Introduction 1
About This Book 1
Who This Book Is For 1
You Don’t Need a Slide Rule and Pocket Protector to Use This Book 2
How This Book Is Organized 2
Part I: Now That You Can Spell RFID, Here’s the Rest of the Story 3
Part II: Ride the Electromagnetic Wave: The Physics of RFID 3
Part III: Fitting an RFID Application into Your World 3
Part IV: Raising the Beams for Your Network 4
Part V: How to Speak Bean Counter 4
Part VI: The Part of Tens 4
Icons Used in This Book 5
Part I: Now That You Can Spell RFID, Here’s the Rest of the Story 7
Chapter 1: Taking the Mystery out of RFID 9
What Is RFID? 9
The origins of RFID in inventory tracking 10
Tracking goods with EPC codes 10
Sizing Up the Benefits of RFID 11
Tracking individual items with serialized data 12
Reducing human intervention 13
Moving more goods through the supply chain 14
Capturing information in real time 14
Increasing security 15
Mandates, Womendates, Blind Dates — Forcing Efficiency 16
What are the major mandates? 16
Responding to the mandates 17
Calling All Physicists! Calling All Physicists! 18
Finding a physics expert 19
The basic physics of RFID 19
Finding Success with Four Ps in a Pod 22
Planning 22
Physics 24
Pilot 26
Production 27
A Ride in the Time Machine 28
Chapter 2: Auto-ID Technologies: Why RFID Is King of the Hill 31
Planning an Auto-ID Strategy for the Times 32
Comparing the major players in Auto-ID: Bar codes, contact memory, and RFID 34
Crafting an Auto-ID strategy for your business (Or, why RFID is the wave of the future) 41
To EPC or Not to Be: Unraveling the Words, Words, Words of the Electronic Product Code 44
How EPC is different from UPC 45
Why an EPC RFID tag doesn’t contain more information 47
How the EPC works 48
How the EPC prepared for the future, and who oversees that 52
Addressing Privacy Concerns 53
Chapter 3: Making Basic Decisions about Your RFID System 55
Midas Touch Points: Where RFID Impacts Your Organization 56
Outlining how RFID affects your business processes 57
Determining how RFID will affect your facility 60
Evaluating your technical needs 61
What’s the Frequency, Kenneth? 64
Understanding the difference between licensed and unlicensed frequencies 65
Examining the most common frequencies in RFID 65
Frequencies, power, and countries 67
Beyond UHF: Looking toward the future 68
Speed, Accuracy, or Distance — Pick Two 69
Designing for the right read distance 70
Reads — tell me how fast and how many 71
Reading multiple tags at once — accuracy considerations 72
Now What about the Tags and Objects? 73
Part II: Ride the Electro-magnetic Wave: The Physics of RFID 75
Chapter 4: What Makes Up an RFID Network 77
Elements of a Basic RFID System 77
Everything starts with the tag 79
Antennas send and receive radio waves 79
Readers tell the antennas what to do 80
The middleware transforms the system into a network of objects 80
Time to Make Some Waves — Electromagnetic Waves 81
Frequency is a measurement 83
History may repeat itself, but virginity comes only once 84
Fields: Electrical and magnetic, near and far 84
Creating resonance between the antennas and the field 85
Chapter 5: Understanding How Technology Becomes a Working System 87
Anatomy of a Passive Tag: Understanding How It Works and Choosing the Right One 88
How do tags receive and transmit information? 88
How does a tag antenna work, and how do you choose among the different kinds? 90
How does the integrated circuit affect performance? 92
Some tag examples for the geek in you 94
Tracking the Tags with a Reader 95
Holler back, young ’un — Transmitting and receiving signals 95
The DSP chip: Examining the brain of a reader 96
Ring around the dipole and other bad antenna stories 98
Air in Her Face — Blowing Sweet Nothings 100
Chapter 6: Seeing Different RFID Systems at Work 103
Setting Up RFID Interrogation Zones 103
Coming and going — Reading at a dock door 104
Your gateway to good reads — Other portals 106
Keep on rollin’ — Setting up RFID at a conveyor 108
That’s a wrap — Interrogating at a shrink-wrap station 109
One at a time — Reading objects on a shelf 110
From Ski Resorts to Airlines: Applying RFID in the Real World 112
Ski resorts 112
Law enforcement 113
