Radio frequency identification (RFID) – a mission to Japan · 2012. 11. 1. · Although global...

GLOBAL WATCH MISSION REPORT

Radio frequency identification (RFID) – a mission to Japan

NOVEMBER 2006

Global Watch Missions

DTI Global Watch Missions have enabled smallgroups of UK experts to visit leading overseastechnology organisations to learn vital lessons aboutinnovation and its implementation, of benefit to entireindustries and individual organisations.

By stimulating debate and informing industrialthinking and action, missions have offered uniqueopportunities for fast-tracking technology transfer,sharing deployment know-how, explaining newindustry infrastructures and policies, and developingrelationships and collaborations.

Disclaimer

This report represents the findings of a missionorganised by the Association for AutomaticIdentification and Mobile Data Capture (AIM UK) with the support of DTI. Views expressed reflect aconsensus reached by the members of the missionteam and do not necessarily reflect those of theorganisations to which the mission members belong,AIM UK, Pera or DTI.

Comments attributed to organisations visited duringthis mission were those expressed by personnelinterviewed and should not be taken as those of theorganisation as a whole.

Whilst every effort has been made to ensure that theinformation provided in this report is accurate and upto date, DTI accepts no responsibility whatsoever inrelation to this information. DTI shall not be liable forany loss of profits or contracts or any direct, indirect,special or consequential loss or damages whether incontract, tort or otherwise, arising out of or inconnection with your use of this information. Thisdisclaimer shall apply to the maximum extentpermissible by law.

Cover image: © Pera

Radio frequency identification (RFID)

– a mission to Japan

REPORT OF A DTI GLOBAL WATCH MISSION NOVEMBER 2006

2

RADIO FREQUENCY IDENTIFICATION (RFID) – A MISSION TO JAPAN

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 3

1 INTRODUCTION 7

1.1 Radio frequency identification (RFID) 71.2 Co-ordinating body 81.3 Benefits to host companies 81.4 Mission participants 81.5 Organisations visited 91.6 About this report 9

2 SETTING THE SCENE 10

2.1 Japan – some facts and figures 102.2 Japanese vision for RFID 102.3 Promoting effective use of RFID 122.4 Field trials 142.5 Japan Automatic Identification 16

Systems Association (JAISA)

3 RADIO FREQUENCY 18

IDENTIFICATION (RFID)

3.1 Standards and regulations for 20spectrum allocations

3.2 RFID taxonomy 213.3 Applications for RFID 23

4 RESEARCH AND 25

DEVELOPMENT (R&D)

4.1 EC Seventh Framework for 25Research and TechnologicalDevelopment

4.2 Outcomes of Japanese research 274.3 Strategy for future research 39

5 JAPANESE ATTENTION TO 40

STANDARDS AND REGULATIONS

5.1 Towards harmonisation on 41spectrum usage

5.2 Human exposure to 42electromagnetic fields

6 DRIVERS FOR ADOPTION 44

6.1 Government initiatives 456.2 Standards 466.3 Cost 486.4 Manufacturing industry 486.5 Regulations 496.6 Supply chain applications 506.7 Other new business opportunities 516.8 Other drivers 536.9 Inhibitors 53

7 APPLICATION FACTORS 56

7.1 Retail 567.2 Corporate records and file 65

management7.3 Healthcare 677.4 Futuristic RFID trial in Tokyo 72

shopping district

8 CONCLUSIONS AND 73

RECOMMENDATIONS

APPENDICES 75

A Mission participants 75B Market overview 82C Organisations visited 83D Regulatory constraints on the 85

use of RFIDE Japanese guidelines for privacy 88

protectionF UK code of practice 93G Scope for collaboration and 95

international conferenceH Glossary 96I Acknowledgments 98

CONTENTS

3


This Global Watch Mission to Japan was thesecond DTI-sponsored mission on radiofrequency identification (RFID) during 2006,which emphasises the importance that the UKGovernment is placing on the technology andthe opportunities it offers to British business.

In May 2006 AIM UK led a mission to theUSA which visited major manufacturers, R&Dorganisations, academic institutions andcompanies which were enforcing mandatorysupplier implementation.

Mission participants have been activelyinvolved in the public consultation on RFIDundertaken by the European Commission,and to complete the global picture it wasimportant to understand the Japaneseapproach, its Government’s policies and theresearch partnerships that are beingdeveloped between the Chinese, Japaneseand Korean Governments.

Mission delegates wanted to gain a clearperspective of the Japanese guidelines forprivacy protection which have beendeveloped with Japanese business andconsumer groups. It is interesting tocompare their opinions with those from theUS mission, where privacy protection was akey issue.

It was also critical to gain information onJapan’s educational agenda for RFID, andhow this relates to UK developments forachieving skills and competency in RFID andother automatic identification and datacapture (AIDC) technologies. The team alsowished to gain an understanding ofstandards requirements both in Japan andacross the partnership between China,Japan and Korea.

Strategic objectives

• To determine Japanese progress in RFIDtechnology and, in particular, their plans tocreate the ubiquitous network societywhere anyone can connect to a computernetwork through the internet, with RFID akey technology for data capture.

• To assess the joint research projectbetween the Chinese, Japanese andKorean Governments on an RFID sensornetwork which will form part of the jointresearch for a ubiquitous network.

• To compare Japanese networkdevelopments with the US-supported EPCnetwork proposals.

• To assess collaboration and allianceopportunities.

• To examine the success of the HibikiProject targeting a price of ¥5 or 5 UScents for RFID tags.

• To identify opportunities for UK-developedmaterials and solutions.

• To encourage technology transfer betweenJapan and the UK.

Mission findings

The Japanese Government has recognisedthe potential of RFID and is backing it withmajor financial investment which will ensurethat Japan’s strong manufacturing base playsa leadership role in RFID applications over thecoming years.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Co-operation has also been establishedbetween government departments and theJapan Automatic Identification SystemsAssociation (JAISA), between governmentdepartments and industry leaders, andbetween Japanese governmentdepartments and counterparts in China and Korea.

Japan is very active in RFID – in developingboth the technology and its applications. TheMinistry of Economy, Trade and Industry(METI) and the Ministry of Internal Affairs andCommunications (MIC) are taking key roles inpromoting RFID R&D in Japan, and havejointly compiled guidelines for privacyprotection. MIC allocated UHF for radiocommunications on RFID tags, METIlaunched the Hibiki Project to make cheaperRFID tags, and the Ubiquitous ID Centreissues certificates for the U Code (UbiquitousIdentification Code) on RFID tags.

METI has identified a number of key issuesconfronting business in Japan:

• Diversification of customer needs• Business restructuring due to ‘selection

and concentration’• Intensification of competition due to the

rise of businesses in Asia• Growing emphasis on environment, safety

and security

These issues have led to calls for:

• Reduced costs• Enhanced customer service• Creation of a new business model• Development of new markets• Strengthening of environmental protection

Another issue is improving co-ordinationbetween businesses based on advances in IT.

The Japanese view of the potential for RFID

The Japanese believe expansion in the use of

RFID has the potential to bring aboutrevolutionary efficiencies across all userindustries including production, distribution,sales, inventory management and wastemanagement. They also believe that RFID tagscould give rise to new services and enhancedinternational competitiveness for all industries.Furthermore, RFID tags have the potential toimprove IT investment, especially in userindustries, and through this overcomeproblems relating to IT investment in Japan.There is a belief that their IT investments lean too heavily on closed proprietarysystems, where tags are reused within aparticular business, and that theestablishment of systems that transcendbusinesses and industries is lagging.

Japan believes that the key to expansion isin areas of business-to-businesstransactions. As a trading nation it hasrecognised that standards must beinternational. Research has shown that mostpotential users would introduce RFID tags ifthe unit price was around ¥5.

Current closed systems showing RFIDapplication growth include:

• Distribution centres – more efficient sorting • Clothing stores – reduced stock taking

times • University hospitals – medical records

location management • Libraries – automated lending• Revolving sushi restaurants –

more efficient billing

In addition RFID tags have long been widelyused for factory automation.

Japan recognises that standardisation isnecessary for global trade and distribution. In2003 it proposed the unification of uniqueitem identification codes for RFID tagging tothe International Standards Organisation(ISO). The result was ISO/IEC15459-4 whichwas finalised in May 2006.

4


Hibiki Project

The result of muchresearch saw theJapanese Governmentputting millions ofpounds into the HibikiProject, targeted at

developing the world’s lowest-priced tag,offering high reliability and performance,and conforming to international standards.It would also be flexible in shape and size;easily attachable anywhere; andenvironmentally friendly, being free fromhazardous materials.

In order to achieve the price target of ¥5,responsibilities within the project needed tobe clearly defined. A Technology DevelopmentCore team was formed comprising a corecompany to assume all responsibility relatingto development and several ‘co-operationcompanies’ to support that development.

Public applications were invited for the corecompany. Hitachi was selected and assumedresponsibility for the development oftechnology for IC chips, antennas, inlets andreader/writer IC chips. Currently there are fourco-operation companies – NEC, Dai NipponPrinting, Toppan Printing and Fujitsu.

The first-stage prototype was completed inAugust 2005, the second stage inDecember 2005 and during the first sixmonths of 2006 prototypes were used andevaluated in field trials.

Key conclusions

The Japanese Government has investedsignificantly in both product and applicationdevelopment. It expects that RFID will be‘big’ for many years to come. The UK hastremendous RFID technical strength andexpertise but lacks the financial support toplace it ahead of the rest of Europe in productand application development.

5


RFID applications

There is a need to harness the opportunitiesthat have emerged and the knowledge gainedfrom the two RFID missions.

Specifically the team believes that the UKGovernment should follow the METI exampleand create specific funding to encourage UKcompanies to adopt and benefit from thetechnology. The Government should take alead in promoting and funding trial projects;agree rules and treatment of privacy issuesand develop a dynamic economicinfrastructure. In the UK there has beenpositive acceptance of the benefits of RFIDto the retail community. There is a need towiden the appeal and acceptance acrossmany more sectors and address those areasthat impact both on business and on people.

6


7


1.1 Radio frequency identification

(RFID)

RFID is a sector of data carrier technologythat has taken on global significance withrespect to the impact it can have uponbusiness and supply chain processes and theopportunities it creates for new products andsystems.

The December 2004 DTI ElectronicInnovation Growth Team Report Vision2005-2015 highlighted the impact thatRFID would have on UK business, offeringscope to improve efficiency, productivityand profitability.

Although global estimates for market impactvary, they all agree on one thing – the marketopportunity for RFID is enormous.

In July 2005 an AMR Research survey of 500companies assessed the RFID market for2005-2007. 69% of respondents indicatedthey were planning to evaluate, pilot orimplement RFID during this period. Amongfactors driving implementation, complianceremained the key issue for most respondents.

On 31 October 2005 a report from Research& Markets forecast that by 2015 900 billionfood items would be tagged and 824 millionlivestock would have more sophisticated andmore expensive tags. The report forecastthat, as a result of disease outbreaks, strictnew legislation would come into force andthe potential for RFID tagging of livestockwould run to billions of Euros annually.

Venture Development Corporation expectsthe global market for RFID systemsrevenues to grow by approximately 36%

annually through 2008 with long-termgrowth outpacing near-term growth. Itpredicts RFID systems revenue will reach£3 billion by 2008.

Frost & Sullivan indicates a value of$800 million (£400 million) in 2001 rising witha yearly growth rate of 33% to $2.5 billion(£1.2 billion) in 2007.

Similarly, RFID has grown gradually in Japanover the past few years but is expected toshow significant growth over the next fiveyears. A survey conducted by C MediaCorporation predicts that the RFID tag marketin Japan will grow from 83 million tags in2006 to 2 billion tags in 2010.

The Nomura Research Institute concludedthat the RFID market would total ¥100 billion(£500 million) by 2009.

There is global agreement that growth will besubstantial now that a number of internationalstandards are in place, along with a growingnumber of edicts from companies such as Wal-Mart (the world’s largest supermarket chain),the US Department of Defense and othersdemanding mandatory supplier implementation.

The Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade andIndustry (METI) and the Japanese Ministry ofInternal Affairs and Communications (MIC)are playing key roles in promoting R&D ofRFID in Japan.

This mission enabled leading UK experts tomeet Japanese government officials andJapanese counterparts to exchangeknowledge and information, and to see howactive Japan is in developing RFID technologyand applications.

1 INTRODUCTION

Because the UK has a substantial ability toinnovate, a primary outcome of the missionwill be to stimulate collaborative innovativecapability towards realising new products,applications and services that could beexploited within the UK, mainland Europe andthe rest of the world, including Japan.

This mission also provided an opportunity todevelop specific insight to assist UKcompanies interested in working in Japaneseand Asian markets, with reciprocalopportunities for Japanese companies.

1.2 Co-ordinating body

AIM UK is the non-commercial, not-for-profitindustry association for all automaticidentification and data capture (AIDC)technologies, which include RFID, bar coding,two-dimensional coding and feature-extraction techniques including biometrics.It represents the world’s leadingmanufacturers and the UK’s key systemintegrators and value-added resellers.

AIM UK is the major sponsor of the multi-million pound European Centre of Excellencefor AIDC Technologies which is currentlybeing established in the north of England.This centre will particularly feature RFID.AIM UK is also working with national andregional government to establish a range ofregional centres.

Established in 1984, AIM UK is disseminatingtechnology and educational information totens of thousands of businesses in the UKthrough strategic partnerships with leadingindustry associations, guilds and institutes.

A number of major Japanese companiesare already represented in the UK andmany of these are members of AIM UK.Similarly, AIM UK worked closely with theoriginal AIM Japan, which has now becomethe Japanese Automatic IdentificationSystems Association (JAISA).

1.3 Benefits to host companies

The mission provided the Japanese hostcompanies with an opportunity to:

• Establish the current status of RFIDtechnology in the UK

• Explore opportunities for collaboration withUK organisations through technologypartnerships or commercial arrangements

• Compare the status of the markets inJapan and the UK

• Review the application potential of RFID inthe UK, European and global markets

1.4 Mission participants

Members of the mission team came from bothacademia and the business community,representing technology researchers,developers, systems integrators and one of theUK’s largest end users, thus providing wideperspective, knowledge and expertise on RFID:

Ian G SmithCEOAIM UKMission Co-ordinator

Prof Anthony FurnessChief Technology OfficerEuropean Centre of Excellence for AIDCMission Academic

James StaffordHead of RFIDMarks & Spencer Group plc

David ArmstrongDirectorRFIP Ltd

Tony KellyDirectorIntandem System Software

Bernard O’SullivanDirectorConsull Ltd

8


The mission team was accompanied by:

Phillip WhiteInternational Technology Promoter (ITP)DTI Global Watch Service

Contact details and biographies of themission participants are given in Appendix A.

1.5 Organisations visited

The mission team met representatives of thefollowing organisations:

• Japan Automatic Identification SystemsAssociation (JAISA)

• Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry(METI)

• Ministry of Internal Affairs andCommunications (MIC)

• Mitsukoshi Ltd• The Suit Company (operated by Aoyama

Trading Co Ltd)• Toppan Forms• YRP Ubiquitous Networking Laboratory• Yodobashi Camera• Ricoh Company Ltd• Um no Machi sushi bar• HP RFID Noisy Laboratory• Ubiquitous Platform Systems R&D Lab• Hitachi Ltd• Fujitsu Ltd

1.6 About this report

This report has been prepared byamalgamating the contributions of eachparticipant and should be viewed as a jointeffort to which all mission team membershave made a contribution.

9


10


2.1 Japan – some facts and figures

Population 127 million (UK 60 million)Land mass 378,000 sq km (UK 295,000 sq km)

The economy:

• 15% of world GDP• Japanese economy is more than twice the

size of the rest of Asia• 25% of world’s savings• 25% of world’s R&D• 46% of Japanese investment in the EU is

in the UK• Top five Japanese companies invest more

in R&D than the whole of the UK (publicand private sector)

• 12 Japanese cities have more than amillion citizens

2.2 Japanese vision for RFID

RFID figures prominently in a Ministry ofInternal Affairs and Communications (MIC)publication, Making Japan’s Future Brighterand More Familiar to Citizens.

The target: ‘We will endeavour to implementthe daily administrative functions involvingJapanese citizens to build a socialinfrastructure that supports a brilliantnational future.’

The six key administrative programmes forfiscal year 2005 which are still ongoing were:

• Ensuring the safety and security of thepublic

• Promoting administrative reforms• Realising a truly decentralised society• Promoting e-Government and

e-municipality

• Realising a ubiquitous network society(u-Japan)

• Promoting a new postal administration

Ensuring the safety and security of the public

Taking advantage of ICT, MIC is committed tobuilding a society in which everyone can live ina safe and secure environment. In such asociety the safety of food and drugs, forexample, is in part controlled by RFID tags,and abnormal occurrences such as acutediseases are dealt with by a sensor network.Problems such as traffic jams, accidents orenvironmental deterioration are resolvedthrough intelligent transport systems (ITS).

MIC is determined to advance R&D innetwork human interface technology tocreate an environment where everybody canuse network information in a safe andsecure manner.

Ensuring food safety and security throughRFID tags

The RFID tag attached to stock farm productsmanages information relating to history andportions. The consumer will be able to checkthis information at the shop or at home, aswell as obtaining recipes.

