Electronic Product Code Research Articles

Framework for smart contract blockchain in halal traceability, integrity, and transparency

Currently, the halalness of a product may only be determined by the halal certificate or halal label displayed on the product packaging. Simply put, several halal-related issues, like cross-contamination, logistical issues, halal counterfeiting, global halal acceptance, and so forth, keep coming up. To address the numerous issues raised above, it is believed that a framework that can support worldwide halal provisions is necessary. The objective of this research is to create a blockchain smart contract framework for halal transparency, integrity, and traceability. Blockchain technology along with smart contracts can solve classic tracing problems including data leakage, manipulation, and invisible data. Organizational consistency across the halal production process and the availability of raw materials that adhere to sharia laws are two more basic challenges with halal certification that blockchain and smart contracts can resolve. The usual traceability problems, such as data explosion, material cross-contamination between halal and haram, and revelation of private information, can all be resolved by smart contracts that make use of on-chain, off-chain, and electronic product code information services (EPCIS).

Design of an RFID-Based Self-Jamming Identification and Sensing Platform

Commodity RFID tags backscatter stored electronic product code (EPC) to the reader, but do not have sensing capability. Existing works have made much effort on designing RFID-based sensing platform. But most of them either need intricate hardware design or rely on modification of the tag, which increases the cost or constrains the sensing capability. In this paper, we design a self-jamming identification and sensing platform (SJISP) consisting of SJISP nodes and a commodity RFID reader. A subtle design of the SJISP node is the adoption of a jammer radio module with the same frequency as the reader, controlled by the micro control unit (MCU) to decide whether to interfere with the query process of the RFID reader. The RFID tag is not readable if the jammer is turned on to generate interference signals. Otherwise, it is readable when the jammer is turned off. The sensing data is thus modulated by switching the jammer on and off for transmitting bit 0 and bit 1, respectively. The reader demodulates the data through the compatible EPC UHF Gen2 air interface protocol. To further save the energy of the SJISP node, we propose a prefix codebook based data delivery scheme, which leverages the difference of energy consumption (DEC) between transmitting bit 0 and bit 1. Our proposed scheme can save more than 50 <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\%$</tex-math></inline-formula> of the energy than common communication without codebook. Experimental results based on our prototyped system show that the designed SJISP can achieve an average packet reception rate (PRR) of over 99 <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\%$</tex-math></inline-formula> and is quite robust to environmental disturbance. Our designed platform provides a low-cost and compatible solution to extend the sensing capability of RFID system. A demo application with a temperature sensor and a light sensor embedded in two SJISP nodes respectively are developed to demonstrate how SJISP applies in real world scenario.

Grouping based radio frequency identification anti-collision protocols for dense internet of things application

&lt;span lang="EN-US"&gt;Radio frequency identification (RFID) is an important internet of things (IoT) enabling technology. In RFIDs collision occur among tags because tags share communication channel. This is called tag collision problem. The problem becomes catastrophic when dense population of tags are deployed like in IoT. Hence, the need to enhance existing dynamic frame slotted ALOHA (DFSA) based electronic product code (EPC) C1G2 media access control (MAC) protocol. Firstly, this paper validates through simulation the DFSA theory that efficiency of the RFID system is maximum when the number tags is approximately equal to the frame size. Furthermore, literature review shows tag grouping is becoming popular to improving the efficiency of the RFID system. This paper analyzes selected grouping-based algorithms. Their underlining principles are discussed including their tag estimation methods. The algorithms were implemented in MATLAB while extensive Monte Carlo simulation was performed to evaluate their strengths and weaknesses. Results show that with higher tag density, fuzzy C-means based algorithm (FCMBG) outperformed traditional DFSA by over 40% in terms of throughput rate. The results also demonstrate FCMBG bettered other grouping-based algorithms (GB-DFSA and GBSA) whose tag estimation method are based on collision slots in terms slot efficiency by over 10% and also in terms of identification time.&lt;/span&gt;

Monitoring Heart Rate Variability Based on Self-powered ECG Sensor Tag

This paper proposes a batteryless sensing and computational device to collect and process electrocardiography (ECG) signals for monitoring heart rate variability (HRV). The proposed system comprises of a passive UHF radio frequency identification (RFID) tag, an extreme low power microcontroller, a low-power ECG circuit, and a radio frequency (RF) energy harvester. The microcontroller and ECG circuits consume less power of only ~30 µA and ~3 mA, respectively. Therefore, the proposed RF harvester operating at frequency band of 902 - 928 MHz can sufficiently collect available energy from the RFID reader to supply power to the system within a maximum distance of ~2 m. To extract R-peak of the ECG signal, a robust algorithm that consumes less time processing is also developed. The information of R-peaks is stored into an Electronic Product Code (EPC) Class 1st Generation 1st compliant ID of the tag and read by the reader. This reader is functioned to collected the R-peak data with sampling rate of 100ms; therefore, the user application can monitor fully range of HRV. The performance of the proposed system shows that this study can provide a good solution in paving the way to new classes of healthcare applications.

