:09:23,550 transmit and connect the information. It's a very interesting technology 127 00:09:23,550 --> 00:09:28,735 because of the fact that it's very similar to people talking thousands of 128 00:09:28,735 --> 00:09:33,856 languages. And then a reader will send a signal and 129 00:09:33,856 --> 00:09:39,126 ask only one of the people or one of the products to speak their language and 130 00:09:39,126 --> 00:09:46,150 everybody else will cease to talk when that happens. 131 00:09:46,150 --> 00:09:51,930 First, on the top, in, or left here, the reader transmits a wake-up signal. 132 00:09:51,930 --> 00:09:56,466 That signal, is like a key, it has a specific pulsation that you see over here 133 00:09:56,466 --> 00:10:02,300 of zeroes and ones. And they come in a certain sequence. 134 00:10:02,300 --> 00:10:07,285 When the tag receives that sequence, it will immediately respond to it. 135 00:10:07,285 --> 00:10:11,750 Now, everybody will respond with their own language. 136 00:10:11,750 --> 00:10:15,884 That is everybody will send a code back. The tag has their own code, but only one 137 00:10:15,884 --> 00:10:21,220 of them will be selected at any one time to speak to the reader. 138 00:10:21,220 --> 00:10:25,567 Once that selection is done, which will be done by the reader, the rest of the 139 00:10:25,567 --> 00:10:30,089 tags will cease to talk. They will not be talking, so the product 140 00:10:30,089 --> 00:10:33,220 information will be received. And then there will be another one, and 141 00:10:33,220 --> 00:10:35,467 more than one. And all these things are happening of 142 00:10:35,467 --> 00:10:38,190 course, in microseconds much like your cell phone. 143 00:10:38,190 --> 00:10:41,910 When you push the button to talk somebody, one of the most complicated. 144 00:10:41,910 --> 00:10:45,030 Things in the world are happening technologically, which is how you get 145 00:10:45,030 --> 00:10:49,350 connected and how they find the other person on the side of the world. 146 00:10:49,350 --> 00:10:51,950 Pretty much the same thing is happening with the tags. 147 00:10:51,950 --> 00:10:58,910 Once the tag receives the wake-up call, it will generate a 0 random number. 148 00:10:58,910 --> 00:11:02,810 We will call that key number one, and the key number one will be sent to the 149 00:11:02,810 --> 00:11:07,052 reader. The reader will respond by transmitting 150 00:11:07,052 --> 00:11:12,278 back the same key number one, and that's sort of saying hey, I've got your key I 151 00:11:12,278 --> 00:11:18,392 begin, I'm understanding you. So this kind of, what we call that a 152 00:11:18,392 --> 00:11:21,430 handshake. The tag will receive the handshake, which 153 00:11:21,430 --> 00:11:25,441 is key number 1. And it receives its own key back from the 154 00:11:25,441 --> 00:11:29,260 reader, that means that it's been acknowledged, and only one will be 155 00:11:29,260 --> 00:11:34,727 acknowledged at any one time. Then the tag will send it's code, it's 156 00:11:34,727 --> 00:11:40,670 electronic product code, which is the bar code if you want to call it that way. 157 00:11:40,670 --> 00:11:45,025 It will send another digital signal back, much like the one that we show on the top 158 00:11:45,025 --> 00:11:49,274 here. And the electronic product code will be 159 00:11:49,274 --> 00:11:54,616 received by the reader. The reader, then, will send back a, the 160 00:11:54,616 --> 00:12:00,072 key number one, a valid key number 1, which generates another 16 bit random 161 00:12:00,072 --> 00:12:06,780 number called key two. And then the key 2 gets back to the 162 00:12:06,780 --> 00:12:11,400 reader again, and then key 2 is being transmitted and the tag executes, another 163 00:12:11,400 --> 00:12:17,389 tag rather, is being excited. And then we'll go to key 3, key 4, and so 164 00:12:17,389 --> 00:12:22,019 on and so forth until all of the tags have been read. 165 00:12:22,019 --> 00:12:26,570 And this is happening within a few you know, seconds of course. 166 00:12:26,570 --> 00:12:30,240 there's a number of challenges. One of the biggest problems is the size 167 00:12:30,240 --> 00:12:34,586 of every one of these tags. That is they have to go into the tiniest 168 00:12:34,586 --> 00:12:37,430 little product. They're already being used into the 169 00:12:37,430 --> 00:12:40,996 larger product. In addition, the cost associated with 170 00:12:40,996 --> 00:12:43,426 them. They have to be down to a cent or a 171 00:12:43,426 --> 00:12:48,200 fraction of a cent. That's a very major challenge as well. 172 00:12:48,200 --> 00:12:53,360 These two challenges create a design requirement for us engineers. 173 00:12:53,360 --> 00:12:56,832 One of them is designing the antenna to be very small, but at the same time to 174 00:12:56,832 --> 00:13:00,360 have very good efficiency and to be able to work even when it's embedded, for 175 00:13:00,360 --> 00:13:05,962 example, in a tire. And a rubber tire is very lossy and it 176 00:13:05,962 --> 00:13:09,463 it's not a good medium of transmitting the our signal. 177 00:13:09,463 --> 00:13:12,973 So therefore you must still nevertheless find ways how to transmit the signal 178 00:13:12,973 --> 00:13:18,146 through these kinds of products. In addition, it must work when you put 179 00:13:18,146 --> 00:13:24,455 the tag on water, on a waterly subject, jelly subject, on metal. 180 00:13:24,455 --> 00:13:28,415 On different kinds of like I said rubber, behind you know, other products, when 181 00:13:28,415 --> 00:13:33,680 it's embedded within the aircraft in, in either an engine and so on. 182 00:13:33,680 --> 00:13:37,268 There's, there's challenges that it will be ubiquitous as to where it works and 183 00:13:37,268 --> 00:13:40,809 where it's going to be placed and we don't know where. 184 00:13:40,809 --> 00:13:44,901 So therefore the product you know, has to have all these flexibilities some 185 00:13:44,901 --> 00:13:46,840 references here.