Pharmaceuticals 113
Additional business applications 114
Part III: Fitting an RFID Application into Your World 117
Chapter 7: Seeing the Invisible: The Site Assessment 119
Planning for Your Site Assessment 120
Getting the right test equipment 122
Setting up for RF testing 124
Measuring for AEN during Normal Operations (And Beyond) 126
Testing key points around the warehouse 127
I’ve been a wild rover for many’s a year 127
I don’t hear anything; time to make my own noise 129
Solving interference problems 130
Testing to Plan Your RFID Installation 130
Gathering your equipment 131
Comparing the perfect signal to the actual signal 132
Setting up the equipment 133
Conducting the test 134
Putting your results to use 136
Chapter 8: Testing One, Two, Three: Developing Your Own Lab 139
To Lab or Not to Lab 140
Beyond a Swanky White Lab Coat: The Tools You Need for Successful Testing 141
Setting Up Your Lab 142
X-ray marks the spot: Find the perfect location 143
Physics eye for the lab guy: Design the physical layout 145
Set up the test equipment 148
Build specific test equipment 151
Develop and implement standardized test procedures 153
Chapter 9: Tag, You’re It: Testing for Best Tag Design and Placement 159
Ready, Set, Test! 160
Looking at the Material Composition of the Items You’re Tagging 162
Examining RF transparent, reflecting, and absorbing materials 163
Using the RF friendliness pyramid to understand the optimal spot for testing 164
Choosing a Tag to Test 166
Testing Tags in an Applications Test Facility 168
Setting up the testing environment 170
Carrying out the test 170
Frequency Response Characterization: Testing Tags with Physics 171
Encoding and Applying Tags 174
Tag and ship 174
Inline production application 176
The Secrets of Read Success 177
Avoiding cross talk 177
Ensuring high-speed reads 178
Executing full pallet reads 178
Chapter 10: Hooked on Phonics: Reader Testing, Selection, and Installation 181
Choosing a Hand-held, Mobile, or Fixed-location Reader 182
Reading between the Lines: Critical Buying Criteria 183
Consider all the costs involved 184
Test reader performance 186
Assess connectivity 192
Evaluate how well the reader can be fine-tuned 196
Installing a Reader and Antennas 201
Mount the reader 202
Mount and connect the antennas 203
Power up the reader 203
Test the interrogation zone for RF path loss 204
Chapter 11: Middle Where? It’s Not Just about the Readers 205
Filter, Smooth, Route: Understanding What You Need Middleware to Do 206
Exploring Middleware Vendors and Their Offerings 208
Piecing Together a Middleware Architecture 210
No more tiers: Grasping the many levels of a middleware architecture 211
Taking stock of existing investments and skills 213
Early bird or late bloomer? Prioritizing your middleware needs 215
Getting the Most from Your RFID Middleware 216
Part IV: Raising the Beams for Your Network 219
Chapter 12: From Pilot to Admiral: Deploying RFID Successfully 221
Creating a Pilot Project Plan 222
Start with your major tasks and timeline 223
Deliverable tracker 224
There’s always an issue with you: Tracking and resolving problems 225
There is no I in team (but there is an M and an E) 226
Factors for a Successful Pilot Test 227
Clearly defined scope 227
Experienced project manager 228
Key executive support 228
User involvement 228
Specific measurements and metrics 229
Risk mitigation 229
Phased approach 229
Moving from Pilot to Production 231
Getting the most of your pilot data: The project debrief 231
Tips for a successful production system 232
Chapter 13: Getting Set to Administer and Maintain Your System 233
Configuring and Setting Up Tag Readers 234
Before you begin 234
Stepping through a reader setup 235
Creating configuration classes 236
Getting the Digits 238
A simple hierarchy for assigning numbers 238
Allocating unique numbers across many lines and locations 239
Applying Tags to Objects 240
Applying tags without breaking them 240
North by northwest as the corrugation travels: Orienting tags on objects 241
Sending Objects through Your Business 242
Lining up tags and readers 242
Just like the neonatal ward: Handle with care 243
School’s in Session — Training Your Staff 244