2 SETTING THE SCENE

Securing drug safety and security throughRFID tags

The RFID tag helps prevent medical accidentsresulting from improper drug administration,provides information about the efficacy andside effects of drugs at a shop or at home,and warns against the danger of takingmultiple drugs at the same time.

Ensuring safety and security throughsensor networks

In a medical emergency, a sensor transmitsinformation on the patient’s condition from

the ambulance to the hospital in real time,allowing a doctor to give advice on treatmentto staff in the ambulance.

Securing safety and security through ITS

ITS uses advanced ITC to reduce traffic jamsand accidents, and to create a safe andcomfortable driving environment.

Realising a ubiquitous network society (u-Japan)

u-Japan promises an affluent, dynamicsociety where anybody, regardless of age,disability etc, can use the communicationsnetwork any time and anywhere.

Development of ubiquitous networks

In addition to developing information/communication networks, including fibreoptics capable of transmitting TV

11


programmes and movies involving largevolumes of information, MIC is developing aseamless ubiquitous network that is fusedwith the wireless network. It is currentlyworking on next-generation backbonetechnology and improving the advanced R&Dtest bed network.

2.3 Promoting effective use of RFID

The last three years have seen significantRFID development in Japan with considerablefinancial support and encouragement fromgovernment departments. The Governmenthas established an Inter-Agency LiaisonGroup to strengthen the co-ordination ofmeasures by various agencies. The firstmeeting was in November 2004.

It was agreed that the Ministry of Economy,Trade and Industry (METI) would beresponsible for promoting industry field trialsof RFID. These included trials for homeappliances, electronics, industrial machinery,department stores and apparel, CDs andDVDs, publishing, pharmaceutical productsand international distribution.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry andFisheries promoted and conducted field trialsin the food sector, developing advancedsystems for food safety and security usingubiquitous technologies. The Ministry of Land,Infrastructure and Transport promoted support

projects for autonomous movement, includingthe establishment of systems designed torealise new location-finding services.

Networks

A second major initiative covered networking.MIC undertook R&D of basic technology forrealising a ubiquitous network society, includingco-ordinating and controlling 10 billion terminals;ubiquitous network authentication and agenttechnology; and ubiquitous network control andmanagement technology.

It was also responsible for R&D into theeffective use of RFID tags, includingtechnology for the exchange andmanagement of RFID tag informationbetween various systems, interconnectionbetween tags and networks, and securitycontrol.

Manufacturing technology

A third initiative headed by METI was thedevelopment of low-cost RFID tags forrationalising the whole supply chain. TheHibiki Project’s target was to deliver tags witha sales price of ¥5 within two years. TheJapanese Ministry of Education, Culture,Sports, Science and Technology was alsoinvolved in the project, undertaking R&D onnext-generation embedded software and highsecurity RFID tags.

12


RFID tags had long been used in forautomation in Japanese factories. Now theauthorities saw new potential growth areas:

• Solutions to global policy challenges• Significant high-volume applications to

manage economic, industrial and marketstructure changes

• Quick solutions to a lack of volume andquality in IT investments

• Seamless integration into existingeconomic activities

They saw the potential superiority of RFID:

• Ease of use – doesn’t require substantialtraining

• Format free – integration between systemsand effective use of existing assets

• Technology neutral – continuing investmentin R&D

A policy on RFID tags was developed:

• Increase the number of companies usingRFID and promote trial projects

• Establish a legal infrastructure – createrules and treatment of privacy issues (MICand METI, June 2004)

• Economic infrastructure – make effectiveuse of existing systems

Economy and reliability were also keyissues:

• Low-priced merchandise for disposableuse, free from the digital divide barrier forexpanding use of RFID by small companiesand less developed countries

• Durability for daily and repeated continuoushandling in various situations

In this respect, the importance of systemssupply called for:

• High reliability with actual results – theHibiki tag. Hitachi’s µ-Chip has alreadyachieved sufficient reliability

• Performance limit of RFID by wirelesstechnology – the highest reliability RFIDsystem realised by interaction betweenguideline and technology

The Japanese also recognised the importanceof contributing to the establishment ofinternational standards.

The Hibiki Project has proved a major success,creating the world’s lowest priced tag, offeringhigh reliability and performance, conforming tointernational standards (ISO/IEC 18000-6 TypeC = EPC Global C1G2), flexible in shape andsize, easily attachable anywhere, andenvironmentally friendly, being free fromhazardous materials.

Privacy issues

Early on, there was concern in Japan that ifitems were delivered with RFID tags stillattached, the information on the tags could beread remotely by third parties without theconsumer realising. This could be particularlyproblematic if personal information wasrecorded on the tags.

The former Ministry of Public Management,Home Affairs, Posts and Telecommunications(now MIC) and METI collaborated on a set ofprivacy guidelines, which were later adjustedin line with ISO and other internationalstandards.

The ‘Guidelines for privacy protection withregard to RFID tags’ cover six key areas:

1. Applicable targets – the operators usingthe tags, when the tags remain attached tothe goods after they are handed over toconsumers.

2. Mandatory display of RFID tagging andother notices – to indicate the presenceand location of tags on a product orpackage.

13


3. Maintaining the right of consumers tochoose whether information stored in RFIDtags can be read or not. The public shouldbe aware that they have the right to makethe information stored in the tagunreadable.

4. Restrictions on storing personalinformation in RFID tags. The followingrules should be observed:

• Notice or disclosure of purpose of itsuse to the individual

• The individual’s consent to its use forpurposes other than the original intent

• Securing accuracy and update of thepersonal information

• Disclosing or modifying information atthe consumer’s request

• Prevention of loss, damage, alterationand leakage of the stored information

5. Appointing an information administrator.

6. Briefing and providing information toconsumers. The Government andconcerned organisations such as theOperators Organisation will make efforts tohelp consumers understand RFID tags byproviding information such as the purposesof their use, characteristics, advantagesand disadvantages.

For further information, see Appendix E.

2.4 Field trials

Since 2003, the Japanese Government hassupported field trials in several userindustries which envisaged the practicalapplication of RFID tags and concurrentlyexamined improvements to the supply chainfor each industry.

Industrial field trials commenced in homeappliances, apparel, publishing and fooddistribution in 2003.

In 2004, trials were expanded to cover sevenbusiness fields working with a whole range ofindustry associations. The overviews for thetrials were as follows:

1. Develop a supply chain system forconstruction and similar machinery, fromcomponents factories to distributionagents; verify its operating efficiency, and inparticular aim for a zero-inventory businessmodel by ordering components in real time.

2. Develop a supply chain system frombookbinding plants to distribution agentsand verify its operating efficiency; aim todevelop a mechanism for stolen books andother illegally distributed items in order forsecond-hand book stores to determinewhether or not to make purchases.

3. Develop a supply chain system fromelectronic component plants to homeappliance assembly plants, distributionwarehouses and retailers; verify its operatingefficiency; be able to trace hazardoussubstances contained in components andestablish a business model designed forrecycling efficiencies for home appliances.

4. Develop a supply chain system frompharmaceutical plants to hospitals; verifyits operating efficiency; aim for a systemstructure where the traceability ofbiological and pharmaceutical products asrequired under the Pharmaceutical AffairsLaw can be conducted efficiently.

5. Develop a supply chain system fromapparel and shoe factories to wholesalers,department stores and speciality shopsand verify its operating efficiency; aim fora system structure that raises customersatisfaction without missing any salesopportunities on the sales floor, bymaking inventory management at storesmore efficient.

14


6. Conduct verification related to theeffectiveness of security measures forfreight containers between the ports ofTokyo, Yokohama, Nagoya, Osaka and Kobeand the ports of various districts aroundthe world, as well as verification of theefficiencies of port operations.

7. Develop a supply chain system from CDand DVD press factories to distributionwarehouses; retail and rental stores; andverify its operating efficiency; establishnew marketing techniques in stores suchas audio visual systems, coupled withRFID tags.

The outcomes of these trials compared withbar code solutions were significant:

1. Construction – the outcome reduced theequivalent of ¥2.7 billion (£11 million) inpersonnel costs through savings of labourat delivery receipt.

2,3,4. Reduced inspection times by about 90%.

5. The annual saving was ¥10 billion(£40 million) as a result of shortenedstocktaking and inspection times at deliveryreceipt and despatch; sales increased by10% due to reduction in lost sales backedby swift provision of inventory information.As a result, from April 2005 somedepartmental stores took up full-scaleimplementation of RFID tag systems.

6. Annual personnel cost reduction of ¥20.5billion (£86 million) due to labour savings atgoods inspection.

7. Stock-taking time was reduced by 75%.

The trials showed that RFID tags provided theability to extract great value from economicand industrial activities. Based on the results,certain industries planned full-scaleimplementation of RFID tags.

Since RFID tagging systems have a diverserange of attributes, and since they act as anIT tool for raising the competitiveness of acompany in a range of ways, it was agreedthat more field trials would be conductedfrom various perspectives, and plans laid forexpanding their use. Four broad-rangingthemes were set for 2005 and proposalsinvited from industries and companies:

Theme 1: Industrial restructuring andadministrative reform promotion projects

This project aims to maintain and strengthenJapan’s international competitiveness byintegrating and co-ordinating with mission-critical systems, and by promoting projectsthat fundamentally review businessprocesses, including real-time links betweensales performance and production plans,the integration of commercial distribution andphysical distribution, the integration ofmanufacturing and sales, and the realisationof traceability that goes as far as recycling.

Theme 2: New industry creation projects

This project aims for Japan to take the lead increating new industries in the globalmarketplace by developing technologies thatcan realise the potential of RFID tags.

Theme 3: Inter-industry co-operationprojects

A series of company groups ranging fromupstream to downstream in the distribution ofgoods will team up vertically and horizontallyacross industry borders to promoting transferfrom ‘intra-industry’ to ‘inter-industry’ bycreating a common infrastructure for RFIDtags in wholesale and retail fields.

Theme 4: International co-operationprojects

This project will create a commoninfrastructure for RFID tags (mainly in China,

15


Japan, Korea and other Asian countries)which complies with ISO internationalstandards:

• More advanced and efficient logistics anddistribution for companies in various EastAsian countries

• Achievement of traceability to contribute totrade safety and security

• Review of the direction of one-stop servicesystems for trade-related procedures

Results of the 2005 trials have not yet beenreleased.

Summary

METI has narrowed its key policy issues totwo – international standardisation and pricereduction – and is strategically pushingforward with RFID tag related policies.

RFID tags are not viewed by METI as all-powerful tools. However, it believes that ifuser businesses can analyse their ownoperational issues with calm deliberation, andif they can discover practical ways of usingRFID tags, then the tags will demonstratetremendous force.

METI believes that user businesses should bethe driving force behind RFID expansion, andis continuing to support businesses which aredeveloping the strengths of RFID tags.

2.5 Japan Automatic Identification

Systems Association (JAISA)

Established in 1999 and governed by METI,JAISA (formerly AIM Japan) promotes highlyefficient and advanced systems of physicaldistribution, circulation etc, by planningresearch related to automatic identificationsystems and promoting standardisation.

16


Changes in delivery amount of automatic identification

JAISA’s Statistics and Research Committeeestimated that in 2005 shipment of RFID tagsand equipment was worth ¥32 billion(£130 million). This equated to 30.38 millionlabels, 10 million of which were used at theAICHI Expo, compared with a bar codemarket estimated at ¥192.2 billion (£800million) (readers ¥49.9 billion (£200 million),printers ¥43.7 billion (£180 million), supplies¥88.6 billion (£370 million)).

JAISA has identified three challenges for thefuture dissemination of RFID tags:

• Privacy issues• Waste issues• Interference to medical equipment

These challenges cover a range of issues:

• Social – security, privacy, waste, safety(interference to medical equipment, healtheffects), IP rights

• Technical – water, metals, reflection waves,back-up system coexistence with bar code(data configuration)

• Demands of the market – sensor tags(temperature sensor etc), cost reduction ofRFID tags

Waste issues relate to the fact that objectswith an RFID tag attached (cardboard etc) arenot recyclable. Studies are under way to solvethis problem and to examine the ease ofdetachment.

In the case of medical equipment, there areparticular concerns relating to interferencewith heart pacemakers and defibrillators.

17


18


RFID is a collective term for an expandingrange of data carrier technologies andassociated products that facilitate dataexchange between a carrier and a hostinformation management system by meansof a radio frequency wireless link. RFIDtechnologies are part of a wider category ofautomatic identification and data capture(AIDC) technologies, which include bar codes,two-dimensional codes and magnetic andother encoding modalities.

RFID uses data carriers in the form of tags ortransponders to store numeric or alpha-numeric codes that can be machine read andused to identify the items they areembedded in, attached to or otherwiseaccompanying. RFID and other AIDCtechnologies may also be used to carryadditional data. Such data may be viewed asitem-attendant and have relevance to almostevery aspect of item management or control.Suitable items include virtually any entity thatrequires management, be it in production,storage and retrieval, distribution, sales, use,maintenance, access and security or anyother aspect of industrial, commercial orservice endeavour. Entities include rawmaterials, components, sub-assemblies,products, packages, containers, pallets andeven animals, human beings and locations.

Coding for identification purposes is animportant part of all AIDC systems. A rangeof coding or numbering systems have beendeveloped for this purpose, some proprietaryand others introduced to serve as moreglobal, open system identifiers. For open,global systems a standardised approach isclearly important, with electronic productcode (EPC), EAN.UCC legacy systems andubiquitous identification (UID) logical

contenders. Standards have evolved to helpfacilitate unique identification, ISO/IEC 15459-4 (currently under revision) ‘System of UniqueItem Identification Codes’ and ISO/IEC 15963‘Unique ID for RF Tags’ having been devisedfor this purpose.

Considered as a range of technologies,products and associated principles forhandling the transfer and processing of dataor information, RFID is a versatile andpowerful platform for business product andprocess developments and, when thetechnologies are effectively applied, for radicalprocess re-engineering. Indeed, the datacarrier capabilities embrace a wide variety ofdata-supported transactions and functionsthat have relevance in virtually every sector ofindustry, commerce and services.

RFID shares the characteristic features ofaccuracy and speed of machine-readable dataacquisition generally associated with otherAIDC technologies, of which the ubiquitousbar code is the classic example. In fact thetechnologies and associated products addfurther dimension, complementarity andcapability to the range of AIDC technologiesnow available for item-attendant datamanagement and other applications.

In a world increasingly dominated by ICT andthe development of ubiquitous computingand networks, item-attendant data carriertechnologies will assume greater significance.Similarly, the realisation of electroniccommerce will require data carriers forhandling products with immediacy, speed andflexibility. RFID and other AIDC technologieshave an important role to play in suchdevelopments.

3 RADIO FREQUENCY IDENTIFICATION (RFID)

19


Despite a long and established place in AIDC,RFID technologies and standards have onlynow reached a point in their evolution whereassociated products exhibit price, function andperformance attributes that are attractive to abroad-based prospective user community. Theuse of RFID is expanding, but not perhaps asrapidly as some stakeholders would wish andsome industry pundits predict. However, theirexpectations may be realised as high-volumeapplications exert an influence upon broadersectors of industry and commerce, and moreapplication standards are developed to supportopen systems exploitation of the technology.

From a functional standpoint RFID exhibitsthe ability to carry data in a suitable carrier(tag/transponder) and recover that data (read)or modify (write) it as and when required by awireless electromagnetic communicationprocess across what is essentially an airinterface. The transfer of data between a tagand its interrogator (reader/programmer) via awireless air interface is a fundamental featureof RFID, the transfer being achieved withoutthe need for direct exposure, line-of-sightalignment with the tag.

RFID systems comprise a set of data carriertags supported by an interrogator(reader/encoder) or reader for reading and,where appropriate, writing to tags (seediagram below). Systems are also generallysupported by middleware to facilitate themanagement of communications, datatransfer and interfacing of applicationcommands and responses, and a hostinformation management facility withappropriate applications software.

RFID systems can generally be taken toencompass any data carrier and readerdevices that can facilitate data transferbetween the two using wireless, radiofrequency communication means. Radiofrequency in this context ranges from <135kHz through to microwave frequencies up to5.8 GHz (exceptionally up to 25 GHz) withparticular bands <135 kHz, 13.56 MHz, 433MHz, 860-960 MHz, 2.45 GHz) distinguishedparticularly for RFID purposes in accordancewith regulatory controls.

RFID systems

20


3.1 Standards and regulations for

spectrum allocations

RFID data carriers (tags) and associatedsystems are generally considered to be partof a general category of radio-based shortrange devices (SRDs) designed to operate inregions of the electromagnetic (EM)spectrum that do not require operatinglicenses and do not incur operating fees.Being licence free they invariably share thespectrum allocation with other spectrumusers and without the benefits of protectionafforded to licensed users of EM spectrum.Although transparent to the user, themanufacturers of RFID systems need tocomply with the essential regulations andstandards in respect of:

• Spectrum allocations and associatedoperating constraints

• Health and safety• EM compatibility• Avoidance of interference with other

spectrum users• Compliance with national interface

regulations• Other regulations and directives

concerning system usage

They may also be required to carry outessential testing for compliance purposes.The necessary requirements to be met willbe available from the spectrum managementauthorities in respective countries.

The carrier frequency is an importantconsideration in both reactive andpropagation systems. It distinguishes thevehicle for carrying data across the airinterface. It also provides a convenientclassifier for distinguishing the reactive andpropagation-based divisions of RFIDtechnology and the spectral regulatoryconstraints that govern its use in differentcountries of the world.

