RFID — Prospects and Reality.
Let the reader not be confused by some violation of the sequence of words in the construction of the title. I did this intentionally: after all, in order to assess the current state of affairs in terms of the implementation of RFID technology, we need to take a look back at the very recent past. This is necessary, I am not afraid to repeat myself, it is imperative to do, because there are few new technologies that were predicted to have such brilliant prospects as RFID.
The tone of these forecasts was set by very serious Western companies specializing in market analysis, and the participation of Microsoft, IBM and other bigwigs in the projects only fueled the issue. Many specialists in Russia also relied on these studies. It seemed that only a few days remained before mass implementation. I remember, for example, that from January 2006 all goods supplied to the Wallmart retail chain were to be equipped with RFID tags. This was no longer even a forecast, but one of the points of the company's business plan. That is, the EPC (electronic product code) system was to be widely used. However, once again, «Akella missed the mark»…
This happens quite often, and in general it is a normal phenomenon. As we know, any interesting technological innovation on its way into life goes through periods of delight, detailed familiarization, as a result of which a certain healthy skepticism appears and then real application. Only as it is introduced into everyday life does growth begin in terms of an integrated assessment of the perception and effectiveness of a particular product. RFID, in my opinion, is now somewhere near the bottom of this pessimistic pit. At least, it seems to be still a long way from real mass application, which was planned.
Yes, the system is used, but its efficiency leaves much to be desired. It is no coincidence that within a year of the launch of large pilot projects (not laboratory, but real ones), the second generation of the EPC standard was urgently developed, because the first version simply failed in practical use. What was the problem? The main one, perhaps, is the problem with the anti-collision mechanism. One reader can read any number of tags due to this mechanism. But in practice, it was necessary for one tag to work in the field of several readers (for example, inventory of goods on supermarket shelves by two managers from both sides simultaneously). And such a mode was somehow forgotten in the first generation of EPC…
Another source of problems is the issue of mutual influence of adjacent tags. At low frequencies, when tags are close to each other, they simply upset each other, to the point of complete inability to receive a signal. Low-frequency antennas, when located close to each other, begin to work as coupled circuits. And anyone familiar with radio engineering knows what this is. The greater the connection, the more the «humps» of the resulting amplitude-frequency characteristic spread to the sides with a dip in the middle, i.e. at the main operating frequency. As a result, there is no signal at the reader. Approximately the same phenomena occur at high frequencies, which are decided to be used in logistics and inventory systems. By the way, this is why library systems for accounting and inventory of books and magazines directly on the shelves do not work perfectly. Tags on thick books, spaced at distances of several centimeters due to the volume of the books, work fine. But, say, it is impossible to mark newspapers and magazines folded into a pack. Marking locations are usually unified. And that same mutual influence immediately arises.
So if we go back to EPC GEN-2, the developers changed the operating algorithms, complicating the circuitry of the tag crystal. The problem was partly solved, but at the same time the crystals became noticeably more expensive. Although, if you remember, it was predicted that by 2010 the crystals would cost about three cents.
It also required restructuring the technological lines for producing crystals, remaking the readers, rewriting the software, i.e. a colossal amount of work.
It cannot be said that the technology does not work at all, never and nowhere. We almost all encounter it, for example, in access systems, which have long been using RFID by 99%. The same transport payment systems (for example, the subway) have been working for many years. There are many examples of quite successful application of RFID technology. For example, when organizing the accounting of products and monitoring their passage through certain points in production using RFID tags, there are practically no failures. This is because everything is organized there, everything is at a certain distance, in certain places. Everything is determined, and there are no such interferences that are almost inevitable in the conditions of the same sales area or working warehouse.
The system also works in libraries. But — as a system for recording the receipt and issue of books with simultaneous recording on an RFID reader's card, when the librarian's work is automated. In addition, control is provided for the unauthorized removal of this book from the reading room.