A Blockchain-Based Product Traceability System with Off-Chain EPCIS and IoT Device Authentication.

Blockchain-based traceability systems are a promising approach because they are decentralized, transparent, and tamper proof; however, if all traceability data are uploaded to a blockchain platform, it may affect the efficiency or even lead to data explosion. Additionally, it is difficult to guarantee the reliability of the original data source of massive Internet of Things (IoT) devices. Furthermore, when different enterprise nodes adopt different data storage structures, the costs that are associated with data sharing will increase. In this paper, we have proposed a trustworthy product traceability system that is based on hyperledger fabric and Electronic Product Code Information Service (EPCIS), which is not only capable of making products traceable, but it can also authenticate and authorize the IoT devices that are used for data collection. First, we adopted the on-chain and off-chain collaborative management mechanism in order to alleviate data explosion on the chain. Second, we proposed a scheme to authenticate and authorize devices based on blockchain. Third, we complied with EPCIS and Core Business Vocabulary (CBV) standards and provided the EPCIS location discovery service in order to improve the interactivity. Finally, we implemented and tested the proposed traceability system and compared it with the existing research. The proposed solution provides product information traceability, data tamper proofing, data confidentiality, and data source reliability.

A Highly Integrated Passive Wireless Sensing System With Synchronized Data Streaming of Multiple Tags

This article introduces a highly integrated passive wireless sensing system based on the extended electronic product code (EPC) Gen2 protocol, using sensor tags and a reader to support concurrent data streams from multiple sensors. Multiple subcarrier multiple access (MSMA) is used by assigning different subcarrier frequencies to the sensor tags for backscattering so that each tag has an independent channel for communication to achieve the simultaneous streaming of multisensor data. In order to improve the subcarrier frequency accuracy and further increase the number of communication channels, this article proposes a novel method of subcarrier frequency calibration based on the Gen2 protocol. This method enables a high-accuracy clock to be generated on-chip. At the same time, this article also proposes a method based on Gen2 protocol to start a group of tags and receive real-time data in parallel. The tag chip is fabricated in a <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$0.18{-}\mu \text{m}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> CMOS process with a die size of <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$850\,\,\mu \text{m}\,\,\times 850\,\,\mu \text{m}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> , and the reader prototype is built using software-defined radio equipment. The test results show that the sensing system proposed in this article can collect and recognize concurrent data streams from multiple sensor tags synchronously. The measured sensitivity of the sensor tag is −14.9 dBm with a 3-axis accelerating sensor, and the calibration accuracy of subcarrier frequency is better than <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${\pm }{\mathrm {0.385}}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> kHz in the range of 40–640 kHz. With this accuracy, the tags can be allocated up to 78 subcarrier communication channels theoretically.

Pharmaceutical Serialization : A Challenge for Small Manufacturers

The purpose of this paper is to focus on the Challenges faced by Small Manufacturers due to the Serialization compliance. Pharmaceutical serialization is the process of assigning unique serial number to each saleable product pack. Each product pack contains information about product source, Global Trade Identification Number (GTIN), Batch number, Expiry date and unique serial number. Pharmaceutical serialization is not new compliance, and it was initially introduced by Turkey in 2010, and other market such as the China and South Korea. Since many years China made compulsory for all supply chain partners to record drug distribution information of individuals drugs units in a traceability system. As we are approaching to 2023, It will be final phase of 10 yearlong implementation of Drug Supply Chain Security Act (DSCSA) since compliance enacted in 2013. Verification router services (Saleable Return) is another compliance which was scheduled to enforce on 2020 but it is now push back to 2023 due to Covid-19 impact. Under 2023 DSCSA Act, manufacturers need to provide product tracing information in secure and interoperable manner electronically to distributors and wholesaler in supply chain. Wholesaler must transfer product tracing information to dispensers and pharmacy and verify saleable returns receive from supply chain stakeholders. Dispenser/Pharmacy should be able to receive Electronic Product Code Information Services (EPCIS) and product tracing information electronically and to be able to reconcile physical product unique identifier with electronic records. Finally, everyone in supply chain must be connected electronically through interoperable network which will allow regulatory bodies to track and trace the information’s. The importance of drug traceability has been increasingly emphasized and mandated by several countries across the world. The Drug Supply Chain Security Act (DSCSA) has been working on a pilot project with big pharmaceutical companies, wholesalers and distributors to design and test interoperable network to trace pharmaceutical prescribed drug electronically at package level. This will help supply chain stakeholders to verify the authenticity of drug in United States.