The primary carrier frequency regionsdistinguished for RFID, for which there is adegree of international harmonisation,include:

• Low frequency (LF) – less than 130 kHz(inductive)

• High frequency (HF) – 13.56 MHz(inductive)

• Ultra high frequency (UHF) – 433 MHz(propagation)

• UHF – 860-960 MHz (propagation)• UHF/microwave – 2.56 GHz (propagation)• Super high frequency (SHF)/microwave –

5.8 GHz (propagation)

[Note: The frequency designation is basedupon the electromagnetic spectrumdesignations identified through theRadiocommunications Agency – LF (30-300kHz), MF (300 kHz-3 MHz), HF (3-30 MHz),Very High Frequency (30-300 MHz), UHF (300MHz-3 GHz) and SHF (3-30 GHz)]

Other SRDs include alarm systems,telemetry, anti-theft devices, radiomicrophones and radio-based wireless localarea networks (WLANs). These are devicesdesigned to operate in regions of the EMspectrum with general licence type approvalwith no associated fee payable by users. Theyare characterised by short-range, uni-directional or bi-directional communicationoperating at low power levels, typically10-500 mW. However, channel allocationswith 2 W (ERP) operation levels have alsobeen introduced in Europe for RFID systemsoperating at UHF.

The use of EM spectrum, particularly for radiobroadcast and communications, is carefullycontrolled. SRDs generally operate in sharedbands, must not interfere with otherspectrum users and, because of the typeapproval, cannot claim protection fromlicensed radio service spectrum users. It istherefore incumbent upon SRDmanufacturers to ensure compliance and be

21


aware of any implications concerningpotential inference from other spectrumusers. In Europe SRD products must complywith the Radio and TelecommunicationsTerminal Equipment (R&TTE) Directive (1999)before they can be marketed within theEuropean Community. Details of the directivecan be obtained from the EuropeanRadiocommunications Office (www.ero.dk).

With the emergence of local communicationstrategies such as WiFi, Bluetooth andZigBee, and indeed wider area strategiesadopted for mobile phone communications,opportunities are being seen and exploited forusing RFID principles in other supportplatforms, including mobile computers,personal digital assistants (PDAs), mobilephones and other proprietary mobilestructures, with associated platformidentifiers, such as MAC addresses, beingused for identification purposes. These areclearly important developments and open upstill further opportunities for innovativeapplications and products.

3.2 RFID taxonomy

From a more traditional viewpoint two broadcategories of technology can be distinguished,based upon the means by which the attendantdata is stored and communicated. They aregenerally referred to as chip-based and chip-less RFID technologies.

As far as product visibility is concerned, chip-less RFID devices are generally viewed to bemore in the nature of niche technologies thanthe chip-based category. However,antecedents such as near-contact Wiegandcards for access control purposes have long-standing and established markets andongoing developments in chip-less modalitiesoffer prospects for new devices.

When it comes to chip-based RFID, twoprincipal categories can be distinguished,based upon the mechanism by which data istransferred between the tags and the reader.Both involve EM fields suitably modified or,more accurately, modulated to achieve

Introduction of commoditising technology and low-output type

22


Radio frequency identification (RFID)

Transponders/tags

Inlet structures

Tag-basedproducts

Tag-basedproducts Applications

Inlet structures Transponders/tags

Contactless‘smart’ card

‘Smart’ labels ‘Smart’ paper(re-writable

paper

Electronic articlesurveillance

(EAS)

Applications Applications Applications(New)

Applications

Chip-based RFID

Chips

Chip-less RFID

Applications

Chip-based radio frequency identification (RFID)

Reactively coupled Propagation coupled

Active and passive tag systems Active and passive tag systems

Low and high frequency systems, typically <135 kHz and 13.56 MHz

UHF and SHF (microwave) frequencysystems, typically 860-960 MHz,

2.45 GHz and 5.8 GHz

Capacitively coupled systems

Inductively coupled systems

Combination systemseg inductively coupled interrogation –

propagation response

23


wireless transfer via an ‘air interface’. The firstcategory uses a close proximity, modulatedreactive coupling mechanism, while thesecond uses modulated, propagating orradiating EM waves as the means of datatransfer. Coupling is via ‘antenna’ structuresforming an integral feature in tags and readers/interrogators.

The principal technique for reactive coupling isinductive in nature, exploiting a predominatingmagnetic field for tethered coupling betweentag and reader antenna coils. Reactivecoupling by means of a predominating electricfield has also been exploited for RFIDpurposes but is by no means a prevalent asinductively coupled systems.

In each of the categories identified for RFID arange of data carrier device structures andform factors can be distinguished, relating toavailable products and levels of use for bothmanufacturers and end-users.

Active and passive tag technologies areavailable in each category. Active deviceshave an integral source of power whilepassive devices rely upon the interrogation orreader to provide power via the radio fieldsthey generate. The active category can befurther delineated into semi-passive andactive, the former including some relianceupon the interrogation fields for data transferpurposes. Tag-based power sources helpfacilitate not only greater performance, suchas increased range, but also the ability tosupport additional functionality such assensory capability, location or positioningfunctions, enhanced security functions andnetworking. This richness in structures yieldsa range of attributes to satisfy wide-rangingneeds, with associated cost and performanceimplications. Standards, including air-interface,data protocol, conformance and application,add strength and confidence in distinguishingtechnology and system products to meetneeds, particularly where open-systemrequirements are indicated.

Further categories of RFID systems and tagtechnology can be distinguished, including:

• Security• Sensory• Networking• Location• High temperature• Personal identification• Animal• Vehicle

Prospects for integration with othertechnologies open still further opportunitiesfor new products and functions.

3.3 Applications for RFID

RFID both shares and contributes to the richcombination of attributes that characteriseAIDC and provide the basis for applications invirtually every sector of industry, commerceand services where physical entities need tobe identified and data collected. RFID’sattributes are complementary to other datacapture technologies and thus satisfyrequirements that cannot be accommodatedby alternative technologies. Principal areasidentified for RFID include:

• Transportation and logistics – in whichtagging is being used to identify vehiclesand items, to provide more effectivetracking and traceability within the varioussupply chains, support for quick responseand proof of delivery and a foundation formore efficient fleet management.

• Security and access control – throughitem tagging, surveillance and itemrecovery, enhanced asset managementand access control.

• Supply chain management – through itemtagging and a range of container identificationand data carrier applications to facilitate moreeffective supply chain management.

• Asset management – through identificationof wide-ranging assets to facilitate inventorycontrol, track and traceability.

24


• Road toll applications – using vehicletags to allow access through toll gates andautomatic transaction support for feemanagement.

• Automobile immobilisation – usingidentification codes to facilitate vehicleaccess and control over the immobilisationof the engine management system.

• Animal identification – providingconvenient and accurate identification ofanimals for the purposes of movementtracking and traceability, feed-conversioncontrol and breeding management.

• Manufacturing and processing –providing added dimension to flexiblemanufacturing, condition monitoring ofmachine tools and process enhancement.

• Healthcare, patient flow management –greater efficiency, shorter patient waitingtimes and improved safety.

Other examples include real-time location,rental tracking and baggage handling.

As smart labels (low-cost RFID tags in labelinlets) become more prevalent and tagging ofreusable containers gain ground, substantialmarkets may be expected within supply chainlogistics and handling of items, such as airlinebaggage and postal packages. Thedevelopment of rewritable paper introduces afurther dimension in smart media and thefacility for visualising item-attendantdata/information, opening up beneficialopportunities for applications in manufacturing,production and the supply chain.

A range of miscellaneous applications mayalso be distinguished, some of which aresteadily growing in terms of applicationnumbers. These include:

• Waste management• Time and attendance – to replace

conventional ‘slot card’ timekeeping systems

As more international standards emerge,technology develops still further and costsreduce, considerable growth can be expectedin terms of application numbers and newareas of application. Some of the moreprominent areas include:

• Electronic article surveillance – clothingretail outlets being typical

• Protection of valuable equipment againsttheft, unauthorised removal or assetmanagement

• Controlled access to vehicles, parkingareas and fuel facilities – depot facilitiesbeing typical

• Automated toll collection for roads andbridges

• Controlled access of personnel to secureor hazardous locations

• Animal husbandry – for identification insupport of individualised feedingprogrammes

• Automatic identification of tools innumerically controlled machines – tofacilitate condition monitoring of tools, foruse in managing tool usage and minimisingwaste due to excessive machine tool wear

• Identification of product variants and processcontrol in flexible manufacture systems

• Identification of athletes and event-timerecording

• Electronic monitoring of offenders

A number of factors influence the suitabilityof RFID for given applications. The applicationneeds must be carefully determined andexamined with respect to the attributes thatRFID and other data collection technologiescan offer. Where RFID is identified as acontender, further considerations have to bemade in respect of the applicationenvironment from an EM standpoint,standards, and legislation concerning use offrequencies and power levels.

25


RFID is an evolving technology that exhibitsgreat potential for commercial exploitation innew products and processes. Its features arebeing determined by a broadening foundationfor R&D on a worldwide basis, with a numberof countries, notably the USA, Korea, Chinaand Japan, having already made substantialinvestments in R&D activities. Some of thesedevelopments are incremental in nature anddirected at lowering costs and enhancingperformance. Others are reaching forwardinto associated areas including ubiquitouscomputing and network development.Sensory and security needs are fosteringR&D into new devices and standards forRFID functionality and integration. This activityis likely to expand rapidly over the next fewyears as further opportunities are seen forapplications and product innovation.

The aim of the mission with respect to R&Dwas to gain a perspective on research activityand how it relates to developments in the UKand Europe.

Because of the interest in identifying potentialcollaboration between UK and Japaneseorganisations, it was also felt necessary todraw a comparison between Japaneseresearch initiatives and the strategy beingconsidered within the EU as a result of the EUconsultation programme for RFID, and theopportunities that the EC Seventh FrameworkProgramme for Research and TechnologicalDevelopment may provide with respect to ICT.

4.1 EC Seventh Framework for

Research and Technological

Development

The EU consultation on RFID, ‘The RFIDRevolution: Your Voice on the Challenges,

Opportunities and Threats’(http://ec.europa.eu/yourvoice) is a vehiclefor determining the future direction for RFIDin Europe and its impact upon EuropeanCommission (EC) programmes for research.The consultation organisers were due toreport their findings in December 2006, buthave deferred until 2007. A preliminaryoverview of results was published on 16October 2006. While the preliminary resultsdo not constitute an official EC position, theyprovide some insight into the issues andresponses arising from the consultation.

The results project a strong EPC-orientedview of RFID and associated standards,coupled with reference to the EPC-engendered ‘Internet of Things’ as a focusfor further developments. In each of theserespects the basis for consultation is clearlybiased and without due consideration of thetruly international platform for RFIDdevelopments and standards. While many ofthe observations arising from the US GlobalWatch Mission on RFID resonate with EUattention to EPC-based technology andstandards, the Japanese mission hasbrought into sharp relief the importantcontrasting developments that have beentaking place in Japan, Korea and China andhaving significant impact in other parts ofthe world including Australia.

These developments include:

• An identification numbering system knownas ubiquitous ID (UID) that parallels theEPC system

• RFID tag developments, supportedthrough the Hibiki Project, directed atachieving a ¥5 tag (~ 5 US cent) capable ofsupport UID, which again parallels the

4 RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT (R&D)

26


developments with respect to achievingthe 5 cent EPC tag

• Network developments based upon long-standing research through the JapaneseTRON project which has yielded aubiquitous computing and networkarchitecture that forms the basis for amore flexible concept than that beingproposed for the ‘Internet of Things’

These parallels demand urgent UK and EUconsideration, particularly if they are serious intheir attention to globalisation, internationalco-operation and global harmonisation of RFIDstandards. Already, there is a danger of the‘Internet of Things’ becoming entrenched inthe EU thinking and strategy for RFID beforedue consideration has been given to otherdevelopments that could have a significantimpact. The EU consultation exercise hasgone as far as seeking views on a governancemodel for the ‘Internet of Things’. Fortunately,the majority response to this question hasindicated the need for the model to be builtupon ‘transparent, fair and non-discriminatoryinternational principles, free of commercialinterest’. Given this assertion, it is hopeful thatthe developments can be directed by moreinclusive considerations.

Other observations on R&D undertakenduring the mission that have relevance to theconsultation process and the recentlyannounced EC 7th Framework for Research(particularly the ITC component of theprogramme) include:

• Accommodation of spectrum issues andharmonisation

• Privacy and data protection• Security in respect of stored and

communicated data/information• Safety with respect to exposure to

electromagnetic fields

Once again the observations resonate withthose obtained during the earlier mission tothe USA.

The following draws attention to theseobservations, and to other innovativedevelopments that provide the basis forcollaboration on RFID R&D, including associatedtechnologies, notably RFID-integrated re-writable visual media, that add dimension andgreater capability for integrated use of RFID.

In seeking to gain a perspective on research,mission delegates are always faced with theinevitable problems of confidentiality, secrecyand proprietary protection. The nearer tocurrent research activity, the greater theproblem. As a consequence the perspectiveinvariably represents a view on completedresearch and largely completedcommercialisation, while exercisingprojections on what may be in train or inprospect. It is on this basis that a view ispresented. Even though some of thedevelopments reported are based upon long-standing research they have value inpresenting a view of RFID that is currentlyabsent from the UK and Europe.

In taking this position it was consideredimportant to look at the formative role andassociated policies of Japanese governmentdepartments on RFID, notably the Ministryof Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) andthe Ministry of Internal Affairs andCommunications (MIC). It has becomeabundantly clear that the JapaneseGovernment views RFID as a veryimportant area of R&D and commercialpotential. Moreover, its early attention toRFID and its relevance to other e-commerceand ubiquitous computing technologies isproviding Japan with a significantcommercial advantage and prospects withrespect to ICT and global commerce.

The developments in RFID and associatedtechnology arising from within Japan can beseen as a potential east-west divide. To avertthe problems that such a divide mayprecipitate it is important to establish aplatform for international collaboration and

27


research that incorporates a significant UK andbroader EU investment. This is necessary toachieve a truly international framework foropen systems RFID that can satisfy item-attendant data and information needs in globaltrade, communications and networks. The UKhas, through its expertise and presence inAIDC and item-attendant ICT, the prospect ofboth influencing and benefiting from a newgeneration thrust with respect to integratedRFID technology and associated products.

Through the Seventh Framework Programmethe EU also has the opportunity to collaboratewith Japan on new generation technology andprogression with respect to ubiquitouscomputing and networking that exploits thepotential of RFID. The latter is also important inrespect of MIC’s launch of the u-Japan initiative(December 2004), a new ICT strategic conceptdirected at creating a ubiquitous networksociety which will enable users high-speedaccess, at any time and anywhere, to a widerange of support services, through seamlesswired and wireless internet connectivity. OtherJapanese ministries, and ministries from Chinaand Korea, are collaborating with MIC on newareas of research concerning RFID sensorynetworks and security. RFID is also seen as animportant technology in key areas of researchconcerning:

• Energy and environmental sustainability• ICT• Materials science relating to component

developments• Nanoelectronics and other aspects of

nanotechnology, including sensors• Software radio• Speech synthesis• Smart visualisation media

A further feature of Japanese Governmentattention to RFID is its response to regulatoryneeds. MIC has moved quickly to designatespectrum and power levels for UHF RFIDtechnology in response to identified needswithin the worldwide markets for RFID

systems and products. As in the USA, follow-through commercial development of deviceshas recognised the disparities in nationalallocation of spectrum and developed tagsthat can operate on multiple frequencies oracross a wide UHF band. These developmentsmay assist in relieving any east-west divide.

4.2 Outcomes of Japanese research

As indicated above, four principal areas ofresearch and follow-through commercialexploitation were identified during themission, each having significant implicationswith respect to the RFID market, applicationpotential and prospects for ongoing research:

• TRON, T-Engine and Ubiquitous ID project• Hibiki Project• Ricoh RFID-integrated re-writable media• Tagging technology to meet mixed

spectrum demands

4.2.1 T-Engine and ubiquitous ID:Japanese architecture forubiquitous computing and datacapture (YRP UbiquitousNetworking Laboratory)

T-Engine is an architecture developed in Japanthat is arguably one of the most advancedplatforms for ubiquitous computing anywherein the world. It has evolved from an opencomputing and communications architecture(TRON project) developed in the 1980s byProf Ken Sakamura, one of Japan’s leadingcomputer architects.

Prof Ken Sakamura

28


The T-Engine concept embraces the needfor AIDC, including RFID, and facilitates thedevelopment and distribution of softwareresources, including middleware basedupon its T-Kernel compact real-timeoperating system.

T-Engine architecture forms the basis for avery powerful extended framework forubiquitous computing, identification, datacapture and enhanced security support. Threeprincipal entities considered togetherconstitute this extended framework:

• T-Engine technology• Ubiquitous ID• Economy and Entity TRON (eTRON)

T-Engine technology

The T-Engine architecture now constitutes acomprehensive platform for ubiquitouscomputing, including standardised hardware,tamper-resistant network security and sensornetworks. Much of this development,including the T-Kernel and T-Enginedevelopment hardware is under the auspicesof the T-Engine Forum, a consortium set up in2002 involving five leading Japanese chipmanufacturers and 17 other Japanesetechnology companies. The forum now hasnearly 500 members, including nearly all ofJapan’s blue chip companies. It also has agrowing number of international technologygiants including Sony, Toyota, Microsoft, Sunand IBM. Stemming from this membershiphas been the introduction of T-Kernelextensions porting platforms for Java, Linuxand Microsoft that allow further versatility inapplication processing.

