Low-cost Passive Radio Frequency Identification Research Articles

RFPad: Enabling Device-Free Handwriting Recognition With a Tag Square

As a natural interaction approach, handwriting acts as an essential role in human–computer interaction. In order to achieve ubiquitous and reliable applications, a handwriting recognition system should be easy to use without any intrusion and robust to environment changes, which cannot be satisfied in most of existing approaches. In this article, we present <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">RFPad</i> , a device-free handwriting recognition system with a tag square consisting of four low-cost passive radio frequency identification (RFID) tags. With such an ingenious tag square, we transform the flat surface into a handwriting platform, and build a geometry-based theoretical model between the finger positions and the tags' phase variations so that the finger trajectory can be accurately tracked and handwriting can be recognized with the phases segmented from continuous signals. We implement a prototype of <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">RFPad</i> using commercial off-the-shelf RFID devices and conduct extensive experiments to evaluate its performance. Experiment results show that our <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">RFPad</i> can track finger movement with an average error of 1 cm and achieve average recognition accuracy of 94.08 <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> for all 26 handwriting capital letters.

A RFID-based wireless NH&lt;SUB align="right"&gt;3 gas detector using spin coated carbon nanotubes as sensitive layer

A radio frequency identification (RFID)-based wireless ammonia (NH3) gas detector was developed to work at 868 MHz. Using carbon nanotubes (CNT) thin film as a sensitive layer, a standard RFID tag is transformed into an RFID gas detector. First, RFID copper antenna on flexible polyethylene terephthalate (PET) substrate was fabricated by combining inkjet printing and copper electroplating. After that, CNT thin film was deposited on RFID antenna by spin coating method. RFID chip AK3 tagsys loop was attached with RFID antenna to form RFID tag. Performance of this gas detector was tested by measuring impedance of the RFID antenna and read-range of the RFID tag before and after being submitted to NH3 gas. The impedance of CNT thin film changed in presence of ammonia, leading to a decrease of the RFID tag read-range. A low-cost passive RFID gas detector is demonstrated with good response to NH3 gas down to 10 ppm, the RFID tag read-range was decreased from 2.5 m to 1.9 m. Besides, the impedance of RFID antenna had shown the good change, from 11.70 – j20.70 to 8.56 – j33.45 after being exposed 1 min to NH3 gas. From this result, this wireless gas detector is promising to be applied in real life to detect gas leakage, especially in relatively harsh and non-light-of-sight environments, because of many advantages such as low-cost, wireless and easy to control.

EPCGen2 pseudorandom number generators: analysis of J3Gen.

This paper analyzes the cryptographic security of J3Gen, a promising pseudo random number generator for low-cost passive Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags. Although J3Gen has been shown to fulfill the randomness criteria set by the EPCglobal Gen2 standard and is intended for security applications, we describe here two cryptanalytic attacks that question its security claims: (i) a probabilistic attack based on solving linear equation systems; and (ii) a deterministic attack based on the decimation of the output sequence. Numerical results, supported by simulations, show that for the specific recommended values of the configurable parameters, a low number of intercepted output bits are enough to break J3Gen. We then make some recommendations that address these issues.

Mobile passive Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) portal for automated and rapid control of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) on construction sites

Although personnel entering a construction site are mandated to wear Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), hardly ever is PPE checked for accurateness, completeness, or whether its shelf-life has expired. Various commercially-existing automated identification (ID) and information technologies (IT) were used to design a mobile Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) portal for checking the PPE compliance of personnel. When such gates are positioned at the entrance or within construction sites and once low-cost passive RFID tags are embedded or attached to PPE, automatic site access, time recording, and completeness control can be performed. These improve the logistics of the existing compliance checking process and provide users with timely feedback. Results to “personnel entering a construction site” demonstrate how the safety process, especially the awareness among personnel wearing PPE, can be pro-actively managed and controlled. Data further suggests the limitations of the developed approach and its potential for gathering leading safety indicator data.

A Low-Power DCVSL-Like GIDL-Free Voltage Driver for Low-Cost RFID Nonvolatile Memory

The realization of a low-cost passive radio frequency identification (RFID) tag requires the ability to fabricate the system in a bulk CMOS process without any additional process steps. A recently presented single-poly C-Flash memory bitcell provides an ultralow-power option for implementation of a nonvolatile memory array for use in an RFID system, using only core masks. This cell requires the application of a 10-V potential difference between the cell's control lines for program and erase operations. Providing the required voltages, while using only standard devices results in several design challenges for the voltage drivers, such as the elimination of gate-induced drain leakage (GIDL) currents. In this paper, we present a pair of voltage driver architectures that utilize novel techniques to overcome these challenges. In addition, for the first time, we present an in-depth analysis of the dynamic behavior of standard level shifters. This analysis is applied to our proposed GIDL-free level shifters to provide a sizing methodology for optimization of the area, energy-per-operation, and delay of these circuits. The drivers were designed and fabricated in a TowerJazz 0.18- μm bulk CMOS technology, providing the required functionality with a low static-power figure of 47-49 pW and 0.03-0.36 pJ energy-per-operation.