Supply Chain Security Act 2023 : Interoperable Data Exchange for Drug Traceability

The purpose of this paper is to focus on the requirements of the 2023 DSCSA Act. recommended by HDA. Drug Supply Chain Security Act (DSCSA) has outlined the guidelines to develop and enhance drug supply chain security act by 2023. This includes product tracing requirements that went into effect in 2015 for manufacturers, re-packagers, wholesale distributors and dispensers (primarily pharmacies) [1]. As we are approaching to 2023, It will be final phase of 10 yearlong implementation of Drug Supply Chain Security Act (DSCSA) since compliance enacted in 2013. Verification router services (Saleable Return) is another compliance which was scheduled to enforce on 2020 but it is now push back to 2023 due to Covid-19 impact. Under 2023 DSCSA Act, manufacturers need to provide product tracing information in secure and interoperable manner electronically to distributors and wholesaler in supply chain. Wholesaler must transfer product tracing information to dispensers and pharmacy and verify saleable returns receive from supply chain stakeholders. Dispenser/Pharmacy should be able to receive Electronic Product Code Information Services (EPCIS) and product tracing information electronically and to be able to reconcile physical product unique identifier with electronic records. Finally, everyone in supply chain must be connected electronically through interoperable network which will allow regulatory bodies to track and trace the information’s. DSCSA 2023 Act is very impactful regulation which also requires supply chain partners to exchange traceability information’s such as Transaction History (TH), Transaction Information (TI), and Transaction Statement (TS) electronically. Electronic product Code Information Services (EPCIS) version 1.2 will have all provisions of TH, TI, TS, and adaptation of EPCIS version 1.2 will fulfill the requirement for all stakeholders in supply chain.

From catch to plate

From catch to plate

Tracking and Localization of Retained Foreign Objects using RFID Technology

Retained Foreign Objects(RFO) are the surgical instruments that are lost during surgeries inside the human body. Joint Commission reported this as the most frequently sentinel event in 2011. By tagging surgical instruments and gloves, will help surgeons trace and localize any Retained Foreign Objects . By early detection, surgical complications can be avoided and thereby saving the patient from exposure to X-Rays or other harmful radiation. United States will save up to approximately $17 to $29 billion each year from this project. The idea for detecting the Retained Foreign Objects can be accomplished by utilizing the Radio Frequency Identification Technology in surgical latex gloves. Electronic Product Code Class 1 Generation 2 or widely known unique Gen 2 tags are used in the inner side of the fingers in order to identify retained foreign objects in the body. Additionally, with the help of RSSI (Received signal strength indicator) will help to determine how close the Tagged gloves is to the RFO. This decreases the search time and helps locate the RFO accurately before the surgery is complete.

An Ultra-Lightweight Mutual Authentication Protocol Based on LPN Problem with Distance Fraud Resistant

RFID tags are one of the main enablers of the internet of things. All objects have to be equipped with an electronic product code such as RFID tags. Because of minimizing the price, RFID environments are resource-scarce, then designing ultra-lightweight authentication protocols is of great importance. Many ultra-lightweight authentication protocols such as HB family protocols are proposed. One of the most important threats against HB family protocols is a type of man-in-the-middle attack called GRS. Also, in the real world, IoT requires mutual authentication that traditional HB protocols do not support it. Besides, misconceptions about reader-tag distance could create problems in several applications especially in contactless systems such as access control and electronic payment systems, which could be damaged by distance-based frauds. In the present work, we have proposed a novel distance bounding protocol based on HB family protocols with four major characteristics: (1) it can resist terrorist, mafia, and distance fraud attacks; (2) it is a lightweight mutual authentication protocol capable of being used in low-cost IoT equipment such as NFC and RFID; (3) it employs a hard problem that be post-quantum resistant, and (4) it identifies and solves the weaknesses of HB protocols including GRS attacks. The proposed protocol has also been shown to be able to address the known weaknesses and attacks in distance frauds and HB family protocols.