The T-Engine technology constitutes a groupof hardware devices and developmentplatforms comprising:

• Standard T-Engine – constitutes arelatively compact (75 mm x 120 mm)platform for developing devices with

comparatively advanced user interfacefeatures, such as portable data capture andtransfer devices incorporating featuressuch as liquid crystal display panels andtouch keypads. Equipped with versatileUSB and serial interface features, theStandard T-Engine also constitutes asignificant platform for engineering massproduction data collection products.

• µT-Engine (micro T-Engine) – constitutes a smaller (60 mm x 85 mm)development platform for less demandinginterface requirements and smallerembedded applications, such as homeelectronic devices.

• nT-Engine (nano T-Engine) – constitutes anetwork node development platform,generally exploiting external power andwired connections, to facilitate executiondevices within a ubiquitous environment

29


where a need is seen for control onentities such as lighting equipment. nT-engines may be interconnected to buildreal-time operational networks.

• pT-Engine (pico T-Engine) – constitutesa still smaller network node, designed tooperate with very small powerconsumption and the facility to attach tophysical entities, support sensorydevices and form part of a sensorynetwork.

The T-Engine boards are mobile devicedevelopment platforms, with form factorssuitable for incorporation into mobileproduct designs. Systems can be developedrapidly with off-the-shelf middleware oftenavailable to facilitate particular applications.Software can be readily ported to theseplatforms and once developed they can bereadily ported to other central processorunit (CPU) devices. This provides versatilityin selecting CPUs to meet particularapplication needs and supports thedevelopment of a variety of embeddedsystems with the minimum of design effort.It also provides the facility to rapidly bringproducts to market, with the smalldevelopment boards offering the prospectfor rapid configuring of products suitable forsmall-lot production.

Running on the T-Engine hardware is theT-Kernel real-time operating system, createdout of the T-Engine project and influenced bythe highly successful and well-proven ITRONoperating system used in a wide range ofembedded system devices (an estimated fourbillion microprocessors running ITRON)including fax machines and digital cameras.

T-Kernel and T-Licence

The T-Kernel is open-source softwareproviding a consolidated source codesuitable for inclusion in specifications torealise platforms for middleware distribution.

T-Kernel is distributed under the control of aT-Licence. The licence ensures thatalterations to the original T-Kernel codecannot be made without permission fromthe owner. However, once granted there isno obligation to make the altered code opento the public. The T-Kernel source code isdistributed through the T-Engine Forumhomepage (www.t-engine.org/T-Kernel/tkernel_e.html). Use of the T-Kernel isfree of charge after agreeing to the T-Licenceterms and effectively allows users toincorporate the source code into newsystems and products.

Middleware

Different types of middleware have beendeveloped that run on the T-Kernel, includingvarious device drivers, protocol stacks forvarious networks, filing systems, graphicaluser interfaces (GUIs), voice processing,eTRON-related security software and manyothers, each directed at supporting rapidand stable product development.

To encourage further secure distribution ofmiddleware a T-Dist project has been set-up.This platform provides an encryption facility toallow only licensed users to receive theT-Engine based software.

T-Engine Forum

The T-Engine Forum has been established topromote T-Engine architecture and ubiquitouscomputing and to undertake related R&D andstandardisation. Details of the forum areavailable on the T-Engine website (www.t-engine.org). T-Engine Forum activities include:

• R&D and standardisation of T-Enginearchitecture

• Popularisation and promotion of T-Enginearchitecture

• Collection, exchange and presentation ofgeneral information on ubiquitouscomputing

30


• Arranging smooth co-operation amongorganisations involved in popularising theubiquitous computing environment

• Management of the Ubiquitous ID Center(UID Center)

• Publication of information on T-Enginearchitecture

• Realisation of T-Engine middlewaredistribution using eCommerce

• Other actions necessary to meet theobjectives of the forum

Membership is open to a wide range oforganisations, including manufacturers,software developers, software vendors,systems integrators and end-users. Itsmembership of nearly 500 includes membersfrom overseas countries, including Singapore,Korea, China and Australia. Europe has yet tofeature in the T-Engine Forum.

4.2.2 Ubiquitous ID

Closely linked to the T-Engine initiative is theubiquitous ID architecture and infrastructurefor managing data carriers within a ubiquitouscomputing environment, which exploits theneed for unique and type-based identification.For this purpose the UID Center hasdeveloped a ubiquitous ID numbering systembased upon a 128-bit code structure,extendable in 128-bit units to facilitate avirtually limitless set of numbers for IDpurposes. The structure is capable ofaccommodating legacy numbering systems,including EAN-UCC, JAN, ISBN, EPC, IPaddresses and phone numbers. As such italso has the capability for creating a globalnumbering system. The essential elements ofthe code are represented as shown below.

In this respect the ubiquitous ID has similarfeatures to the EPC code structure.

By adopting a model for entrustingassignment authority to numbering systemproviders accepted for registration under thecode identification scheme, the UID Center isable to decentralise the issue of assigningindividual product IDs on a worldwide basis.The model resembles the assignment ofinternet protocol addresses.

Ucode tags

The development of ucode tags is effectivelyoverseen by the T-Engine Forum and its sisterorganisation, the UID Center. The generalarchitecture for ubiquitous ID alsodistinguishes an extendable range of datacarriers to accommodate the UID codes.Collectively referred to as ucode tags, theseare devices approved for the purpose ofcarrying the code. They include linear barcodes, two-dimensional codes, RFID datacarriers, smart cards and any other devicethat fulfils a code-based identification needand can conform to the centre requirementsto be recognised as a ucode tag.

Four categories of tag are currently specified:

• Category 0 – printed tags• Category 1 – radio frequency (RF) tags• Category 2 – active infrared tags• Category 3 – active RF tags

Tags are also classified according to thefacility provided for security and privacyprotection, six classes currently being definedfor this purpose:

• Class 0 – data loss detection• Class 1 – resistance to physical duplication• Class 2 – identification prevention• Class 4 – secure communication with

unknown nodes• Class 5 – time-dependent resource

management• Class 6 – internal programme/security

information updating

UID-128 bit structure

Code ID Code structure Unique ID number12 bits n bits (dependent on

code)128-(12+n)

31


The UID Center has developed a policy forcertifying tags that satisfy a set of conditionsdefined by the centre to ensure uniquenessof coding, adherence with security classcriteria and ability to communicate withubiquitous communicators (UCs) or tagreaders being openly disclosed.

Ucode relation database

To accommodate the potential of uniqueidentification based upon UID the generalarchitecture also defines a ucode relationdatabase to facilitate the holding and returnof information server addressescorresponding to ucodes registered for thispurpose. The database is interrogated usingthe ucode Resolution Protocol (ucodeRP).The ucode relation database can beeffectively distributed and as such can beconfigured to manage the potentially highvolume of ucode numbers and associatedinformation links both effectively andefficiently. The database structure alsoallows efficient search path definition usinggateways and caches with the prospect ofreal-time ucode resolution.

Ubiquitous communicators (UCs)

UCs are the terminals used to retrieveinformation from ucode tags. They can bebased upon a range of portable readerstructures including PDA-like devices, cellphones and other proprietary structuressuch as wrist-band readers. They may hostfeatures such as wireless LAN, voice overinternet protocol (VoIP), infrared datacommunication and biometric accesscontrol. Characteristically they are built withStandard T-Engine boards. Multi-functionalUCs exploit the potential for ecode tags ofvarious kinds and embedding of tags invarious items encountered within theubiquitous environment.

uCode Resolution Server (Source: Ubiquitous ID Center)

32


The T-Engine platforms provide the basis forongoing UC developments and the realisationof an increasing range of applications.

Sensor networks

T-Engine technology provides the basis forsensor networks, wherein speciallydeveloped nT-Engines (developed by theYRP Ubiquitous Networking Laboratory)form the base station for a network of dice-sized active wireless nodes (up to 1,000nodes). Using a newly developedubiquitous network protocol (UNP)implemented on the nT-Engine base stationinformation can be collected and devicescontrolled within a ubiquitous environment.The nodes are designed to be attached tophysical objects, and collect information onthe environment and store it internallyaccording to application needs andoperational capacity. Nodes are capable ofcommunicating with each other andexploiting available environmentalinformation. They are also able to supportsecure communications using eTRONcapability. Further developments are inprospect to exploit ultra wide band (UWB)communications technology to facilitatehigh-precision positioning, thus providingthe ability to link information acquisitionwith sensor location.

Entity TRON (eTRON)

eTRON is a wide-area distributed systemarchitecture designed to securely store anddistribute important and valuable information.Combined with physical protection measuresto prevent counterfeiting and modification ofinformation, eTRON realises special digitalinformation, known as electronic entitieswhich are stored in, and only in, definedtamper-resistant hardware devices (eTRONdevices) and communicated only betweeneTRON devices. The communicationsfunction is additionally protected usingcryptographic facilities.

Various types of eTRON devices are availableto meet particular applications, including card-based devices such as the eTRON/8 cardequipped with an 8-bit micro-controller and acontactless interface compliant with theISO/IEC 14443 standard. An eTRON/16 chip isalso available that uses a 16-bit micro-controller to support a dual interface functionwith contact communication, compliantISO/IEC 7816 standard and contactlesscommunication compliant with ISO/IEC14443 standard. An eTRON/16 chip is alsoavailable for embedding in various computernodes, including T-Engine platforms.

The ubiquitous environment anditem-attendant ICT

T-Engine technologies and associatedubiquitous ID are gaining ground in anexpanding range of both domestic andbusiness-oriented applications, characterised

eTRON/16 tag technology (Source: Ubiquitous ID Center)

33


by data collection and control functions withinubiquitous environments and the use ofubiquitous ID for traceability, location,information sites and ID-supported guidancesystems. Many of these applications exploititem-attendant information – informationcarried on the ucode tags. However, theprospect exists for extending the capability ofsuch applications through the greater use ofitem-attendant ICT principles, multipleidentifiers and intelligent backgroundprocessing. This may form the basis forcollaborative development and a prospectiveT-Engine Forum UK laboratory.

4.2.3 Joint Japanese, Korean andChinese research

The co-operation between ministries withinJapan on RFID and associated research wasimpressive, with joint initiatives betweenMIC, METI, MAFF, MHLW and MLIT onapplications and network R&D activities withrespect to:

• Ubiquitous networking• Advanced electronic tag applications• Ubiquitous sensor network technology• An Asian ubiquitous platform• Technologies for advanced use of

networked consumer electronics

The technologies for the advanced use ofRFID project is a ¥598 million (£2.5 million)initiative being conducted over the period2004 to 2007 with the following objectives:

• Establish technologies for advanced use ofRFID in applications including distribution,food and medical care

• Undertake R&D with respect to:

o Exchange and monitoring of informationon RFID data carriers on a number ofplatforms

o Interoperability among RFID platformso Control securities and data accessibility

Participants in the project include NTTCommunications, IBM Japan, NTT Data Corp,NEC, Toshiba Corp and Yokogawa Electric Corp.

MIC activities also extend to collaborationwith METI on the development of basetechnology for low-cost production ofelectronic tags and to MEXT on thedevelopment of safe and secure next-generation added-value electronic tags andembedded software.

Aspects of these R&D activities haveextended to co-operation with China andKorea on RFID sensor network technology.The third China-Japan-Korea (CJK) ICTMinisters’ meeting held in Sapporo in 2004saw the introduction of RFID sensor networkR&D as a new area of co-operation in respectof their ICT framework for collaboration.Actions arising from this alliance included:

• Information and expertise exchange, jointseminars, R&D and standardisationproposals on RFID/sensor networktechnology

• Joint verification experiments oninteroperability of RFID

• Information and expertise exchange, jointseminars, R&D and standardisationproposals on ubiquitous networks

• Establishment of working groups to facilitatethe actions listed above

The first meeting of the CJK RFID/sensornetwork technology standards working group(SWG) in Tokyo (December 2004) realised thefollowing goals:

• Exchange of information and joint hostingof seminars to promote the RFID/sensorwork and provide support for a CJKRFID/sensor network conference

• Co-operation on R&D and standardisationof RFID/sensor network technologies,including interoperability of technologies

• Demonstrative experiments of RFIDinteroperability

34


• Exchange of information and experts, jointhosting of seminars and a joint study onubiquitous networks

A second meeting in Seoul (June 2005)continued the work on RFID/sensor networktechnology with:

• Joint projects on RFID/sensor networksbetween China, Japan and Korea

• Regular RFID/sensor network technologyworkshops

A third meeting of the CJK RFID/sensornetwork SWG, to be held in China, is beingscheduled for the near future.

These activities exhibit a strategic ambition anddegree of co-operation with respect toRFID/sensor network technology that wouldappear to be unparalleled within Europe. Itreveals a potential area of collaboration both inresearch and further internationalstandardisation. Such collaboration is importantin considering universality of applications usingsensory RFID.

4.2.4 Hibiki Project (METI)

In 2004 METI launched the ¥1.8 billion(£90 million) Hibiki Project, with the aim ofdeveloping within two years low-cost, high-reliability, high-performance UHF RFID tagtechnology, conforming to internationalstandards, with associated reader-writer chiptechnology to support product and systemsdevelopments. The Hibiki strategy saw theneed for a tag inlet (chip and antennastructure) with a price per unit of ¥5 (~ 5 UScents), considered to be the threshold forstimulating widespread use of RFID, and chip-based developments of associated reader-writer technology. Central to the approach forachieving these goals were three strategicimperatives:

• Low-cost antenna manufacturingtechnology

• Low-cost surface-mount technology• Adoption of international, ISO/IEC

standards for UHF devices

The latter, through compliance with ISO/IEC18000-6 Type C (EPC global C1G2), provided aplatform accommodating EPC as well as UIDdevelopment. Moreover, a comprehensivestrategy for international standardisation,identified by METI, also provided a foundationfor accommodating other requirements andforeseeable developments within aninternational arena (see Chapter 5).

METI established a ‘technology developmentcore team’ to undertake the project, with‘core company’ Hitachi selected to lead,assume responsibility and promote theproject. Co-operation companies were alsoselected to support the development,including NEC, Dai Nippon Printing, ToppanPrinting and Fujitsu. These companies havealso been encouraged to provide innovativesupport technology and improve the scopefor scalability.

The project has encompassed chip-set(comprising tag IC and reader/writer IC)design and development together with inlay(or inlet) development. August 2005 saw thecompletion of the first-stage prototypes,followed in December 2005 by thecompletion of the second-stage prototypes.The final year (2006) was focused upon third-stage prototyping and evaluation in field trials.

The basic specification for the Hibiki tag,given the need to comply with ISO/IEC18000-6 Type C, included the followingcharacteristics:

• Rewritability, with ability to achieve greaterthan 100,000 re-write cycles

• Memory capacity of at least 512 bits• Read speed of 10 ms or less per unique ID• Minimum read distance of 3 m• Minimum write distance of 1 m

35


The device provides a total of 528 bits with amemory map as indicated below:

• Reserved (64 bits)• Unique item identifier (160 bits)• Tag identifier (64 bits)• User memory (240 bits)

The 160 bits allocated for the unique itemidentifier in turn comprises 16 bits forprotocol control, 128 bits for the uniqueidentification code component and 16 bits forerror detection using cyclic redundancycoding (CRC). The tags perform effectivelyover 860-953 MHz, viewed as the range toaccommodate worldwide regulatorydifferences. The associated reader-writer chipcan be set to each country’s frequency andcarrier protocol.

Although the Hibiki Project was scheduledfor completion with field trials evaluation in2006, the scalability specification forincreasing functionality providesopportunities for ongoing research in areassuch as on-metal tag solutions, increasedmemory capacity, additional security andadditional sensor functions. The objectivesof the Hibiki Project would appear to havebeen largely fulfilled. However, marketforces and volumes will be the ultimatedeterminants of prices. According to JAISA,to realise a ¥5 tag will require volumes inexcess of 100 million per month, with thelogistics and distribution sector being seenas the starting point for generating suchvolumes. At the time of the mission ¥40was considered to be the lowest cost labelavailable.

METI is now looking beyond the HibikiProject and considering both technologicaldevelopments and policy targets for socialobjectives that could benefit from researchand application of RFID.

These targets include:

• Rapid recovery from disasters • Minimisation of damage through prediction

and early warning of disasters• Sensory and associated processing

functions to generate information that canbe used to avoid collapse of buildings andother structures

Research ‘beyond RFID technology’ willembrace:

• Integrated passive and active RFID andassociated developments in power sourceand durability technology

• Sensory technology• Communications platforms including ultra-

wide band (UWB), ZigBee and other picoand local area communicationstechnologies

• Network architecture

These objectives align with those identified inthe US Global Watch Mission and those beingprojected for consideration within theEuropean framework for RFID development.

4.2.5 RFID-integrated rewritable media(Ricoh hybrid media)

The Ricoh Company of Japan has developedtwo types of thermal rewritable (TR)visualisation media (RECO-view media), onebased upon fundamental dye technologyand known as chemical rewritable (CR)media and one based upon physicalchanges in transparency and known asphysical rewritable (PR) media. Eachcomprises an active rewritable layersandwiched between a surface protectionlayer and polyethylene terephthalate (PET)substrate and backing layers. Layer variantsexist to satisfy different media requirementssuch as sheets and both thick and thincards. An integrated version of the sheet-based media incorporates RFID tagtechnology and is known as RECO-view ICtag series media. A range of commerciallyavailable products have also been

36


developed, including both contact and non-contact erasure and printing devices.