J3Gen: A PRNG for Low-Cost Passive RFID

Pseudorandom number generation (PRNG) is the main security tool in low-cost passive radio-frequency identification (RFID) technologies, such as EPC Gen2. We present a lightweight PRNG design for low-cost passive RFID tags, named J3Gen. J3Gen is based on a linear feedback shift register (LFSR) configured with multiple feedback polynomials. The polynomials are alternated during the generation of sequences via a physical source of randomness. J3Gen successfully handles the inherent linearity of LFSR based PRNGs and satisfies the statistical requirements imposed by the EPC Gen2 standard. A hardware implementation of J3Gen is presented and evaluated with regard to different design parameters, defining the key-equivalence security and nonlinearity of the design. The results of a SPICE simulation confirm the power-consumption suitability of the proposal.

GPS-less indoor construction location sensing

Abstract Location aware computing in construction is an emerging area where the location of materials, workforce, and equipment can be used to derive knowledge about the state of the project. This paper aims to provide a low-cost location sensing solution for indoor construction and underground facilities, where satellite navigation systems cannot be used. In this solution a set of low-cost passive Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags is deployed using a predefined topology to provide a good spatial coverage of the project-active area. The locations are estimated and represented by zones and coordinates. The zone detection approach uses K-Nearest Neighbor classification method to assign a zone to the target. The coordinates of the target's location are also acquired by weighted average method using the Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI) as weight. The approach has been experimented on a construction project in Montreal as well as in a controlled lab environment. The experimental results show an average of 0.17 as error rate for detecting the target's zone and an average of 1.3 m accuracy in detecting the coordinates. The promising results presented in this paper demonstrate the potential for a high-accuracy and low-lost location estimation method for indoor construction job sites.

An RFID secure authentication mechanism in WLAN

With the thriving evolution of information technology, network technology attains to maturity and Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) becomes universal as well. To discipline the right of network usage, network system identifies users before providing network services or resources. In the historical researches, the conventional authentication mechanisms frequently adopted the names and passwords of users as login authentication. However, these Single Factor Authentication mechanisms are proved to be defective. In virtue of enhancing security, recent researches on authentication are built on Two-Factor Authentication schemes. Nevertheless, the expensive cost of building Two-Factor Authentication approaches has affected the will of users. For the purpose of lifting the rate of usage, in this paper, we apply low-cost passive Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tag along with the names and passwords of users as login authentication. The analytic comparison indicates the research not only reduces the cost of Two-Factor Authentication schemes, but provides security in the same way as smart cards technology.

Compact ultrahigh-frequency antenna designs for low-cost passive radio frequency identification transponders

Compact planar antennas for low-cost radio frequency identification (RFID) passive transponders are disclosed. The proposed ultrahigh-frequency antenna takes advantage of its unique topology to assure conjugate matching with essentially complex impedance of the electronic chip directly embedded into the radiator. Rectenna design issues are also emphasised. An original method to characterise IC chips and antennas as taken in its entirety of transponders is presented. The characterisation of the chip takes into account the impact of connecting antennas to the rectifier by flip-chip bonding process. The proposed experimental method allows finding chip impedance exactly as it seen by antennas. Refined rectifier circuitry effectively overcomes dependence of transponder performances on the type deviation of the connected antennas. Very good antenna performance is predicted theoretically and validated experimentally over an operating bandwidth of actual RFID systems.

RFID technical tutorial

Radio frequency identification (RFID) uses radio frequency signals to automatically identify objects. RFID is used to pay for gas without going into the store, in automobile immobilizer systems to prevent theft, in toll road systems to automatically pay tolls without stopping, in animal identification, in secure entry cards, and in the supply chain to manage the flow of pallets, cases, and items. Most media accounts of RFID are actually about one form of RFID the electronic product code (EPC) system used by retailers to manage the supply chain. EPC has standardized chip designs and protocols that have enabled the mass production of low-cost passive RFID tags. EPC provides identification of the product to which the EPC tag is attached like a barcode, except that it can be read at a distance and does not require line-of-sight aiming.