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INTRODUCTION
Nowadays, if a consumer would like to buy something at a shopping
mall, consumers need to take the particular items from the display shelf and then
queue up and wait for their turn to make payment. Problem will surely arise when
the size of a shopping mall is relatively huge and sometimes consumers don‟t even
know where certain items are placed. Besides, consumers also need to queue for a
long time at the cashier to wait for turn to make payment. The time taken for
consumers to wait for the customers in front of the queue to scan every single item
and then followed by making payment will definitely take plenty of time.
This condition will surely become worst during the season of big sales
or if the shopping mall still uses the conventional way to key in the price of every
item by hand to the cash register. On the other hand, consumers often have to
worry about plenty of things when going to the shopping mall. While doing survey
we found that most of the people prefer to leave the shopping mall instead of
waiting in long queues to buy a few products. People find it difficult to locate the
product they wanted to buy, after selecting product they need to stand in a long
queue for billing and payment. To try to solve the problems previously identified,
recent years have seen the appearance of several technological solutions for
hypermarket assistance. All such solutions share the same objectives to save
consumers time and money, help the retailers.
It will be a great convenience if the information of items that are
available in the shopping mall can be obtained. It will be a great improvement on
the existing system if the technology of RFID is implemented. Consumers will be
able to get information of all the items at shopping mall, total up the prices of items
as they shop, and save unnecessary time at the cashier.
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1.1 RFID INTRODUCTION
RFID (radiofrequency identification) technology offers the ability to
provide many new services and conveniences in the retail environment.
RFID tags, or simply "tags", are small transponders that respond to
queries from a reader by wirelessly transmitting a serial number or similar
identifier. They are heavily used to track items in production environments and to
label items in supermarkets. They are usually thought of as an advanced barcode.
RFID is the special type wireless card which has inbuilt the embedded
chip along with loop antenna. The inbuilt embedded chip represents the 12 digit
card number. RFID reader is the circuit which generates 125KHZ magnetic signal.
This magnetic signal is transmitted by the loop antenna connected along with this
circuit which is used to read the RFID card number.
1.1.1 EXTENDED CAPABILITY
Extended capability RFID defines a category of RFID that goes
beyond the basic capabilities of standard RFID as merely a "license plate" or
barcode replacement technology. Key attributes of extended capability RFID
include the ability to read at longer distances and around challenging
environments, to store large amounts of data on the tag, to integrate with sensors,
and to communicate with external devices.
Examples of extended capability RFID tag technologies include EPC
C1G2 with extended memory (e.g. 64Kb), battery-assisted passive, and active
RFID. Battery-assisted passive, also known as semi-passive or semi-active, has the
ability to extend the read range of standard passive technologies to well over 50
meters, to read around challenging materials such as metal, to withstand outdoor
environments, to store an on-tag database, to be able to capture sensor data, and to
act as a communications mechanism for external devices.
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Also, battery-assisted passive only transmits a signal when
interrogated, thus extending battery life. Active RFID, which can have some of the
features of battery-assisted passive, is commonly used for even longer distances
and real-time locationing. It also actively transmits a signal, which often results in
shorter battery life.
Common applications of extended capability RFID include Yard
Management, Parts Maintenance and Repair Operations, Cold-Chain Management,
Reusable Transport Items tracking, High Value/High Security Asset tracking, and
other applications where extended capabilities are needed.
1.2. APPLICATIONS OF RFID
Once the reader reads the tag, the information is passed on to an
“application” that makes use of the information. Examples of applications and their
uses fall into at least six categories:
1. Access control (keyless entry)
2. Asset tracking (self check-in and self check-out)
3. Asset tagging and identification (inventory and shelving)
4. Authentication (counterfeit prevention)
5. Point-of-sale (POS) (FastTrak)
6. Supply chain management (SCM)
2.1 LITRATURE REVIEW
In 1946 Léon Theremin invented an espionage tool for the Soviet
Union which retransmitted incident radio waves with audio information. Sound
waves vibrated a diaphragm which slightly altered the shape of the resonator,
which modulated the reflected radio frequency. Even though this device was a
passive covert listening device, not an identification tag, it has been attributed as a
predecessor to RFID technology. The technology used in RFID has been around
since the early 1920s according to one source (although the same source states that
RFID systems have been around just since the late 1960s) Similar technology, such
as the IFF transponder invented in the United Kingdom in 1939, was routinely
used by the allies in World War II to identify aircraft as friend or foe.
Transponders are still used by most powered aircraft to this day.
Another early work exploring RFID is the landmark 1948 paper by
Harry Stockman, titled "Communication by Means of Reflected Power"
(Proceedings of the IRE, pp 1196–1204, October 1948). Stockman predicted that
"…considerable research and development work has to be done before the
remaining basic problems in reflected-power communication are solved, and
before the field of useful applications is explored."
Mario Cardullo's U.S. Patent 3,713,148 in 1973 was the first true
ancestor of modern RFID; a passive radio transponder with memory. The initial
device was passive, powered by the interrogating signal, and was demonstrated in
1971 to the New York Port Authority and other potential users and consisted of a
transponder with 16 bit memory for use as a toll device.