The CR medium is achieved through the useof dye materials that change their molecularconfiguration and colour (white to black)when heated above a threshold temperature(170-180°C) and then allowed to rapidly cool.By heating to between 130 and 140°C thedye material is allowed to relax and theprocess is reversed.

The physical rewritable (PR) media reliesupon a transparency change in the rewritablelayer. Raising the temperature to between100-120°C causes gaps to appear in theimaging layer that allow incident light to bedeflected and the image to appear (black).Raising the temperature above 130°Celiminates any transparent gaps rendering thearea concerned opaque (white).

In the contact printing and erasure processheated rollers are used to erase and thermalprint heads are used for printing. In the non-contact approach a laser beam is used toboth erase and print.

The rewritable media provides an effectivemeans of visualising item-attendant data orinformation and a viable alternative toconventional printed copy in manyapplications requiring the management ofitems. With growing attention toenvironmental warming and the need toreduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions,rewritable media of this kind is seen to offerparticular advantage. Ricoh estimates that inproducing and using 1.2 million sheets ofconventional print paper the associated CO2

emissions are equivalent to 35 return tripsbetween London and Barcelona by jet. Usingrewritable media on a 1,000 cycle basis canreduce this footprint by 80%.

By incorporating RFID tags into the rewritablemedia a flexible data carrier is provided thatcan support printable bar codes and two-

dimensional codes as well as presentinghuman readable information. This RECO-viewtechnology has been used in a number ofapplications including:

• Process management – Ricoh • Kanban (in-out parts and procurement) –

Fujitsu• Parts management – Hitachi • Operating instructions – various industries• Distribution instructions – Sagawa Express• Stock movement in frozen storage –

Kyokurei• Service parts management – Panasonic• Medical check navigation – Seijyu kai clinic• Medicine data management –

pharmaceutical industry• In-house medical logistics – general hospitals

METI in collaboration with JAISA isgenerating proposals for standardisation ofdata carrier coding (bar code, two-dimensional code and RFID) for thisvisualisation medium (see Chapter 5).

RECO-view IC tagged rewritable media(Source: Ricoh.com)

37


4.2.6 Incremental tagging technology developments

It is to be expected that in any countryinvolved in leading-edge developments inRFID there should be evidence ofincremental developments in associated tagtechnology, through exploiting newdevelopments in component technology andthrough attention to changing needs in tagand system performance. The missionrevealed a number of areas in which thesedevelopments were observable, including:

• Chip developments, to meet bothapplications and standards requirements

• Memory developments allowing greatercapacity potential and enhancedperformance

• Form factors to satisfy particularapplication requirements

• Antenna structures and associated chipdevelopments to facilitate multiplefrequency operation

The following summarises specificobservations about organisations visitedduring the mission:

Ubiquitous Platform Systems R&D Lab,Hitachi Ltd

Hitachi was seen clearly as a world leader inchip developments, with significantcontributions to both chip and tagtechnology for RFID. In addition to being thelead company for the Hibiki Project, Hitachihas also been productive in RFID design andimplementation that extends beyond theneeds of EPC and (860-953 MHz) UHFtechnology, particularly for closer proximityapplications, such as documentmanagement. The µ-chip, upper UHF(2.45 GHz) technology, is an area of R&D forwhich Hitachi is well known and for whichincremental developments have yielded anew version tag and higher power (200 mW)reader system that provides extended range

(45 cm compared to 30 cm of formerdesign), multiple read (more than one tag inthe interrogation zone at the same time),and adjacent read capability. The chips are inthe region of 0.15 mm square and 7.5microns in thickness.

Additionally, Hitachi has developed coil-on-chip devices, again for close proximityapplications.

Fujitsu Ltd

Fujitsu is being seen as a source ofsignificant research on memory technologyexploited in RFID and other data storagedevices. Indeed its development offerroelectric RAM (FRAM) technology isgenerally recognised as a major contributionin this area of technological research. It isexploiting this technology in ‘bulk block readand write’ structures for UHF (ISO/IEC18000-6 Type B) RFID devices. It is used tostore the data that needs to be non-volatile,to ensure that it is retained when the deviceis in its quiescent or power-saving ‘sleep’state. FRAM and its developments are nowbeing seen as serious contenders inelectrically erasable programmable read-onlymemory (EEPROM) typically encountered inRFID data carrier devices. FRAM can beseen to exhibit more favourable performancefeatures in respect of:

• Memory cell size (approximately 40%smaller than EEPROM)

Hitachi RFID tag developments (Source: Hitachi Ltd)

38


• Lower write voltage (2 V compared with12 V working) and energy consumption(0.0001 µJ compared with 100 µJ) for writeoperations

• Faster write time (0.1µs compared with10,000 µs)

• Greater write cycle performance (1012cycles compared with 105 for EEPROM)

The implications of these performanceadvantages include the prospect for moreenergy efficient passive devices with greaterrange capability. ISO/IEC 18000-6 Type B tagshave been developed and certified by the UIDCenter. Fujitsu has also developed a range ofRFID tag structures to meet particularapplication requirements, including:

• Card-based tags• Environmentally resistant tags• Printable (smart label) tags and rewritable

sheet technology incorporating RFID tags

• UHF tags for on-metal applications• UHF, soft moulded (‘linen tag’) tags for use

in laundry applications

• UHF tags for media identification andcontrol applications (microfilm, CDs)

Prospects can be seen for ongoing R&Dactivities concerning inlets, form factors andresponses to application requirements.

Toppan Forms

Toppan Forms presented a further illustrationof applied R&D and innovation in RFIDsupport products, notably linked to paper andother print media. Through its RFID divisionToppan Forms has been using tag and inlettechnology to produce:

• Paper cards and tags • Smart IC labels• IC baggage tags• IC tickets

It has drawn upon RFID innovation from theMalaysian MM (Multiband Microchip) projectthrough FEC Inc. The MM chip, measuring0.5 mm by 0.5 mm, incorporates on-chipantenna, operates at a carrier frequency of2.45 GHz and has particular advantage as thebasis for smart paper products, includingbank cheques, bank notes, motor vehiclelicences, registration documents, birthcertificates and purchasing documents. Herethe tag is seen incorporated into a Toppantape RFID product.

The MM chip exhibits the followingcharacteristics:

• The first multiband RFID chip in theworld – capable of responding to13.56 MHz, 433 MHz, UHF band and2.45 GHz

• The first infrared writing method –incorporating a photo acceptance unit thatenables infra-red data transmission

39


• Small dimension of 0.5 mm x 0.5 mm –the smallest readable and writeable built-inantenna chip in the world

• Write-once memory – a write-once userarea holds 32 Bytes while a fixed IDlocation occupies 16 Bytes of data

• Low cost per chip – derived by small sizeof the chip and associated lowerproduction costs, at around 10 US centsper chip

• Small and smart associated readerwriter boards – suitable for installations inrestricted space and embeddedapplications

By attaching other antenna structures theMM chip can be used to facilitate multi-bandfunctionality.

Toppan also produces plastic-based productsincorporating RFID technology, includingcontactless smart cards, plastic tags andwrist bands, based upon 13.56 MHztechnology.

4.3 Strategy for future research

A potentially important lesson from themission is in recognising the need forcollective thinking on a strategy for RFID R&Dthat engages more effectively withgovernment departments, academe and theAIDC industry. There is also a requirement forgreater inclusion and positioning of RFID withrespect to other ICT developments,particularly those concerning ubiquitouscomputing and networks.

While it is difficult to determine the currentcorporate agendas for research it is clear thatincremental areas of research are centredupon component materials, manufacturing

methods, circuit design for enhancingfunctionality and performance, and foraccommodating operational needs such asmulti-regulatory specifications.

A number of pointers may be identified as abasis for Europe collaboration. Thesepointers include:

• The need for UK/EU urgent attention toEPC-contrasting developments withinJapan and their significance in relation toUK and EU strategic planning andadvancement in RFID.

• Discussions with government departmentson UK investment in new-generation RFID,with particular attention to integratedsystems and potential funding for supportof collaborative ventures with Japan onubiquitous computing exploiting RFID andother AIDC technologies and the principlesof item-attendant ICT being developed inthe UK.

• Discussions with UK research institutionson the basis for a co-ordinated researcheffort directed at identifying and exploitingresearch areas that could have relevancein new-generation RFID technology andoffer a further platform for collaborationwith Japan.

• The need for a more united platform forresearch and dissemination. Observationsprompted the promotion of a UKinternational academic conference onRFID, proposed following the US mission.The conference is in final stages ofplanning and will be staged at the newEuropean Centre of Excellence for AIDC inHalifax, UK in November 2007.

40


The Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade andIndustry (METI) has developed a promotionalpolicy for RFID focusing on internationalstandardisation, cost reduction and field trials.The focus on cost reduction is embodiedwithin the ¥1.8 billion (£90 million) HibikiProject (see Chapter 4 – Hibiki Project) and itsfield trials upon strategic sectors ofapplication for RFID technology.

METI’s attention to international standards isboth general and specific. It recognises theimportance of international standards withrespect to global trade and distribution andthe imperative set by the World TradeOrganisation (WTO) in adopting ISOstandards as a facility for solving tradeconflicts and agreements for accommodatingtechnical barriers to trade. METI has beenactive in influencing and accommodating ISOstandards, the focus with respect to RFIDbeing upon product (item) coding, withparticular attention to ISO/IEC 15459-4(System of Unique Item Identification Codes),and air-interface specification, with particularattention to developments concerningISO/IEC 18000-6 type C (RFID for itemmanagement Part 6: Parameter for airinterface communications at 860-960 MHz).

At a more general level, and as a basis fordeveloping promotional policy, METI hasidentified the targets for internationalstandardisation and categorisation ofstandards with respect to levels of data orinformation handling:

• Level 1 (tag to reader communication):Standardisation of hardware/softwaretechnical specifications for RFID devicesand systems and for communicationsbetween RFID data carriers (tags) andreader/writers.

• Level 2 (source data coding):Standardisation of description methods(syntax) for the structure of data to bewritten to tags, and for identifiers andother coding requirements.

• Level 3 (operations and applications):Standardisation of common applicationspecifications for each type of item to betagged, standards for operations and otherfields of application, including each standardmodel of supply chain management (SCM)that uses RFID and any other standard thatimpacts upon industries within Japan.

The relevant ISO standards are summarisedas follows:

5 JAPANESE ATTENTION TO STANDARDS AND REGULATIONS

Level ISO Standard Description

3 ISO 17363 – 17367 Supply chain management applications of RFID3 ISO 18185 Electronic seals for freight containers3 ISO 24729 Guidelines for RFID implementation2 ISO 15963 Unique ID for RF tags2 ISO 15459- 1-4 System of unique item identification codes2 ISO 15434 Data description methods (syntax)1 ISO 18000- 1-7 RFID for item management - air interface1 ISO 15961, ISO 15962 Data protocols1 ISO 19789 Application programming interface

1 TR 18046, TR 18047 (TR: Technical Report) RFID performance test methods and conformancetest methods

41


Through a study group for enhancingproduct traceability, comprisingrepresentation from METI, the Ministry ofLand, Infrastructure and Transport, theMinistry of Agriculture, Forestry andFisheries and the Ministry of Health,Labour and Welfare, Japan has beeninstrumental in proposing to the ISO theunification of product codes for RFID,standardisation being finalised in May 2006through ISO/IEC 15459-4.

In addition to ISO standards, METI has seen the need to consider those arisingfrom EPCglobal1 and, in particular, thechallenge for unification, with ISO/IEC18000-6 type C air interface standard beingan appropriate step in this direction. Whilethere was seen to be a clear partitioning ofEPC-oriented standards requirements andISO standards within the USA, the approachbeing adopted within Japan appears to bemore inclusive, recognising the need forunification of the standards.

Japan has also recognised the growingattention to UHF platforms for RFID and theemphasis placed upon UHF with respect toEPC. It recognises too the need seen byEPCglobal to accommodate high frequency(HF) technology through its 13.56 MHz ISMBand Class 1 Radio Frequency (RF)Identification Tag Specification (Release 1.0).Japan exhibits a significant legacy in HF RFIDand would undoubtedly and readilyaccommodate any EPC developments in thisdirection. The extent to which thesedevelopments will have a bearing upon therespective ISO/IEC standards is yet to be seen.

Other areas in which there is significantstandards development in prospect includeRFID platforms for sensor devices andsystems management protocols.

Middleware is also seen as an importantarea, with METI having active involvement insuch developments.

A new and potentially very important area ofconsideration for international standardisationidentified within the mission relates to thedevelopment of re-writable paper and theintegration of RFID (see Chapter 4 – RECO-View). METI in collaboration with JAISA ispursuing the international standardisation ofrewritable visualisation media, throughISO/IEC. These developments will includeproposals for accommodating the erasure,rewriting and reading for conventional linearbar codes, followed by proposals for QRmatrix code and hybrid media with RFID.

5.1 Towards harmonisation on

spectrum usage

Regulatory issues concerning the allocation ofspectrum were clearly important to Japan.Indeed, Japan has been responsive to thespectrum use in other parts of the world andhas in recent years made specific provisionfor RFID use within the UHF region of theelectromagnetic spectrum.

Three main approaches determine themanagement of spectrum within Europe –collective use, administrative and market2.‘collective use’ is a model that allows morethan one user, and type of device, to occupythe same range of frequencies at the sametime, without the need for individual,exclusive authorisation. By contrast theadministrative model grants exclusive rightsto spectrum use on an administrative basismanaged by spectrum managementauthorities (SMAs). The market-based modelallocates exclusive rights on the basis ofmarket activities such as auctions andspectrum trading.

1 EPCglobal – A not-for-profit organisation for numbering and data carrier (RFID), jointly established through the union of the EAN International (European Article

Numbering Association) and the US-based Uniform Code Council (UCC). Representation in Japan (EPC Global Japan) through the Distribution Systems

Research Institute.

2 Mott MacDonald (2006) Study on Legal, Economic and Technical Aspects of ‘Collective Use’ of spectrum in the European Community

42


RFID comes within the ‘collective use’allocation of spectrum and as such does notreceive the same statutory protection againstinterference as provided for in theadministrative and market models. Despite thislimitation, which to some extent can beaccommodated through systems design,choice of technology and operationalconsiderations, ‘collective use’ spectrumallocation is seen to have benefits that include3:

• Lower barriers to market entry• Ability to quickly address niche applications• Greater certainty in accessing spectrum• Flexibility in adopting different technologies

and applications• Reduced likelihood of illegal operation

within licensed frequency bands

A consortium-based study, led by MottMacDonald (Study on Legal, Economic andTechnical Aspects of ‘Collective Use’ ofspectrum in the European Community), forthe European Commission has sought toconsider how the extension of the collectiveuse approach might contribute to the broaderEU policy objectives for optimising the use ofradio spectrum resources. Such policydevelopments will clearly impact uponregulatory harmonisation of spectrum useboth within Europe and globally. The studypoints out that harmonisation does notnecessarily require the same frequencies tobe used in each country. As seen in both theUSA and Japan, multiple or overlapping bandscan often be accommodated effectively andeconomically through design and technologicalinnovation. However, the study also makesrecommendations for categorisation forsimplifying spectrum access and additionalspectrum allocation for collective use (915-917MHz) in which RFID is included.

To accommodate the disparities in UHFspectrum allocation in different parts of theworld, data carriers (tags) have been

designed with relatively flat spectral responseover the total combined bandwidth specifiedfor Japan, USA, Europe and effectively therest of the world. This facilitates the use ofcommon tags (backscatter tags) with country-specific readers/interrogators. Japaneseinnovation has also yielded devices that alsoaccommodate the upper UHF, 2.45 GHzcentred band.

The European ‘listen before talk’ (LBT)regulatory issue, initially seen on the USmission as a barrier to optimal use ofsystems exploiting EPC technology has alsobeen accommodated in Japaneseconsiderations for product developments andpotential markets within Europe.

5.2 Human exposure to

electromagnetic fields

As with the US mission, the issue of safetyover exposure to EM fields associated withRFID systems was raised during the missionto Japan, with particular attention to theprospective effects of fields upon or wearableelectro-medical devices such as implantablepacemakers, defibrillators and other types ofelectro-stimulators. JAISA has commissionedan investigation of electromagneticenvironmental interference, including effectsupon implantable pacemakers. This is incollaboration with the Ministry of InternalAffairs and Communications (MIC) andHokkaido University.

Such studies illustrate the growing attentionto exposure, rooted in the legacy concernsrelating to the use of mobile telephones.Despite evidence that exposure levels toRFID systems which operate in accordancewith regulatory constraints are unlikely tocause any adverse biological effect or pose ahazard to health, it is becoming increasinglyclear that providers of radio equipment will berequired to assure users of the safety of their

3 Ibid

43


products. It is clearly necessary to considerthe restrictions in place in the countries inwhich the equipment is to be used.