A Review of Identity Methods of Internet of Things (IOT)

The Internet of Things (IOT) is a recent technology originating from the field of sensor networks. It has received significant attention because it is involved in most aspects of our daily lives. The IOT vision makes objects of various kinds become part of the Internet by assigning each object a unique identifier, enabling objects to communicate with each other in the same or different environments. IOT can collect, process, and exchange data via a data communication network. There are many methods for identifying objects; some have existed since the beginning of IOT innovation, such as Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), Barcode/2D code, IP address, Electronic Product Codes (EPC), etc. Continuous development in IOT domain and the large number of objects connected to the Internet daily require an improved identification method to cope with the rapid development in this field. Many modern methods have been proposed recently, based on various technologies such as computer vision, fingerprinting, and machine learning. This paper introduces an overview of IOT and discusses its fundamental elements; it mainly focuses on identification of IOT which is considered the main part that the IOT systems rely on. The paper discusses the existing identification methods for IOT. Moreover, it provides a review of the modern identification methods proposed in recent literature.

A Novel Frame-Slotted ALOHA Algorithm for Radio Frequency Identification System in Supply Chain Management

Abstract Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) is an essential wireless technology with different supply chain management (SCM) potential applications. Managing a supply chain primarily requires an ‘information sharing’ architecture and visibility of business process-related data. This information architecture helps the operational event management team identify critical incidents and deploy substitute actions. The RFID-based information system provides a technological infrastructure to supply chain business process-related data. The occurrence of tag-collision incident essentially challenges the tag detection ability of RFID systems. Tag collision takes place when more than one tag responds simultaneously to the reader at the identification process. Different algorithmic solutions are available to the tag collision problem. In general, the algorithmic solutions are of two types: (i) tree-based solutions, and (ii) ALOHA-based solutions. This paper presents a novel dynamic frame slotted ALOHA algorithm. It uses probability theory for tags to access the frame and improve the system efficiency. This paper presents experimental details to evaluate the performance of the Electronic Product Code Generation-2 (EPC Gen-2) arbitration algorithm. Finally, the paper discusses the experimental results of the proposed algorithm, and concludes with the scope of future research.

Towards Interoperability of Entity-Based and Event-Based IoT Platforms: The Case of NGSI and EPCIS Standards

With the advancement of IoT devices and thanks to the unprecedented visibility and transparency they provide, diverse IoT-based applications are being developed. With the proliferation of IoT, both the amount and type of data items captured have increased dramatically. The data generated by IoT devices reside in different organizations and systems, and a major barrier to utilizing the data is the lack of interoperability among the standards used to capture the data. To reduce this barrier, two major standards have emerged: the Global Standards One (GS1) Electronic Product Code Information Service (EPCIS) and the FIWARE Next Generation Services Interface (NGSI). However, the two standards differ not only in the data encoding but also in the underlying philosophy of representing IoT data; namely, EPCIS is event-based, and NGSI is entity-based. Interoperability between FIWARE and EPCIS is essential for system integration. This paper presents OLIOT Mediation Gateway, now one of the incubated generic enablers offered by the FIWARE Foundation, that realizes the required interoperability between NGSI and EPCIS systems. It also demonstrates the applicability and feasibility of the Gateway by applying it to a real-life case study of integrating transparency systems used in a meat supply chain.

An UHF RFID tag characterization methodology including a low-Bcaosqsute rao,n Cdab rleoraw, S-ousa complexity SDR platform for information extraction

RFID concepts have been evolving for more than fifty years, nevertheless it was until the last decade that this technology settled as one of the leading commercial solutions being applied on, for example tracking, access management and document registration applications, among others. This technology has brought many benefits to the users, like automation processes, inventory time reduction and information transmission reliability. However, before commercializing the RFIDs, test and characterization procedures must be executed in order to provide the correct information to the user. Unfortunately, lack of characterization methodology standards, high cost and high-complexity test equipment are recurrently dis-advantages. This work presents an RFID characterization methodology that uses a low-cost and handy RF signal platform for Electronic Product Code (EPC) time extraction.

An online cognitive authentication and trust evaluation application programming interface for cognitive security gateway based on distributed massive Internet of Things network

AbstractAs the number of Internet of massive Things (IoT) applications grows in vehicles, factory machinery, smart buildings, and city infrastructure, a secure and automated solution of enabling a mesh network for transactional processes is a significant demand. However, the trust evaluation among those unknown IoT devices which communicate to each other are still the high demand in distributed massive IoT network. In this paper, an online cognitive authentication and trust evaluation decision application programming interface (API) for Cognitive Security Gateway (CSG) based on distributed massive IoT network is proposed. The online cognitive security APIs consisting of cognitive authentication sub‐API, cognitive trust evaluation sub‐API and cognitive authorization sub‐API are designed for distributed massive IoT applications. The modified electronic product code (EPC) Class1Gen2 tags generated by CSG server is and proposed to be the online identity for the system used. Moreover, both the security analyses and trust evaluations for the CSG are discussed. Finally, the proposed system is shown that it is an appropriate solution for solving the online authentication problem in distributed cognitive IoT network.

