of RFID systems is that an important class of RFID tags, the passive RFID tags, is based on batteryless operation. Passive RFIDs are powered through wireless ...
RFID-Enabled Sensors and Technologies ■ Apostolos Georgiadis
R
adio frequency identification (RFID) has enjoyed widespread application and a growing market potential since its initial commercial application in the 1970s and 1980s in animal tagging and highway tolling systems. RFID systems operate based on the principle of back-scatter communication, which has its roots in radar technology. The technology owes much of its popularity to the simplicity in the design of the fundamental RFID circuit, the tag, which translates in low cost and ease of installation, features that have found immediate application in supply chain and logistics. The capability of introducing sensing functionality to RFID tags, in addition to the traditional identification features, has led to RFID being considered a fundamental technology for realizing large networks of interconnected devices, which represent the vision of ubiquitous sensing and communication and notions such as the Internet of Things. Introducing sensing features jointly Apostolos Georgiadis (apostolos.georgiadis @ieee.org) is with the Centre Tecnologic de Telecomunicacions de Catalunya (CTTC), Barcelona, Spain, and is the IEEE MTT-S TC-24 chair. Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MMM.2013.2259410 Date of publication: 11 July 2013
24
©istockphoto.com/Albert Lozano
with communication and networking permits the formation of an array of smart objects ranging from clothes, to cars and buildings, with applications from health monitoring and assisted living, to structural monitoring and energy efficient system operation minimizing environmental pollution. The World Wide Research Forum (WWRF) is estimating that 7 trillion wireless devices will be serving 7 billion people by 2017, numbers that demonstrate the market potential for RFID systems. Another particularly attractive feature
of RFID systems is that an important class of RFID tags, the passive RFID tags, is based on batteryless operation. Passive RFIDs are powered through wireless power transmission and thus have an important effect on limiting environmental pollution by not requiring the use of batteries and their associated waste treatment. The first article underlines the importance of materials technology and nanotechnology towards improving features such as conformal properties, miniaturization, operating range and sensing functionality of RFID tags. A. Ali Babar and coauthors from Tampere University of Technology, Finland, and the University of Missssippi, United States, demonstrate the synthesis of flexible dielectric substrates with high permittivity, which permits the miniaturization of the RFID tag and, at the same time, addresses the important challenge of making RFID tags insensitive to their immediate surrounding environment by enabling the placement of tags on top of conductivemetallic objects without degrading their performance. The next article, by Alessandra Costanzo and coauthors from the University of Bologna, Italy, and University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany, presents some exciting recent research
July/August 2013
efforts in localization and object tracking based on RFID technology. The article by Daniel Kuester and Zoya Popovic, University of Colorado, Boulder, provides a brief historical overview of the technology and addresses the important issue of performance evaluation of RFID tags. Developing universal performance metrics and simplified characterization methods further facilitates the widespread application of the technology. Smail Tedjini and coauthors from the Polytechnique Institute of Grenoble, France and Monash University, Australia, present the concept of chip-less RFID systems. Such systems are able to significantly reduce the tag cost by utilizing
Microwave Surfing
arrays that can be applied to improve the performance of RFID tags. While the fundamental application of RFID technology has been related to item identification, recent research efforts have demonstrated the capability of the technology to be used in localization and tracking of targets by introducing additional signal processing capability in the RFID reader and applying concepts from radar technology. This special issue aims to highlight present-day areas where RFID technology is evolving and enjoying scientific interest, while at the same time it aims to stimulate and identify novel areas of research and application.
(continued from page 14)
For its part, Volvo is considering other safety enhancements as well. In May 2013, it was scheduled to release its first car equipped with an airbag under the hood, which will inflate and cover a good portion of the windshield if the sensors in the front bumper detect that the car has come in contact with a person. Longer term, company engineers are conducting experiments in safari parks on animal behavior to devise technologies
July/August 2013
purely passive RFID tags and eliminating the tag chip, at the expense of a more sophisticated reader, and present an exciting alternative to the conventional RFID technology. The article by Sangkil Kim and coauthors from Georgia Institute of Technology, United States, University of Perugia, Italy, and Centre Tecnologic de Telecomunicacions de Catalunya, Spain, presents the introduction of sensing features in RFID tags combining the use of ink-jet printing fabrication and specialized nanoparticle inks, as well as addresses circuit concepts such as the solar power harvesting assisted tags, and the implementation of harmonic tags and retrodirective
that would be useful for detecting horses and deer in the path of a car. Now, that is some thing that would get serious attention from a lot of Connecticut car drivers, where road accidents involving deer are increasingly a major problem.
References [1] (2013, Mar. 9). Volvo unveils cyclist alertand-brake car system. BBC News. [Online]. Available: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-21688765
[2] R. Hamilton. (2013, Mar. 9). Hot cars at the 83rd Geneva international motor show. The Baltimore Sun. [Online]. Available: http://darkroom. baltimoresun.com/2013/03/hot-cars-at-the83rd-geneva-international/#1 [3] (2013, Mar. 9). Transportation: Motor vehicle accidents and fatalities. Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2012. [Online]. Available: http:// www.census.gov/compendia/statab/cats/ transportation/motor_vehicle_accidents_and_ fatalities.html
25