It is expected that in the future suppliers ofRFID equipment will not only be required toprovide test certificates to demonstratecompliance with regulatory acceptance levelsappropriate to public and occupational useand the nature of the exposure (ie wholebody or limb-based) but will also be expectedto provide guidance of potential influenceupon electro-medical devices. The corollary ofthis is for manufacturers to indicatesusceptibility to EM fields and how they mayrelate to radio devices.

There is also a need to generate greaterawareness within the industry of nationalguidelines and regulatory levels, and the factthat they are continually under review, toprovide appropriate response to ongoingresearch concerning the long-term effects oflow-power electromagnetic fields.

44


RFID has international significance becauseof the anticipated impact it can have uponbusiness processes and the opportunities itcreates for new products and systems/process innovation.

The mission’s objective was to determine thestatus of RFID in Japan, to assess itsprogression and uptake (present andpredicted) and to draw lessons from theJapanese experience for the UK and EU.Some of the Japan mission team had alsobeen part of the team that visited the USA inMay 2006 and could therefore draw on thatexperience to help compare the state of RFIDtechnology in Japan. A set of questions wasdeveloped for each organisation visited tocapture its specific RFID experience. Generalthemes were:

• How is Japan (or the company) exploitingand developing RFID?

• To what extent are EPC or ISO standardsdriving Japanese initiatives?

• Which carrier frequencies are being used?• What issues and barriers are inhibiting the

take-up for RFID?• Are any new directions being pursued?

This chapter deals with drivers for adoptionand summarises the findings from theorganisations visited during the mission.Drivers in the US included:

• Compliance with large user mandates suchas Wal-Mart and DoD

• Standards• Regulatory requirements in areas such as

food traceability and healthcare• Supply chain efficiency gain opportunities• Improved customer service• New business opportunities

It was expected that there would be somesimilar drivers in Japan, but in fact the missionfound very interesting additional drivers anddifferences in emphasis perhaps reflecting thedifferent stage of development of the JapaneseRFID market, as well as the strength of thecountry’s manufacturing base. Significantly,while there was full knowledge and awarenessof mandates in the US and Europe, there is noequivalent mandate driver in Japan. There wasalso a very complete understanding of majoractivities in the rest of the world, such as thoseof Wal-Mart and Marks & Spencer (M&S).

Current key drivers of RFID technology inJapan are:

• Government initiatives• Standards• Cost• Manufacturing industry• Regulatory

Japan is at the forefront of development inadvanced RFID technology and applications.This is being driven by strong governmentsupport, combined with company R&Dinvestment and innovation. As one of theorganisations visited commented, ‘RFID ismoving from a stage of enlightenment to oneof actual use’.

The timing of the mission was ideal as therewere a number of positive RFID-related‘events’ in 2006, including:

• Regulatory – consolidation of radioregulations for UHF (both the 900 MHzand 400 MHz bands)

• Standards – issuing of ISO 18000-6C (airinterface) and ISO 15459-4 (system ofunique item identification codes)

6 DRIVERS FOR ADOPTION

45


• Technology availability – completion of theHibiki Project

• Pilots – development of testdemonstrations, funded by METI

Much of the current discussion about RFID inthe US and Europe is associated with theUHF frequency band and passiveapplications, but it should be rememberedthat UHF is but one section of the spectrumof frequencies used for RFID. The missionwas very fortunate to be able to visit a largenumber of organisations, some focused onUHF applications, but others with significantinterests in HF (13.56 MHz) and microwave(2.45 GHz upper band UHF) RFID technology.Japan is very advanced in its use of HFtechnology and this frequency bandrepresents the majority of RFID revenues todate. Microwave technology was the solutionin just one application where 25 millionµchips (a Hitachi technology) were used foradmission tickets to the EXPO 2005 AICHIJAPAN exhibition.

The mission also gathered information onroadblocks and inhibitors to RFID adoption,particularly any experience that would map tothe UK and Europe, or that might be specificto Japanese applications. These were similarto previous findings, but again with adifferent emphasis.

6.1 Government initiatives

The Japanese Government, through itsagencies, has been very active in leading andfunding a strategy for RFID. In 2003 METIissued a forecast of future RFID use andopportunities and then funded initiatives tomake these forecasts a reality. METI hasstated that its policy for RFID is to:

• Increase the number of companies usingRFID and promote trial projects

• Ensure that there is an appropriate legalinfrastructure (eg creation of rules for thetreatment of privacy issues)

• Establish an economic infrastructure

An Inter-Agency Liaison Group (ILG) wasestablished in late 2004 to further strengthenthe co-ordination of measures by differentgovernment agencies such as METI, MAFF(Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries),MLIT (Ministry of Land, Infrastructure andTransport) and MIC (Ministry of Internal Affairsand Communications). The ILG promoteseffective usage of RFID, supports networks todisseminate and share information, andstimulates the establishment of an appropriatemanufacturing base for the technology.

There may be some tensions betweengovernment departments, but the overallimpression was one of unity of purpose. Itwas noted that it had taken a long time to getUHF frequency allocations officially ratified,but this was a rare sign of discord. Overall,the agencies visited were unified in theambition for RFID to become a ubiquitoustechnology to be used to give organisationscompetitive advantage.

A major project, funded by METI, was theHibiki Project to develop low-cost ISOcompliant UHF RFID tags. This was started inAugust 2004 and successfully completed inJuly 2006. The project’s objective was todevelop an inlet, comprising an IC chip andantenna, capable of being sold for ¥5 (~5 UScents) once volume take-up of 100 millioninlets per month is achieved. As well asdeveloping the UHF tag IC, the project alsoincluded the development of low-costantenna manufacturing technology, low-costassembly technology and a complementaryreader IC.

The Hibiki Project was 50% funded by METIand was undertaken by five companies. Thelead company was Hitachi, supported by NEC,Dai Nippon Printing, Toppan Printing andFujitsu. The completion of the project andconsequent availability of Hibiki chips was citedby many of the companies visited as being a

46


significant enabler to the uptake of RFID, forreasons of cost, standards compliance andfunctionality. It has also helped by makinghardware more easily available. Hitachi notedthat, as well as the obvious funding supportprovided by the Government, the project wasgiven a very high profile within Japan. Whilethis may have raised expectations, it alsoraised awareness and interest in RFID. This,combined with successful pilots, has been astrong driver of uptake.

Relatively recent Government-fundeddemonstrators (pilots) have helped to raiseawareness and confidence in RFID beyondthe existing use of HF and LF RFID. Suchtechnology has been used quite widely insegments of Japanese manufacturingindustry since the 1980s.

The mission saw some very well executedRFID capability demonstrators, fundedthrough the Future Store Project, a METIinitiative. It visited Mitsukoshi’s Nihombashistore in Tokyo and saw a completedemonstration of a real-time inventorymanagement system for women’s shoesusing HF RFID. The system was wellexecuted and the store claims to be getting aresultant sales increase in excess of 10%.Cited advantages of the system included:

• Increased sales as a result of improvedcustomer service

• Reduced labour associated with stockchecking and goods retrieval

• Reduced OOS (out of stock)• Improved feedback to wholesalers• Easier identification of slow-moving line

items

Mitsukoshi also has a similar trial withwomen’s jeans and is planning to expand theapplication of both the shoe and apparelsystems to areas such as cosmetics andmen’s suits. It was noted that UHF RFIDwould be evaluated now that the Hibiki chipis available, future implementations being

subject to a positive assessment of ROI(return on investment). The store is alsoexperimenting with new labelling technologyas applied to intelligent shelves. Mitsukoshihas ambitions for its system to becomestandard in Japanese department stores.

The mission also visited another departmentstore, TSC Ginza, to see the tagging of suitsand shoes, as implemented by AoyamaTrading Co Ltd and also funded through theFuture Store Project. This was another well-realised RFID project, particular note beingmade of the use of very elegant ‘glassantennas’ made by Nippon Sheet Glass.It was stated that one of the inspirations forthe project concept was the application ofRFID by M&S in the UK. The project washelped in the early stages by study meetingsorganised by MIC, and later stages alsoinvolved METI. From an initial base of usingthe tags to improve inventory control with allthe attendant benefits that this brings, thecompany has plans to extend tag functionalityto monitor and record all stages fromproduction to sales.

6.2 Standards

There was consensus, as had been foundduring the US mission, that the publication ofrelevant data structure and air interfacestandards has been a positive driver to thetake-up of RFID. Standards give potentialusers confidence that the technology is stableand that there will not be issues relating to IPrights, freedom of use or additionalimplementation costs such as unanticipatedlicence fees. It was also generally stated thatstandards mean the ISO, which Japan, as amember of the World Trade Organization,clearly respects. While there wasacknowledgement that EPCglobal hasachieved a lot for the RFID industry in drivingunification of air interface protocols and datastructures, it is a self-proclaimed standardssetting body.

47


EPCglobal’s influence appears to have beenless obvious than in the USA, perhapsbecause Japan has only recently (summer2006) formally allocated the frequencies tobe used for UHF. Until recently EPCglobaland the MIT AutoID Center were stronglyassociated with the promotion of UHF andsupply chain applications, and historicallyJapan has been much stronger in HF RFID.In the USA EPCglobal is seen as a positiveinfluence because of the strong backing ithas from end-users. In Japan theDistribution Systems Research Institutewas established as the country’s only pointof contact, providing a consistent andunified approach to dealing with EPCglobal.

It is possible that EPCglobal’s influence, or atleast Japan’s involvement with it will increasenow that the regulatory issues associatedwith the operation of UHF technology inJapan have been sorted out. Also, it was clearthat it is believed in Japan, as in the US, thatsupply chain management (SCM) applicationsrepresent a real opportunity for the use ofRFID and that such use will lead to explosivegrowth in the technology’s take up.Interestingly, EPCglobal has recently formed aBusiness Action Group (BAG) based in Japan.

Regarding the air interface for UHF, METI wasthe organiser of a unified approach to themerging of the earlier ISO 18000-6 band Cprotocols with the EPCglobal Gen2 protocol,showing further strategic involvement of agovernment agency in strategic RFID issues.Along with the involvement of otherorganisations throughout the world, this hasresulted in unification of the CommunicationProtocol Standard for UHF with the issue ofISO/IEC 18000-6C in June 2006. Theexistence of this standard was commentedon by the organisations visited as being amajor unifying and enabling opportunity forthe RFID industry, in terms of equipmentsupply with global interoperability.

Regarding data structures, METI organised aproposal to ISO for the unification of itemidentification codes for RFID tags. Aharmonised standard for these codes wasfinalised in March 2006 and issued as ISO15459-4.

The future availability of UHF ISO 18000-6Ccompliant chips was seen as a majordriver/enabler to RFID uptake. The advantagesoffered by this UHF technology can besummarised as:

• Global air-interface interoperability• Better performance• Multiple vendor sources for tags and

readers• Interrogator (reader) may read any field or

memory location• Interrogator may select a group of tags

based on field values• Write capability – allowing new or

additional information to be written to tags(depending on privileges or processrequirements)

EPCglobal is now working on HF protocols,and while this was positively endorsed in theUSA, little comment was made in Japan.Perhaps this is because of Japan’s historicinvolvement, and therefore confidence inexisting HF standards and associatedfunctionality, though no clear answeremerged. Despite the positive functionalitythat UHF based systems offer, it is notnecessarily the right frequency to use for allRFID applications. A particular example of thisis the pharmaceuticals industry, which is astrong advocate for the use of HF at itemlevel. Indeed, HF is generally seen as a verystrong candidate frequency for item leveltagging in other industries, not justpharmaceuticals.

Japan clearly respects and is heavily involvedin standards. This is not just relevant to RFID,but more generally. There are technologiesassociated with some of the uses of RFID,

48


such as the RECO recyclable papertechnology marketed by Ricoh. JAISA andMETI are involved in organising workinggroups that input to standards committeessuch as ISO 15459 JTC SC31 for thestandardisation of hybrid media.

6.3 Cost

The general view of the organisationsvisited was that cost is a very importantdriver to the take-up of RFID. The HibikiProject and the availability (subject tovolume) of a ¥5 inlet was cited consistentlyas a reason that UHF RFID will now seesignificant deployment. It wasacknowledged that the ROI for an RFIDproject is based on much more than just thecost of tags. It was also noted that RFIDwould only be used where bar codefunctionality doesn’t satisfy systemrequirements. However, volumeapplications, particularly where the tag hasa limited life or is disposable, need low-costtags. It was stated that there will be volumeproduction capability of the Hibiki chip bysummer 2007.

As noted earlier, the Hibiki Project alsoincluded the development of low-costantenna manufacturing technology, low-costassembly technology and a complementaryreader IC. All of these components shouldlead to lower cost implementations.Additionally, hardware will soon be availableto allow potential users cost-effective accessto the technology. Regulation-complianthardware availability was cited by a numberof organisations as a further driver to RFIDtake up.

A new version of the Hibiki chip is nowunder development. Future generations willincorporate additional features such ason-metal capability, larger memory,enhanced security features and additionalsensor functions.

A number of organisations suggested thatthere was a bigger emphasis on basic costissues in Japan compared with the USA.Certainly, cost was consistently given as adriver in Japan, whereas it did not figurehighly in the responses from USorganisations visited earlier in 2006.

6.4 Manufacturing industry

Japan has a long history of using RFID,especially HF and LF technology, in itsmanufacturing industry. The manufacturingsector has been a powerful driver of thecountry’s economy and has significantinfluence. However, many of the early uses ofRFID to monitor production processes havebeen kept ‘hidden’ as they were seen as asource of competitive advantage. This has notprevented some major and successfulimplementations. For example, much ofJapan’s camera production capability usesRFID in manufacturing processes to track andlog what is happening to components.

Japanese manufacturing industry has a lot ofmuscle and is generally perceived tobecome a driving force in RFID take up, butwill want to see benefits throughout theproduction process, relevant parts of thesupply chain and product life cycle.Increasing requirements for re-processing ofwaste material will also be a driver for themanufacturing industry to havecomprehensive track and trace capability.Waste management is a significant issue inJapan, and will continue to be so. It wasnoted by a number of organisations thatRFID chips/tags should be capable of beingread throughout the lifetime of the article towhich the tag is attached to allowautomation of the recycling process.Consequently, there appears to be strongopposition in Japan to a permanent ‘kill’feature in RFID chips.

The mission visited Fujitsu’s Nasu plant,where a number of different UHF applications

49


were described. There was a demonstrationof tagging for Kanban process monitoringusing hybrid bar code, human readable andRFID technology. The labels were based onRicho’s RECO recyclable paper technology.Much of Japan’s manufacturing industry usesKanban for controlling and monitoringproduction processes. The system developedby Fujitsu is an incremental development ofthe existing card/paper based system andtypifies the Japanese approach to stageddeployment of new technology.

6.5 Regulations

The fundamental regulatory issue relating toRFID is that of frequency allocation andregulation. In the case of the UHF band, thereis no globally harmonised set of regulations –countries and regions differ widely. In theUSA, and North America in general, theregulations relating to UHF are very liberal,providing considerable spectrum availabilityand uncomplicated channel management.However, in Japan and Europe there is morelimited radio spectrum, and use is very tightlyregulated and has operational constraints.

Current European UHF regulations (which aresimilar to Japan’s) are seen by some of thosevisited during the mission as a cause forconcern, particularly the consequences of aglobal supply chain RFID implementation.Unless the situation is resolved positively andsoon, it is possible that European RFIDuptake will be limited, as will theopportunities for product and systemdevelopment. Japan is clearly monitoringfrequency allocation and management activityin Europe as a pointer to practical solutionsand this could lead to collaborationopportunities. Given that its UHF frequencieswere only ratified in 2006, Japan is some waybehind Europe in establishing what needs todone to ensure that UHF technology canbecome as pervasive as the associatedfunctionality warrants.

There are currently no major regulatorydrivers in Japan, though the recentallocation of UHF frequencies was seen bythe majority of organisations visited ashaving a very positive effect on confidenceto use RFID. There are regulatory influencesfrom various government departments andsignificant work is being done in the areasof security, healthcare and wastemanagement. These initiatives can beexpected to result in regulations that shouldbe enabling, but not necessarily so. It ispossible that, as in the USA, regulatoryinfluence will result in quasi mandates forthe use of RFID (eg the requirements of theFDA (drug control), NIH (National Institutesfor Health) and the DHS (Department ofHomeland Security)). Such requirements areunlikely to formally mandate the use ofRFID, but the functionality implied by thingssuch as ePedigree, traceability and anti-counterfeiting would be difficult to achievewithout the use of technologies such asRFID. This use will be dependent on RFIDachieving the complementary requirementsof robustness and reliability.

As an example of the way METI is co-ordinating activities that are likely to lead to aharmonised regulatory environment for RFID,a number of projects were initiated in 2005with the following themes:

Theme 1: Industrial restructuring andadministrative reform promotion projects‘These projects aim to maintain andstrengthen Japan’s internationalcompetitiveness, by integrating and co-ordinating with mission critical systems, andby promoting projects that fundamentallyreview business processes, including real-time links between sales performance andproduction plans, the integration ofcommercial distribution and physicaldistribution, the integration of manufacturingand sales, and the realisation of traceabilitythat includes recycling needs.’

50


Theme 2: New industry creation projects‘With our sights set on the next few yearsinto the future, these projects aim for Japanto take the lead in creating new industries inthe global market place, by developingtechnologies that can realise the potential ofRFID tags.’