But, you must admit, the scale of today's RFID application is not at all what Western analysts recently promised. Life turned out to be more complicated. As, incidentally, it always is. I remember how, as a child, I read the forecasts of serious scientists who promised that in 10-15 years at most we would have a controlled thermonuclear reaction and humanity would be fully provided with energy. Forty years have passed since then. Where is the controlled thermonuclear reaction and pocket reactors with unlimited energy resources?
It seems to me that the RFID developers hoped that the technology would make its own way. This happens, but such cases are still an exception. And the rule is this: not only should technology go into life, but life should also go to meet technology.
Take any security system. It is clear that it will not provide anything by itself, at the very least a response service is needed. And some organizational measures are also needed. Because installing a full-height turnstile with a weighing platform at each checkpoint, which separates people at the entrance strictly one by one, is not serious. It is clear that we need to work with people. So that they pass slowly, one by one, and it is imperative that each passerby is registered.
In other words, for the technology to work properly, some organizational measures are also required in parallel. Maybe we should slightly change the technological processes of production, say, of food products. And not pour candies into boxes, but put them into cassettes? If we look closely and apply relatively inexpensive solutions in the age of current automation, then RFID technology can work much better and win broader positions. You can’t demand everything from one. There must be a principle of symmetry: a step from here, a step from there. With such agreement, which, as we know, is a product of non-resistance of the parties, something can work out. As soon as antagonism arises, we must understand that efforts and resources are wasted.
In any case, there is no point in losing optimism. There is a technology in the creation of which a lot of money was invested. There are good developments. And there are many processes where it really can and should be applied. And while the systems of global accounting and control of the movement of goods are being finalized to the required parameters, other solutions are being promoted into practice, implementing more modest applied tasks.
Very interesting solutions are made on the basis of long-range identification. Long-range identification is active tags that work at a distance of up to tens of meters. And active means quite expensive. Because the chip is more complex, and there must be a battery. In short, the thing is by definition more expensive than disposable passive stickers.
But there are a lot of applications where they really work great. Take the eternal problem of finding a container in storage areas. I saw such an area in a cargo seaport in Israel. It's a city filled with containers. Try to find the right one. And such a relatively expensive technology for solving such problems can be very well applied, and it will pay for itself. When analyzing the possibility of using RFID at one refrigeration terminal (this is a refrigerator in which up to 20,000 (!) pallets of products are stored on several floors), we were told that pallets often get lost — they forgot where they were put… And a pallet of king prawns costs as much as an average car. In addition, by the time they find it, the prawns may have spoiled…
So, what will happen next? A normal process of mutual rapprochement. Those who will benefit from RFID will understand that they need to do something a little more, spend some money, in order to receive real income from the implementation of normal automation of some processes in the foreseeable future.
After all, what is getting cheaper? Everything that is not connected with manual labor is getting cheaper. Therefore, automation is the only way to have stable volumes and quality, especially on a large scale. And RFID in terms of automation can help in many places. There are solutions, the technology is developing, equipment and methods of its application are being improved, highly qualified specialists are appearing. This is also an important point, because it is necessary to educate a whole generation of installers capable of working with this complex equipment.
RFID technology is also gradually being introduced in Russia. It is clear that the implementation of global projects is impossible here. If Western giants could not, it is unlikely that there will be players in our country who are capable of investing truly colossal funds. Here, as has happened more than once, our delay will allow us to save considerable funds due to the fact that the period of not entirely successful experiments on a large scale will pass without our participation.
Now the border between communications and radio frequency identification is gradually blurring. Technologies are interpenetrating. And the products that appear as a result of these processes will gradually be introduced into our everyday life. In the end, we have lived to see the point where we are already being issued passports with chips. A month ago, when I was flying out of Sheremetyevo, I saw a separate counter in the passport control area for holders of such passports… So, unlike a controlled thermonuclear reaction, we will still see the triumphant procession of RFID!