Optimal data transmission in backscatter communication for passive sensing systems

Computational Radio Frequency IDentification (CRFID) is a device that integrates passive sensing and computing applications, which is powered by electromagnetic waves and read by the off-the-shelf Ultra High Frequency Radio Frequency IDentification (UHF RFID) readers. Traditional RFID only identifies the ID of the tag, and CRFID is different from traditional RFID. CRFID needs to transmit a large amount of sensing and computing data in the mobile sensing scene. However, the current Electronic Product Code, Class-1 Generation-2 (EPC C1G2) protocol mainly aims at the transmission of multi-tag and minor data. When a large amount of data need to be fed back, a more reliable communication mechanism must be used to ensure the efficiency of data exchange. The main strategy of this paper is to adjust the data frame length of the CRFID response dynamically to improve the efficiency and reliability of CRFID backscattering communication according to energy acquisition and channel complexity. This is done by constructing a dynamic data frame length model and optimizing the command set of the interface protocol. Then, according to the actual situation of the uplink, a dynamic data validation method is designed, which reduces the data transmission delay and the probability of retransmitting, and improves the throughput. The simulation results show that the proposed scheme is superior to the existing methods. Under different energy harvesting and channel conditions, the dynamic data frame length and verification method can approach the theoretical optimum.

A survey on subjecting electronic product code and non‐ID objects to IP identification

AbstractOver the last decade, both research on the Internet of Things (IoT) and real‐world IoT applications have grown exponentially. The IoT provides us with smarter cities, intelligent homes, and generally more comfortable lives. However, the introduction of these devices has led to several new challenges that must be addressed. One of the critical challenges facing interacting with IoT devices is to address billions of devices (things) around the world, including computers, tablets, smartphones, wearable devices, sensors, and embedded computers, and so on. This article provides a survey on subjecting Electronic Product Code and non‐ID objects to IP identification for IoT devices, including their advantages and disadvantages thereof. Different metrics are here proposed and used for evaluating these methods. In particular, the main methods are evaluated in terms of their: (i) computational overhead, (ii) scalability, (iii) adaptability, (iv) implementation cost, and (v) whether applicable to already ID‐based objects and presented in tabular format. Finally, the article proves that this field of research will still be ongoing, but any new technique must favorably offer the mentioned five evaluative parameters.

EPC global network design using agent-based simulation

ABSTRACT The goal of this study is to introduce a new design approach of the EPC global network considering activities of actors in a supply chain via agent-based simulation (ABS). The EPC global network provides track and trace services of shipments for internal and external subscribers, based on electronic product code (EPC) data generated from radio frequency identification (RFID) tags. To maintain dependable mean response time and service failure of the network, the proposed approach consists of two modules: (1) ABS module with AnyLogic® simulation software involving transactions between actors (manufacturers, distributors, and retailers) and (2) Network partitioning module to find appropriate structure of the network based on responses given by the ABS module. Demonstration of the proposed approach will be conducted with data of an automotive supply chain in Republic of Korea. This preventive maintenance approach will help engineers avoid over-investment on implementation of the network for their efficient supply chain management.

An appraisal of the adoption internet of things (IoT) elements for sustainable construction

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to assess the adoption of internet of things (IoT) element with the view of increasing usage so that benefits of convenience, increased performance and timely completion of work can be improved. This research was conducted so that there can be increase in the usage of IoT elements for construction performance and sustainability. Design/methodology/approach The study adopted survey design and various construction professionals were used to assessing the level of adoption of IoT elements. Convenience sample was used by distributing the structured questionnaire to registered professionals. Mean score, bar chart, Kruskal–Wallis H test, one-sample t-test and Shapiro–Wilk were used for analyzing the data gathered. Findings The findings revealed that wireless fidelity, visualization, wireless sensor networks, Bluetooth, electronic product code and internet protocol are the most adopted element of IoT in the industry. The study also shows that there are areas where there is no significance attached by construction professionals in the usage of IoT elements. These are data storage and analytics, barcode, Zigbee, gateway, near field communication and actuators. It is recommended that less significant areas can be improved through training and educating professionals about the whole concept of IoT and other design professionals. When the importance of IoT elements are understood it will help in the level of adoption. Originality/value This paper highlights the possible ways of increasing the adoption of IoT elements with a view to achieving better usage for convenience, high productivity of workers and easy access to information.