The basic Cardullo patent covers the use of RF, sound and light as
transmission media. The original business plan presented to investors in 1969
showed uses in transportation (automotive vehicle identification, automatic toll
system, electronic license plate, electronic manifest, vehicle routing, vehicle
performance monitoring), banking (electronic check book, electronic credit card),
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security (personnel identification, automatic gates, surveillance) and medical
(identification, patient history).
A very early demonstration of reflected power (modulated
backscatter) RFID tags, both passive and semi-passive, was performed by Steven
Depp, Alfred Koelle and Robert Freyman at the Los Alamos National Laboratory
in 1973. The portable system operated at 915 MHz and used 12-bit tags. This
technique is used by the majority of today's UHFID and microwave RFID tags.
The first patent to be associated with the abbreviation RFID was granted to Charles
Walton in 1983
2.1.1 RIFD EFFECTS IN LIBRARIES
Libraries began using RFID systems to replace their electro-magnetic
and bar code systems in the late 1990s. Approximately 130 libraries in North
America are using RFID systems, but hundreds more are considering it (Molnar,
Wagner, 2004). The primary cost impediment is the price of each individual tag.
Today, tags cost approximately seventy-five cents but prices continue to fall.
However, privacy concerns associated with item-level tagging is another
significant
Impediment to library use of RFID tags. The problem with today‟s
library RFID systems is that the tags contain static information that can be
relatively easily read by un authorized tag readers.
This allows for privacy issues described as “tracking” and “hot
listing.” Tracking refers to the ability track the movement of a book (or person
carrying the book) by “correlating multiple observations of the book‟s bar code”
(Molnar and Wagner, 2004) or RFID tag. Hot listing refers to process of building a
database of books and their associated tag numbers (the holist) and then using an
unauthorized reader to determine, who is checking out items on the hot list.
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Current standards (ISO 15693) apply to container-level tagging used
in supply chain applications, and do not address problems of tracking and hot
listing. Next generation tags (ISO 18000) are designed for item-level tagging. The
newer tags are capable of resolving many of privacy problems of today‟s tags.
However, no library RFID products are currently available using the new standard.
Libraries implementing RFID systems today are using tags unsuited for item-level
tagging and the cost of upgrading to newer tags when they become available is
well beyond the reach of most library budgets. This chapter addresses many of the
specific issues and privacy concerns associated with RFID technology in libraries,
and suggest best RFID-implementation practices for librarians. Finally, we explore
the larger responsibilities of libraries in regards to RFID, public policy, privacy
and the changing world of technology.
2.2 RFID SYSTEM COMPONENTS
An RFID system consists of three components: the tag, the reader and
the application that makes use of the data the reader reads on the tag. Tag Also
known as a transponder, the tag consists of an antenna and silicon chip
encapsulated in glass or plastic (Want, 2004). The tags contain a very small
amount of information. For example, many tags contain only a bar code number
and security bit (128 bits) but some tags contain as much as 1,024 bits (Boss,
2003).
Tags range in size from the size of a grain of rice to two inch squares
depending on their application. Researchers are now working on tags as small as a
speck of dust. Tags can be passive, active or semi-active. An active tag contains
some type of power source on the tag, whereas the passive tags rely on the radio
signal sent by the reader for Power.
Most RFID applications today utilize passive tags because they are so
much cheaper to manufacture. However, the lack of power poses significant
restrictions on the tag‟s ability to perform computations and communicate with the
reader. It must be within range of the reader to function.
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Semi-active tags are not yet commercially available but will use a
battery to run the microchip‟s circuitry but not to communicate with the reader.
Capacitive coupling and carbon ink for the antennas rather than the
traditional inductive coupling and silver or aluminum antenna used in passive tags
(Collins, 2004). Tags operate over a range of frequencies. Passive tags can be low
frequency (LF) or high frequency (HF). LF tags operate at 125 KHz, are relatively
expensive, and have a low read range (less than 0.5 meters). HF tags operate at
13.56 MHz, have a longer read range (approximately 1 meter) and are less
expensive that LF tags. Most library applications use HF tags (Allied Business
Intelligence [ABI], 2002). Tags can be Read Only (RO), Write Once Read Many
(WORM) or Read Write (RW) (Boss, 2003). RO tags are pre-programmed with a
unique number like a serial number (or perhaps eventually an ISBN number).
WORM tags are preprogrammed but additional information can be added if space
permits. RW tags can be updated dynamically. Sometimes space on the RW tags is
locked where permanent data is kept and the rest of the tag is writable.
According to Sharma et al. (2002), RFID readers or receivers are
composed of a radio frequency module, a control unit and an antenna to interrogate
electronic tags via radio frequency (RF) communication. Many also include an
interface that communicates with an application (such as the library‟s circulation
system). Readers can be hand-held or mounted in strategic locations so as to ensure
they are able to read the tags as the tags pass through an “interrogation zone.”
The interrogation zone is the area within which a reader can read the
tag. The size of the interrogation zone varies depending on the type of tag and the
power of the reader. Passive tags, with shorter read ranges, tend to operate within a
smaller interrogation zone