Theme 3: Inter-industry co-operationprojects‘A series of company groups, ranging fromupstream to downstream in the distributionof goods, will team-up both vertically andhorizontally across industrial borders, and willcontribute to promoting the transfer from‘intra-industry’ to ‘inter-industry’ by creating acommon infrastructure for RFID tags in bothwholesale and retail fields.’

Theme 4: International co-operationprojects‘These projects will contribute to thefollowing objectives by creating a commoninfrastructure (mainly in Japan, China, Koreaand ASEAN countries) for RFID tags, whichcomply with ISO/IEC international standards:

• More advanced and efficient logistics anddistribution for companies in various EastAsian countries

• Achievement of traceability to contribute totrade safety and security

• Review of the direction of one-stop servicesystems for trade-related procedures.’

6.6 Supply chain applications

Supply chain applications of RFID are seen asa major opportunity for the deployment of thetechnology. Such deployment is driven in theUSA, at least in part, by mandates.Deployment is also driven by a realunderstanding of the benefits that a properlyimplemented RFID system can bring. The listof benefits is well known, but bears repeating:

• Improved service• Reduced inventory

• Reduced supply chain assets• Reduced out of stocks• Lead time variance• Reduced operational expenditure• Reduced security risk• Management of returns and warranty

claims• Re-use of assets• Recycling• Increased shareholder value

The mission team visited a large Yodobashidistribution centre (DC) in Kawasaki andsaw a working UHF system to monitorreceipt of goods from three of thecompanies that the DC handled – HP, FujiFilm and Ricoh. The cartons arriving at theDC had been source tagged and the entryand exit of the goods was tracked throughRFID-enabled portals. The RFID system hadbeen operational since August 2006 andthree of the DC’s 42 dock doors had beeninstrumented. The system had beenintroduced as an incremental developmentof existing processes and appeared veryuser-friendly, Yodobashi commenting thatthere had been no negative feedback fromstaff. There are plans to expand the system,both in terms of vendors supporting RFIDtagging of goods, as well as introducingtagging to Yodobashi’s collapsible toteboxes. This would allow mixedconsignments contained in the boxes to betracked. Yodobashi has made a lot ofprogress in a relatively short time.

As noted previously, the mission team visitedMitsukoshi’s Nihombashi store in Tokyo, andwas given a comprehensive overview of thecompany’s involvement in RFID, the progressto date and the company’s vision for thetechnology. One would expect the companyto be bullish about the effectiveness of thetechnology, given its very high profileendorsement of RFID, and some of theprocess improvement data cited is veryimpressive. Advantages of the system citedincluded:

51


• Increased sales (>10%) as a result ofimproved customer service

• Reduced labour associated with stockchecking and goods retrieval

• Reduced out of stock (OOS)• Improved feedback to wholesalers• Easier identification of slow moving line

items

To quantify the impact of RFIDimplementation on OOS, a comprehensiveindependent study was undertaken by theUniversity of Arkansas. The results of thisstudy, the largest OOS study in the world,showed the positive impact of RFID, threemajor improvements being:

• A 16% reduction in OOS in storesequipped with RFID infrastructure

• RFID stores 63% more effective instocking tagged items than control stores

• RFID tagged OOS items stocked threetimes faster than non-tagged items

The publicised SCM implementations inJapan have probably only just scratched thesurface of the opportunities that RFID canbring. There do not yet appear to be largerimplementations on the scale of Wal-Mart,Metro or M&S. This may partly be due tothe late regulation of UHF frequencies. USexperience shows that sometimesimplementations need to be visionary.Once the OOS benefits of the technology,the driving force behind the original Wal-Mart mandate, are better appreciated it ishighly likely that Japan will quickly track theUS and European experience. New benefitswill be seen as the technology is usedmore widely, and it was noted that theseadditional benefits would be easier toobtain once there are better and morepervasive mobile devices. Future areas ofopportunity include electronic proof ofdelivery (ePOD), ePedigree (track andtrace), item level tagging and sensing tags(especially for food chain applications).

6.7 Other new business opportunities

Retail supply chain (RSC) applications dominatemuch of the publicity surrounding RFID andwhile this is certainly a large market, and onewith a defined need for the functionality thatRFID offers, it is by no means the onlyapplication. Much of the current publicity isassociated with UHF and the real benefits ithas for supply chain applications. However,UHF is not the only RFID frequency band withsignificant market potential. A recent VDCreport recorded that of the 1 billion RFID tagssupplied in 2005, only 50 million were UHF.Furthermore, the majority of the UHF tagssupplied to date have been ‘non-standardbased’ devices, not ISO (or even EPCglobal)compliant. There has already been major take-up of the technology, particularly at LF (eganimal tagging, access control) and HF (egaccess control, personal identification, gamingindustry). UHF does not necessarily offer thebest solution for all applications.

There are significant opportunities for closedsystem applications of RFID, and these areeasier to trial and roll out as the implementationand success measurement parameters can becontrolled more easily. Sometimes theseapplications require functionality that cannot beprovided by any other AIDC technology. Forinstance, many closed system applicationsrequire tags with memory, often read/write.During the mission, a number of major non-RSC opportunities were noted, including:

• Healthcare – multiple applications rangingfrom pharmaceutical labelling and medicalinstrument track-and-trace to patientmonitoring

• Automotive – eg manufacture processcontrol, track-and-trace

• Security – eg access control, ePassport,identification

• Waste management – eg recycling• Product authentication – eg anti-

counterfeiting, warranty control, track-and-trace

52


The list of opportunities is long. It seems tobe accepted that RFID has relevance forapplications (problems) that cannot beaddressed by conventional AIDC. Thechallenge is to define a business need thatcan be met by RFID with an acceptable ROI,and with a realistic emphasis on robustness,performance and functionality.

A 2002 report from Forrester noted thatRFID pilots and implementations at that timehad been characterised by four businessdrivers, which are still relevant. These driversare the use of RFID in processes andapplications that:

• Are labour-intensive and error-prone. Byautomating activities such as countinginventory, RFID minimises mistakes thatpeople make when doing highly repetitivetasks

• Are vulnerable to supply chain loss. Taggingpallets and cases of products that arehighly susceptible to theft, spoilage ormisplacement

• Involve ‘high value’ assets. To justifyinvestments, firms must spread tag andreader costs over lifetime usage, which iswhy in CPG today, RFID makes sense forreusable assets like pallets and crates, not‘low-value’ individual items

• Require limited collaboration. RFID projectsto date have had higher success rateswhen firms focus on internal operations ortracking goods between one or two tradingpartners. This is because RFIDdeployments that span full supplynetworks require consensus on inter-company processes, data models andtechnology investments

Some of the organisations visited notedtechnical developments that are likely tocreate/develop business opportunities for theapplication of RFID technology. The list isquite varied, but represents some majoropportunities:

• Near-field UHF developments• Merged technology, such as broadband

real time location systems (RTLS) withpassive RFID

• Mesh infrastructure for tag communication• Printing technology for antennas and

circuitry• More embedded tag solutions

A strong theme in Japan was the use ofother technologies to complement andenhance RFID functionality. For example,Ricoh has combined RFID tags with re-writable paper technology, resulting in a‘paper’ label that allows the human and barcode readable elements to be re-written asthe labelled item progresses through, forexample, a production process. Yodobashi,while demonstrating a conventionalapplication of UHF to SCM, had added user-friendly screens to areas where tagged itemsare monitored, providing immediatevisualisation of the process. Aoyama Tradingis using glass-encapsulated antennas toachieve a very elegant RFID implementationfor reading tags on men’s suits.

According to JAISA, Japan has a clear policyfor societal issues and RFID, such as disasterrecovery, requiring systems to:

• Rapidly recover from disaster• Minimise damage by predicting disasters

and providing early warning• Avoiding collapse of buildings/structures by

tracing age and calculating strengthdeterioration

JAISA links this policy to the need fortechnology development that reaches beyondcurrent RFID functionality as follows:

• RFID

o Integrated systems incorporatingpassive and active RFID

o Battery technology

53


• Sensor

o Temperature, humidity, pressure andstrain

o Integration

• Communication

o Wiredo Wireless (UWB, ZigBee etc)

• Architecture

o Hub and spokeo Mesh

In late 2004 MIC launched the u-Japanpackage, a new IT strategic concept to createa ubiquitously networked society whereanyone can conveniently connect to acomputer network through the internet anytime, anywhere. RFID is one of thetechnology themes that will be exploitedwithin the u-Japan package. MIC intends tocreate a seamless wired or wireless accessenvironment, which will enable all users toaccess the high-speed network by 2010.Japan has international initiatives in the samearea of ICT with Korea and China.

6.8 Other drivers

Previous sections have dealt with the maindrivers such as government initiatives,regulations and standards. There are manyothers, which will vary in relevance and/orimportance depending on the application.Other possible drivers include:

• Proof of concept and positive deployments• Social benefit – eg removal of operator

involvement and so avoidance of repetitivestrain injury

• Functionality – eg addition of sensors andmore data storage

• Availability of mobile devices• Source tagging• Healthcare – error prevention

• Healthcare – cost saving and collateralbenefit of increased patient contact time

• Healthcare – privacy enhancingtechnologies (PETs)

• Education/consulting/collaboration

Battery-assisted passive tags, sometimescalled semi-active or semi-passive tags, areattracting a lot of interest. Such tags operatein the same manner as passive tags, but havean auxiliary power source for on-tagprocessing circuitry and additional functions,such as sensors. These tags combine someof the functionality of fully active tags with atag price closer to that of passive tags.Applications for semi-active tags with, forexample, temperature sensors would be inthe chilled meat/goods supply chain. Othersensing capability that could be incorporatedincludes humidity, chemical and mechanical.The auxiliary power source can also be usedto supplement a tag’s transmission capability,reducing the amount of power a reader hasto transmit to ‘wake-up’ a tag. This hasrelevance in areas such as healthcare whereradiated power needs to be minimised.

6.9 Inhibitors

Organisations were asked about anyroadblocks or inhibitors to RFID take-up,particularly any experience that might map tothe UK and Europe, or that might be specificto non-Japanese applications. Commonthemes included privacy, waste disposal,interference between RF devices andtechnology stability. Cost, earlier cited as apotential driver, can also be a road block toRFID take-up if technology adoption costs arenot compatible with the required ROI. It wasnoted previously that it had taken a long timeto get UHF frequency allocations officiallyratified and this had been seen as an inhibitor.

A major issue for European implementationidentified by a number of organisationsvisited is the current ETSI requirement forRFID systems to operate using a listen

54


before talk (LBT) protocol. The compliantinterpretation of this makes it very difficult toimplement practical multi-reader installations.

The LBT requirements were drawn up beforeRFID was seen as a pervasive technology,particularly within the retail supply chain, andcauses two serious limitations to practicalimplementation. Firstly, LBT prevents RFIDfrom being used in event-driven (real-time)applications. Secondly, LBT makes it verydifficult to implement installations with a highdensity of interrogators (readers), particularlyif these are operated by different users,because of the need for complex co-ordination of reader operation. There are anumber of proposals being discussed toresolve the problem and there is a cleardesire to see a positive resolution.

The mission team was very interested inunderstanding experiences related to privacyissues and how significant these are in reality.Japan has been pro-active in anticipatingprivacy issues and has addressed these earlythrough guidelines. There was a general viewthat the issues are not necessarily bestaddressed by regulation, but rather clarity inpolicy and objectives. ‘We want business tooperate economically’. In Japan privacyguidelines were jointly issued by METI andMIC in 2004, and it has been implied thatKorea and China are following the same policy.The key measures listed in the guidelines are:

• Notification to the customer that the itemhas an RFID tag

• Consumers make the final determinationwhether the RFID tag is read

• Provide information regarding the socialbenefits of RFID tags

• Rules for using information recorded onRFID tags by linking to computers andnetworks

• Restrictions on collection and use ofpersonal information stored on tags

• Ensuring accuracy of personal informationwhen recorded on tags

• Appointment of information manager• Educate consumers by providing

information about RFID

In the USA the privacy lobby is verypowerful, though during the US mission itwas observed that the lobby had notprevented RFID uptake to any great extent.This is for a number of reasons, includingthe nature of RFID use to date, typicallybeing closed-system or at least one levelaway from direct consumer involvement. Forexample, Wal-Mart uses the technologywithin its distribution chain and storewarehousing – customers are not aware ofthe use of RF tags. Where RFID taggingmight be viewed as contentious, such aspersonal identification in schools orhospitals, privacy issues arediffused/neutralised by the use of positiveconsent to being tagged. It was also notedthat some privacy concerns can beaddressed by the use of encryption or byensuring that there is no link betweenpersonal data and/or identity to the articlebeing tagged. Japan does not appear tohave the same concerns/issues as the USA.

The EC is keeping a watching brief on RFIDand privacy. In 2005 the Article 29 WorkingParty, the European committee of privacycommissioners, released a working documenton privacy implications of RFID, which noted:

• A first type of data protection concernarises when the deployment of RFIDtechnology is used to collect informationdirectly or indirectly linked to personal data– eg where the RFID tag number of aproduct is linked to the record of thecustomer who bought it.

• A second type arises where personal datais stored in RFID tags. One example couldbe in transport ticketing.

• A third type arises from uses of RFIDtechnology that entails individual trackingand access to personal data.

55


Skills shortage could be an inhibiting factorto the take-up and widespreadimplementation of RFID technology, thoughthis was not commented on in Japan. InEurope and the USA there is a shortage oftechnicians with the relevant RF andnetworking skills and this is exacerbated bythe immaturity of the technology andequipment. However, in the USA there isevidence that the academic community ispreparing to deliver RFID relevant educationand training, including RFID electives atsome colleges. It is also clear that there isstill a lot of attention and interest in scienceeducation in the USA and Japan. It might beargued that science education in the UK israther less supported, which might be athreat to the long-term support of RFID.

Regarding standards, it was agreed that it isgood that there are now ISO standardscovering the UHF band and that these hadbeen a major influence in enabling low-costproduct supply. However, it was also notedthat RFID is unusual in that these standardshave been developed in advance of thetechnology stabilising. The conclusion is thatthe standards might continue to develop andbe modified, but that at least there is now aframework for product development andusers can be given some comfort of platformstability, interoperability and substitution.

Other concerns which could develop intotake-up inhibitors include safety concernsassociated with RF radiation and perceivedhealth risks. A number of studies have beenundertaken that show that there are no healthor material problems when operated withinregulatory limits and exposure guidelines, butthe results need to be communicated widelyto allay fears.

Some organisations suggested that changemanagement issues associated with RFIDimplementation could be an inhibitor totake-up. One noted, ‘RFID brings about aninnovation which results in change andmuch depends on whether or not theimplementer has the power or will toorganise change’. This is probably acommon concern worldwide.

56


7.1 Retail

With active support from government, theJapanese retail industry has carried out arange of trials to learn about the potentialcontribution of RFID to modern businesses.

These trials have created some innovativesolutions based on the unique nature of theJapanese market which have resulted in realbusiness cases for adoption. Some of thesesolutions are now being rolled out as theydeliver clear competitive advantage andmeasurable financial benefits.

The team visited three significant retail usersof RFID and an RFID-equipped sushirestaurant. Two of the retailers (Mitsukoshiand Aoyama) were using RFID to enhancecustomer service and stock accuracy, and thethird (Yodobashi) used RFID in its distributionwarehouse to receive goods rapidly with100% accuracy.

In Japan UHF frequencies for RFID haveonly been available since April 2005 (952-955 MHz) so it is not surprising that mostof the retail applications seen operated atHF (13.56 MHz). However, the distributioncentre was using UHF for carton receiving.

Japanese stores of all sizes are characterisedby a tight layout that aims to offer a widerange of merchandise in a small space. Thisdelivers a high turnover per square metre anda rapid stock turnover. Mitsukoshi told theteam that Japanese department stores turnover their inventory 3.5 times faster than inthe USA and produce sales per square metre7.5 times higher.

Service is very important in Japan, and thebig stores work hard to offer attentivecustomer care with a high emphasis on salesstaff serving individual customers. However,limitations on space constrain in-store stockholding and this means that inventoryaccuracy is key to avoiding sell outs. For acustomer to leave empty handed becausetheir size is not available is seen as theultimate failure of service, so sales teams areactively encouraged to work with thecustomers to find alternative products thatwill meet expectations. Mitsukoshi andAoyama are using RFID as part of thisservice culture.

Yodobashi Camera sells a wide range of fast-moving high-value electronic products acrossa network of stores. In its distribution centrethere has always been a potential trade offbetween speed of goods intake and the needto ensure that these high-priced goods havebeen delivered accurately from suppliers.Yodobashi is using RFID labels applied atcarton level by the manufacturers to ensureboth speed and accuracy.

The Umi no Machi RFID sushi bar sellsprepared sushi from a rotating conveyor trackthat passes by the dining tables. Dependingon the price, dishes are placed on differentcoloured plates, and the final bill is workedout by counting numbers and colours ofplates. RFID tags have been embedded in theplates to speed up this process and make itmore accurate.

These visits illustrated the potentialcontribution of RFID to a wide range ofbusinesses. Full details are shown below.

7 APPLICATIONS

57


7.1.1 Mitsukoshi Ltd

Mitsukoshi is a large departmental retaileroriginally established in 1673. It has aturnover of ¥842 billion (£3.6 billion), covers5.7 million sq ft and has 7,000 employees.It sells a wide range of goods includingclothing (34%), foods (25%), and footwearand accessories (13%).