Starting readers manually 244
Identifying and responding to missed reads 245
Reinforcing processes versus changing them 246
Explaining how RFID affects employees 247
Chapter 14: Ping-pong, the Tags Are Gone: How to Monitor Your RFID Network 249
Why Monitor an RFID Station? 250
Setting up Two Types of Monitoring 251
Checking That a Reader Is Active 251
Choosing the right method 252
A simple human interface: Enabling operators to monitor the system 252
Measuring and Interpreting System Behavior 255
Building a statistical monitoring approach 255
Breaking data into time intervals 257
Measure 1: The average tag traffic volume (ATTV) 259
Measure 2: Read errors to total reads (RETR) 261
Measure 3: Read error change rates (RECR) 262
Measure 4: Actual versus predicted traffic rate (APTR) 262
Measure 5: Mean time between failure (MTBF) 263
Monitoring as you expand your RFID network 265
Setting up a monitoring system 265
Part V: How to Speak Bean Counter 269
Chapter 15: Making the Business Case 271
Finding the First-Round Draft Picks for Your RFID Team 271
A Game Plan Is More Than Xs and Os — Use a Proven Methodology 274
Step 1 Refine the process and conduct team training 275
Step 2 Determine scope and assumptions 276
Step 3 Determine drivers, strategies, and enablers 277
Step 4 Identify and assess business processes and interfaces 279
Step 5 Identify complementary or competing business initiatives 280
Step 6 Identify strategic and economic benefits 281
Step 7 Develop investment requirements 284
Step 8 Develop an implementation road map 285
Step 9 Communicate the business case 286
Chapter 16: Fitting RFID into Strategic Plans 289
Just in Time to Justify: Overcoming Skepticism with Strategic Thinking 290
Calculating ROI — A Tactical Approach to RFID 291
Cha-ching! Finding ways to save with RFID 292
Tallying up the estimated costs 300
Putting together a costs/benefits analysis 303
ROI as a tool for strategic expansion 303
Tag and You’re It: RFID as a Competitive Strategy 304
Chapter 17: What to Look for When Considering Outsourcing 307
Why Outsource Your RFID Network? 308
Identifying and Avoiding the Risks 308
Is Outsourcing Right for You? 309
Do your goals and timeline indicate a clear need to outsource? 310
Do you need to run or own the system? 312
Analyzing your resources 314
Money, money, money: Comparing outsourcing and internal costs 316
Performance anxiety: Can you build a network that works? 317
Finding the Perfect Match 318
Figuring out the RFP process 318
Spelling out your needs in an RFP 320
Selecting potential outsourcing partners 326
Evaluating responses to your RFP 327
Sealing the Deal with an SLA 327
Drafting the initial SLA 328
Negotiating an SLA with a vendor 331
Part VI: The Part of Tens 333
Chapter 18: Ten (Or So) Equipment Vendors 335
Alien Technology 335
ACCU-SORT 336
Applied Wireless Identifications (AWID) 336
FOX IV Technologies 337
Impinj 337
Intermec Technologies 338
MARKEM 339
Symbol Technologies, Inc (Formerly Matrics) 339
ODIN technologies 340
OMRON electronics 340
SAMSys Technologies 341
Texas Instruments (TI) 341
ThingMagic 342
Chapter 19: Ten Web Sites for Information on RFID 343
RFID Journal Online 344
EPCglobal 344
IDTechEx 345
RFID Solutions Online 345
RFID Exchange 345
RFID Update 346
Auto-ID Labs 346
Auto-ID Lab @ Adelaide 346
The RFID Gazette 347
UCLA’s RFID@WINMEC site 347
Slashdot 347
Chapter 20: Ten Tips from the Experts 349
Chris Fennig, ODIN technologies 349
Joe White, Symbol Technologies (Formerly Matrics, Inc.) 350
Duncan McCollum, Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC) 351
Dr Daniel Engels, MIT Auto-ID Labs 352
Dr Patrick King, Michelin Tire Corporation 353
Steve Kowalke, ACCU-SORT Systems 353
Team Tag-IT, Texas Instruments 354
Kevin MacDonald, Lead RFID Architect, Sun Microsystems 354
Mark Nelson, Savi Technology 355
Chapter 21: Ten (Or So) RFID Standards and Protocols 357
EAN.UCC 357
EPCglobal 358
UCCnet 358
ISO/IEC JT1/SC17 359
ISO/IEC JTC1/SC31/WG4 360
AIAG 361
Container Shipments 361
Container Security Initiative (CSI) 361
Smart and Secure Tradelanes 362
Appendix: Glossary of Electrical, Magnetic, and Other Scientific Terms 363
Index 373
