RFID Flourishes Across the Globe

By the end of the twentieth century, the number of modern RFID applications began to expand exponentially across the globe. Here we examine a few of the significant developments that conributed to this accelerated rate of adoption.

Texas Instruments Leads Pioneering Efforts in the U.S.

Texas Instruments pioneered modern RFID systems in the United States when, in 1991, the company created the Texas Instruments Registration and Identification Systems (TIRIS). Known today as TI-RFid (Texas Instruments Radio Frequency Identification System), it has become a vibrant platform for developing and implementing dozens of new classes of RFID applications.

Europe Gets an Early Start

Even before Texas Instruments made its presence known in RFID, pieces of the puzzle were coming together in Europe. Starting in the 1970s, EM Microelectronic-Marin (also known as EM-Marin)a company of The Swatch Group Ltd.designed miniaturized, ultra low-power integrated circuits for watches in Switzerland. In 1982, Mikron Integrated Microelectronics manufactured ASIC technology and, in 1987, added an Austrian subsidiary, mikron Graz, to develop technology specifically related to identification and smart card chips. Philips Semiconductors acquired mikron Graz in 1995. Today, both EM Microelectronic and Philips Semiconductors are two of the major players in European RFID efforts.

Passive Tags Grow Up in the '90s

Until just a few years ago, the majority of passive RFID applications, illustrated in Table 2.2, were deployed at the Low Frequency (LF) and High Frequency (HF) range of the RF spectrum. Both LF and HF systems have limitations in range and speed of data transmission. For practical purposes, the range for these systems can be measured in inches. The speed limitations prevent the reading of tags in applications where hundreds or even thousands of tags might be present in a reader's field at any given moment in time. It wasn't until the end of the 1990s when Ultra High Frequency (UHF) passive tags were able to offer the combination of better range, higher speed, and attractive pricing that passive tags were able to step beyond their original limitations. Because of these added features, UHF-based RFID systems became primary candidates for new uses in supply chain applications, including pallet and case tracking, inventory control, and warehouse and logistics management. We discuss the various attributes and applications of the different passive tag technologies in detail in Chapter 3, "Components of RFID Systems."

Table 2.2. Typical Applications Using Passive LF and HF RFID Technology

Access Control	Animal Identification
Airline Baggage Identification	Payment and Loyalty
Automobile Anti Theft	Electronic Article Surveillance
Document Tracking	Sports Timing

During the late 1990s and early 2000s, retailers such as Wal-Mart, Target, and Metro Group and government agencies such as the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), started to promote and require the use of RFID by their suppliers. Around the same time, the industry-sponsored, non-profit consortium, EPCglobal was formed. EPCglobal supported the Electronic Product Code (EPC) Network, which became a de facto standard for automatic identification of items in the supply chains around the world. Thus, there was established for the first time, a global requirement for the deployment of RFID systems and a standards body ready to help facilitate the implementation of this requirement.

Figure 2.4. Milestones from the 1990s to Today

What is EPCglobal?

EPCglobal is a non-profit organization formed as a joint venture between EAN International and the Uniform Code Council (UCC) to support the Electronic Product Code (EPC) Network as the standard for automatic identification of items in the supply chain of companies around the world. EPCglobal has received sponsorship from more than one hundred of the world's leading companies, many of which are consumer household names such as Gillette and Procter and Gamble. The EPC and the EPCglobal Network are intended to help businesses improve asset visibility and help ensure product safety and integrity across the supply chain. The EPCglobal Network was initially developed by the Auto-ID Center, headquartered at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) under Dr. Sanjay Sarma, Research Director of the Auto-ID Center. With three distinct action groups, EPCglobal is fully represented by the user community and focuses on hardware and software development and business requirements. You can read more about EPCglobal in Chapter 3, "Components of RFID Systems," and Chapter 4, "Standards Related to RFID."