John K. Davis, Independent Distributor, SendOutCards

Where Am I?

A short Technology Research News story reveals that researchers have found another new use for RFID systems.

The arrangement, dubbed Navigational Assistance for the Visually Impaired (NAVI), can provide location information for the visually impaired and for other kinds of navigational assistance applications like self-guided tours.

RFID Seminar

Wolf Bielas, Chief Executive Officer of RSI ID Technologies, used a Wi-Fi enabled Pocket PC to configure a production assembly line at the conclusion of the Process Automation Seminar I attended earlier today. Wolf was demonstrating the power of integrating wireless networks, RFID and barcode systems and comprehensive data collection applications to automate business processes.

The seminar began this morning when Brett Horwitz, Business Development Manager at SAMSys Technologies, Inc., gave an excellent presentation about the current state of RFID technologies. Brett and I spoke by telephone last June and he steered me to RSI ID. SAMSys is a principal supplier of RFID readers and other products and services and RSI ID uses their equipment when integrating automation solutions for customers.

Government Mandate

The Defense Department expects to issue a statement in the next few days calling on suppliers to adopt the new version of EPCglobal by 2005. This will give another boost to RFID and simultaneously increase passionate outrage by privacy activists.

Tire IQ

The progression of RFID inspired applications is at that exciting time when many are having aha moments and extending the technology into new corners of utility. A good example is what is happening with car tires. Michelin started embedding RFID chips into its tires some time ago. Other tire manufacturers have followed.

Now, in an announcement I read at the Automotive Design and Production website, comes an article about Siemens VDO Automotive and Goodyear extending RFID functionality to incorporate tires into the vehicle's local area network. They have created the Tire IQ system. More than a tire pressure monitoring system, Tire IQ effectively "wires" the tires into a vehicle’s electronic network, providing information on tire performance in addition to monitoring air pressure and temperature.

RFID Summary

If you have not been following the RFID news over the past year, a good summary can be found here: http://securityfocus.com/columnists/169. It?s a short article, but touches almost all of the important bases.

Sentient Surroundings

I arrive at London's Heathrow Airport and walk through immigration unchecked; thanks to a wristwatch computer that presents my ID and visa for validation. I walk directly to the rental car curbside where a vehicle unlocks itself as I approach and starts when tell it to take me to my hotel. The car guides me to a reserved parking bay at the Intercontinental in Hyde Park. I walk directly to my room which has adapted to my preferences by adjusting the temperature, lighting and choice of TV and music channels. My luggage is delivered a few minutes after I arrive while I talk to my daughter whose live image is being displayed on the room?s video wall. Local references have already been automatically inserted into my presentation for the following morning using the hotel's special software and my personal digital assistant is gently encouraging me to take a twenty-minute nap in an effort to assist me in coping with jet-lag?

Would you sacrifice your privacy for such expediency? What if it was mostly voluntary--you could opt out of these conveniences and watch others around you skip the lines and avoid the hassles as you held fast to your privacy?

Big Numbers

A friend and I were talking about RFID the other day. I told him how everything that is manufactured, everything, will have an RFID computer embedded into it, each with a unique identification number, in the near future (I'm talking 10 or 20 years). He didn't believe me. "Do you know how many numbers it would take to give everything that is manufactured a unique identification number?" he asked rhetorically.

Well, that got me thinking. Each bit has two states, on or off, plus or minus, 1 or 0. One bit, therefore, can represent two possible values. Ten bits can represent 1024, or one kilobyte (1KB), or two to the tenth power possible values. Twenty bits can represent 1,048,576 (1MB) possible values. Thirty bits can represent 1,073,741,824 (1GB) possible values. Forty bits can represent 1,099,511,627,776 (1TB) possible values.

How many bits do you think it would take to provide a unique number for every atom in the universe? You might be surprised to learn that two hundred fifty-six bits will do it with lots of numbers left over.

Emerging Technologies

MIT's Technology Review has an article about the ten emerging technologies they think will have the greatest impact on reality over the next ten years and the innovators behind each of the technologies. See if you agree with their choices:

http://techreview.com/articles/print_version/emerging0203.asp

The Age (one of Australia?s top technology news sources) has a fun article on nanotechnology. It details some of the new products that will soon be available:

http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/01/19/1042911268269.html

Talking about new nanotechnology products, how about a 3D printer that prints living tissue! Three-dimensional tubes of living tissue have been printed using modified desktop printers filled with suspensions of cells instead of ink. The work is a first step towards printing complex tissues or even entire organs. You will want to read this article recently published at NewScientist.com:

http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99993292

Michelin (the tire manufacturer) has announced that it will embed RFID transmitters into its tires. The article states that "the microchip stores the tire's unique ID, which can be associated with the vehicle identification number" and, in turn, the owner's contact information. Check here for more details:

http://www.rfidjournal.com/article/articleview/269/1/1/

Ubiquitous Identification

The potential ramifications of identity technologies continue to emerge. I believe that RFID is the technology that has the greatest potential to significantly change things in the near-term, but it is only one technology in a vast sea of identity tools.

Fingerprint, eye and face scanners, DNA testing and other technologies that can be used to identify people are rapidly being adopted to solve problems. For instance, did you hear about the school in London that has installed a retinal scanner to identify students and charge them for lunch? The headmaster is concerned that if students are forced to pay for their lunches in cash the poor ones who receive food for free could be stigmatized.

There are also a number of technologies being developed that can identify things. Were you aware that an identification system that detects gunshots in real time, determines the make and model of gun, the precise location of the gun when it was fired and the direction of each shot will be rolled out this year? The system is called the On Alert Gunshot Detection System. It costs about $25,000 per square mile to deploy the sensors involved.

By the way, a hint for those who might be feeling a little paranoid: If you purchase a product that contains an RFID chip (read anything) and you would just as soon it was not tracked, you can microwave it for three seconds and it will kill the chip's ability to function.

For a short article about the ACLU's take on all of this go here:

http://news.com.com/2102-1023-980964.html

Finding Lost Socks

I have been following the progress of RFID (Radio Frequency IDentification) for a number of years. You may see it under the name ePC ((electronic Product Code), or Auto-ID. It is now about ready to happen and I thought I should alert those who have not yet learned about this amazing new technology.

The idea is to create small chips to broadcast a radio signal imparting a unique identification number. These are very small chips, too large to be called nano-devices, but small enough to be invisible to the naked eye--about the size of a dust particle. These are tough little buggers capable of enduring high pressure, moisture, heat and sunlight. Each chip will cost less than one cent. Before long, a single RFID chip will be embedded into every manufactured item on the planet, giving a number (not a product ID, but a unit ID) for everything--food, clothes, drugs, auto-parts, dollar bills, condoms--everything.

Another element of the plan is to embed receivers or readers in a multitude of devices. We will have refrigerators and pantries that will inventory contents and consult with one another to prepare a shopping list each week. After a quick review of the list by their owner who may add and subtract a few items, the devices will then send the list to the grocery store and replenish supplies and the order will be conveniently delivered.

But this is only one example. Everything will be identifiable. Companies will be able to track each unit of their production, often each part contained in a more complex item. Theft will all but disappear as a social problem. Each unit of currency will be fully traceable. Nothing will be lost. We will soon learn that mysterious location where socks go when we do laundry.

The implications are huge. Privacy advocates are preparing to do battle over this technology. I recommend you become informed about the issues and concerns. You can get a good start here:

http://www.nocards.org/AutoID/overview.shtml