The team visited the Nihombashi flagshipstore in Tokyo which has a turnover of¥290 billion (£1.2 billion) on 1.4 million sq ft.

Mitsukoshi is using RFID for inventorymanagement on both ladies footwear anddenim jeans.

RFID on footwear

Footwear in Mitsukoshi is displayed in atraditional way. Displays are elegant and lightlydressed, with all stock being held in boxes in astockroom. Because of the range of styles andsizes on offer, the Nihombashi store needs tohold around 24,000 pairs of shoes. Butbecause space is at a premium these have tobe held in the stockroom on moveable rollershelves. This creates a significant waiting timefor the customer who wants to try on a pair ofshoes while the required size is found, and aneed for stock accuracy to prevent wastedjourneys. It also makes it logistically difficult toshow customers a wide range of alternativesas these have to be located, removed from thestockroom, and eventually accurately replaced.

Mitsukoshi use RFID tags in three distinct ways:

• To carry out regular and rapid stocktakingin the stockroom

• To provide point-of-sale information on thatstock via a PDA

• To show customers a range of alternativeson screen when their first choice isunavailable

All footwear suppliers deliver the shoes intraditional shoe boxes to a Japanese wholesaler.The wholesaler writes an EPC code for eachpair of shoes to an RFID tag using a hand-heldreader/writer, and attaches it to the shoe box ina transparent envelope on the outside. A PhillipsI-Code 13.56 MHz tag is used.

When a pair of shoes is removed from the boxand placed on display the RFID tag is attachedto the shoe using a plastic attachment loop. In the stockroom a hand-held reader is used torapidly capture an accurate stock picture.

58


The reader is moved across the tags and itbleeps as each tag is read.

The information is transmitted to the centralserver via the internet and is then available atevery location. Sales assistants carry awireless PDA that displays live informationabout stock in their own stockroom, in thewarehouse and at other stores in the group.

On the sales floor the staff help customers touse an RFID display terminal to check theavailability of the various shoes and sizes.

The customer assistant places the shoeonto the flat bed scanner and informationon size availability immediately appears onthe screen.

The screen can also be used to show a fullrange of alternative shoes in a similar style.

Once a sale has been made the RFID tag isremoved from the shoe at the till point and

read again on a till-point reader. This salesinformation is also used to update theinventory database. The tag bears astatement saying that it contains an RFIDchip which will be collected and re-used.

Results from using RFID on footwear inMitsukoshi include:

• Sales increase of +10%• Time to serve each customer halved

59


• Trips to stockroom cut by 25%• Forecasting accuracy improved• Inventory management improved• Visibility of lost sales• Well liked by sales assistants and

customers• Now extended to seven stores involving

over 200,000 pairs of shoes at any time.

RFID on denim jeans

Early in 2006 Mitsukoshi experimented with a‘Store of the Future’ in its Ginza store whichwas sponsored by the Ministry of Economy,Trade and Industry (METI).

The most successful outcome was the RFIDtagging of 50,000 pairs of ladies denim jeans,which has now been rolled out to nine storesincluding Nihombashi.

The same 13.56 MHz tags used for footwearare hung through the belt loop of premiumprice denim jeans.

Merchandise is scanned on display using asmaller hand-held terminal, and thisinformation is sent over the internet to updatethe stock file.

During the full trial in Ginza a display terminalwas available to display fit information to thecustomer, but this aspect is not currentlybeing used.

Results from using RFID tags on denim inMitsukoshi

• 16% increase in sales• Selling time shortened by 20%• Reduction in time spent in fitting room

The future store trial

This combined a number of new technologysolutions (including RFID) within the samestore:

• RFID tagging of garments• Smart shelves constantly reading tags and

linked to shelf edge display ticketing• Electronic paper for shelf edge ticketing,

which went red when lines were fully outof stock but stayed green whenmerchandise was available in the stockroom

• An intelligent fitting room using an RFIDreader equipped phone that couldautomatically check availability of furthersizes

• E-recommendations – similar to the

60


footwear device, the customer is able toseek information on range, fit and style.Backed up by pictures, the device alsoprovided recommendations on what to buy

• Active tags for the customer to requesthelp in the fitting room by pressing abutton to summon staff

Results

• The smart shelves worked well and wereliked by customers and staff

• The intelligent fitting room was liked by70% of customers, and shortened thetime spent trying on garments

• The e-recommendation system was likedby 80% of customers, but most wouldhave preferred a print-out of results. They also wanted to have it in each fitting room

• It was well used by staff• The active tag to summon assistance was

liked by 90% of customers but was lesspopular with staff as they felt it createdconflicts of priority when they wereserving other customers

Summary of Mitsukoshi’s views on RFID

• Very successful in a large departmentstore, especially when dealing with itemsavailable in a large range of size and colour

• Much faster and easier to use than barcodes

• The HF 13.56 MHz technology is notsuitable for apparel logistics tracking

• Privacy and disposal issues are stillimportant in Japan

• Expansion plans for RFID includeextending its use to men’s suits andcosmetics, coupled with a virtual make-upservice

• Mitsukoshi is considering UHF tagging,applied at source rather than in thewarehouse

• Mitsukoshi believes that Japan has a leadposition in the innovative use of RFIDtechnology on the sales floor

7.1.2 Aoyama Trading Co Ltd

Aoyama is a retail business founded in 1964that predominately sells menswear.

It has 800 stores throughout Japan and3,000 employees. It has a number of storeformats including The Suit Company whichhas 33 top-end stores aimed at youngercustomers. Aoyama has a sales turnover of¥203 billion (£860 million).

The mission visited The Suit Company storein Ginza which has a modern layout sellingsuits, shirts, shoes and accessories.

Aoyama has been studying RFID tagging since2002, and has followed closely its use byMitsukoshi, and M&S in the UK. In 2005 itstarted to experiment with RFID tagging ofshoes, followed in 2006 by RFID tagging ofsuits. It currently has nine stores using theshoe tagging system but only one using RFIDon suits.

61


Its business case for the use of RFID isprimarily based on providing better informationabout the product to the customer. Inparticular it has taken great care to developcustomer-facing equipment that is modernand stylish and enhances the store’s image.

The kiosk used to display information fromthe central database about individual suitswas designed by Nippon Sheet GlassCompany Ltd. The hidden reader uses anaerial embedded in the screen to read the13.56 MHz Texas Instruments Tag-it tagcontained in a swing ticket.

The kiosk displays detailed information aboutthe suit and the fabric used in itsconstruction. It gives advice on fit, warmthand style, plus a summary of sizes available.In general customers are assisted by amember of the sales team when using thekiosk. It is very much seen as a sales aid thatbenefits both customers and staff.

Aoyama uses a different but equally stylishkiosk to aid shoe sales.

The Suit Company footwear display

Shoes are placed onto the scanner platform,which reads the 13.56 MHz TexasInstruments Tag-it tag. Again detailedinformation on product size availability isdisplayed.

62


The very visible tags are removed from theshoes at time of purchase and re-used.

7.1.3 Yodobashi Camera

Yodobashi Camera is a retailer of electronicgoods with a £2.5 billion annual turnover.

The mission team visited its 15,000 sq mwarehouse, which handles 50 million itemsper annum. The retailer has 500,000 differentstocked items, but only 20,000 of these arestored in the warehouse. The remainder arestored by suppliers and cross-docked throughto the stores.

As usual in a warehouse there is a balance tobe struck between accuracy of receipt andthe time taken to receive goods. NormallyYodobashi relies on the supplier’s shippingnotices backed up by a monthly 100%physical check. However, it is aware that100% accuracy is hard to obtain, and in the

case of high-value electronic goods smallvariations can be very costly.

In December 2005 it installed a UHF RFIDreader system provided by Mighty Card, alocal systems integrator using mainly Symbolequipment. The aim was to achieve 100%delivery accuracy without any loss ofhandling speed.

Each docking bay is about 10 m wide and canhandle three lorries at a time.

An RFID reader system has been set up inthree of these bays using a combination ofgate and ceiling readers set at varyingangles. The system is only switched onwhen a lorry arrives.

63


Great care was taken with the position of theceiling readers and the whole installation tooksix weeks. There are around 16 antennas onthe ceiling above each bay.

As pallets are wheeled off the lorry the readersystem picks up the RFID tag identities andfeeds them into the SAP warehouse system.

The system compares the items physicallyread with the advanced shipping notice andcreates a visual display on a large-screenmonitoring system that is continuallyrefreshed as the lorry is unloaded.

64


This creates a simple visual display thatconfirms that the order has been correctlydelivered.

Each carton carries a label that combines barcodes, human readable information and RFIDtags.

The labels are supplied using tags fromOmron and two other suppliers but they areall EPC Class 1 Gen 2.

The large RFID tag is attached to the reverseside of the adhesive label.

Summary

Yodobashi is pleased with the £150,000investment it has made in this trial. It hasachieved 100% RFID reads withoutcompromising handling speeds.

However, currently only three of its suppliersare using RFID labels, and this needs toincrease before it can take full benefit fromthe system.

7.1.4 Umi no Machi RFID sushi bar

The sushi bar chefs place food on a rotatingconveyor from which the diners can maketheir choice as each dish passes.

Alternatively they can make their choice fromthe touch screen at each table.

65


Either way each dish is colour-codeddepending on the price of the choice. At theend of the meal the cashier has to count upthe plates of each colour to calculate the bill.This is a complicated calculation which canoften lead to disputes at the end of aconvivial evening.

This sushi bar has solved the problem byinstalling an RFID tag in each plate

pre-programmed with the price of the dish.

At the end of the meal the waiter or cashierhas only to pass a handheld scanneralongside the plates to calculate the bill,which is displayed on a screen.

More recent scanners have been simplifiedand made more suitable for a hygienic foodservice environment.

7.2 Corporate records and

file management

Records management can be defined as thepractice of identifying, classifying, restricting,locating, tracking, auditing, archiving, andquite often the controlled destruction ofrecords, and is strongly identified with paper-based documents.

In these days of increasing businesscomplexity, regulation and compliancegoverns the amount of paper-basedinformation that organisations are required toretain, and this seems to grow exponentially.

Managing and maintaining this papermountain takes up precious office space andstaff resources, with increasing costs foron/off site storage and archival facilities. Lostfiles take up valuable time, cost the companymoney, and can damage its reputation. Alsoof critical importance is the ability to keep afile secure. A client must know its information

66


is safe. On top of these guidelines, acts suchas those of Sarbanes-Oxley4 and the Gramm-Leach-Bliley5 are helping companies toimplement polices and working practices thatensure safeguards to sensitive informationwhile also providing efficient access to it.

Early or legacy RFID systems were limited bythe fact that the tag and reader could onlycommunicate on a single frequency orchannel at a specific orientation with the useof slot protocols for anti-collision, whichproved slow and limited the number ofseparate tags that could be read. The densestacking of tags could cause a blocking effectand could also de-tune the resonantfrequency and pull the transmission out ofthe pass band of the detector.

These factors, coupled the low labellingcosts, established standards and widespreaduse of bar codes, meant that the latterremained the data carrier of preference forthese types of application.

However, new generation RFID is nowchallenging this position. Improvements inantenna technology and communicationdevelopments such as those characterised byMagellan's pulse jitter modulation (PJM)technology (with PJM accommodated withISO18000-3 Mode 2) means that multipletags that are simultaneously within the rangeof a reader and in close proximity to oneanother can be correctly identified and theiridentifying messages individually andaccurately received.

It is, however, in risk management that themain take up can be seen for the movementto RFID tags. The growth and adoption ofRFID-based security and access controlsystems for document tracking systemshave presented an opportunity to integratewith other security systems to provide a

detailed and comprehensive documentprotection. For example, when combinedwith employee identification systems usingIC cards or tags, RFID systems can enablereal-time recording of which employees areremoving or replacing which documents,whether authorised or not, from a filingcabinet or room.

Omni-directional antennas attached to bookshelves and cabinets communicate data fromRFID tags embedded in documents to amiddleware software system offering real-time document tracking. Hand-held devicescan then be used to do scheduled sweeps ofrooms and storage areas for inventory andreconciliation checks.

Clients managing extremely sensitive or high-traffic records will realise the greatest returnon investment from the technology. It is alsoideal for those wanting to minimise theimpact upon record users, providing the leastchange to their daily workflow routine.

Benefits of RFID include:

• Rapid retrieval of missing files• Complete inventories in a fraction of the

time• Scanning multiple files simultaneously• Increased overall productivity and

distribution efficiency• Reduced end-user impact• Increased accuracy

In Japan there is a growing market for thesystems that can fully track sensitivedocuments particularly in banks, financialinstitutions, libraries and hospitals. In 2004NPO, the Japanese Network Association,stated that information leaks were a large riskfor businesses, with 45.9% of this beingpaper-based, through theft, misplaceddocuments or unauthorised access.

4 The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, also known as the Public Company Accounting Reform and Investor Protection Act of 2002

5 The Financial Modernization Act of 1999, also known as the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act

67


A growing trend is for companies tocollaborate to bring a product to market.NEC has worked with NikkoTelecommunications Co Ltd to provide anRFID document system for Nagoya Bank.A key feature of this system was its abilityto read data from a number ofcommercially available RFID tags andchips, including Hitachi's µ-chip, and tagsdeveloped by Omron Corp, Fujitsu Ltd andthe Toppan Printing Company. Since thesystem went into operation NEC hasclaimed that the client has experiencedreduced costs in managing the paperworkflow within the work area. NEC isnow targeting other banks, financialinstitutions, libraries, hospitals and otherinstitutions that store sensitive documents.

Nippon Signal has developed and ismarketing IC cabinets to be used withRFID-tagged files and documents. Theseprovide real-time tracking of tagged filesand documents as they are placed andremoved from the cabinet. Unauthorisedremoval of items results in an alert beingautomatically sent to an administrator. Thecontrol and monitoring software wasdeveloped using Sun Java System's RFIDsoftware and the documents and filesplaced in the cabinet and monitored 24hours a day. Removing documents/foldersrequires staff to first identify themselves tothe system either via scanning theirsecurity card or entry of a password at alocal workstation. There are still issues withRFID file-tracking systems – furniturespecially designed for reading tags is seenas much too expensive, handheld devicestend to be bulky and need to be manuallymoved within centimetres of the filefolders to detect the tag's presence. Thesereaders are also relatively expensive andstill do not guarantee a high probability ofsuccessful detection without a slow andmethodical hand motion across the files.

7.3 Healthcare

7.3.1 RFID applications and thehealthcare market in Japan

Ricoh Company Ltd

Ricoh Company Ltd has developed theRECO-View IC tag, which combines IC tags,including RFID, with reusable and rewritablepaper technology. Its automatic recognitionand visualisation enables efficient and reliablereal-time management and improved workprocesses. It can be used with existing barcode systems. The erasing and re-writing isdone using heating (direct contact or laser)and cooling, and the effect it has on chemicalrewrite (CR) paper containing leuco dyeswhich change form from colourless tocoloured. A physical rewrite (PR) form ofpaper is also available.

The Seijyu-kai Medical Clinic in Osaka is usingthe RECO-View application. A rewritable RFIDtag sheet (see next page) is given to thepatient so that the examiner can visuallyconfirm the information at the examinationsite. After the examination a rewritable printerautomatically rewrites the sheet.

Benefits include:

• The minimising of human error throughdisplaying examination information in realtime

• Reduced administration/reception costs• Reduction in waiting time for patients• The IC tag sheet information can be

managed to provide optimal guidance topatients

• Increase in the amount of time medicalequipment is in use

• Reusable sheets give reduced runningcosts and a reduced environmental impact

• This is a staff and patient friendly migrationstep towards a paperless clinic

68


The RECO-View IC tag has a printingresolution of over 400 dpi, which is photoquality. It can be reused approximately1,000 times.

Ricoh has also developed the RECO-View PRfilm and CR film re-writable cards, again with400 dpi resolution. The display area of there-writable cards can be used repeatedly.

Rewritable RFID tag sheet

69


An example of their use is in hospitals, withpersonal data stored directly on the card aswell as instructions to the patient. Protectionmay be required to prevent unauthorised oraccidental erasure of information, and toensure authenticated links between cardcontent and holder.

YRP Ubiquitous Networking Laboratory

The YRP Ubiquitous Networking Laboratoryhas developed the ubiquitous communicator,a hand-held device that can read RFID tagsand retrieve relevant data from serverdatabases. The standard ubiquitouscommunicator has a host of featuresincluding WiFi (built-in Bluetooth), biometricreaders, digital camera, voice-over phonefunction, multi-band RFID tag reader, andone and two-dimensional bar code reader.The ability to read RFID tags combined withthe communication to many serverdatabases enables many healthcareapplications.

These include linking the identification ofpatients using RFID tags or bar codes tohospital medical records. Another possibleapplication is the linking of patientidentification and test results via serverdatabases, and the ordering of further testsusing the ubiquitous communicator.

Fujitsu Ltd

Fujitsu has developed the world’s first UHFband ‘linen RFID tag’. This is a soft mouldingtype RFID tag that is:

• Waterproof• Heat resistant to 200°C• Pressure proof to 8 tons/sq m• Resistant to alkaline detergent

The obvious healthcare applications relate toreusable hospital clothing and textiles/fabricsand linking this to the control of infection,tracking and stocktaking.

7.3.2 The UK healthcare marketcompared with Japan and the USA

In the UK healthcare market there areisolated pockets of implementation of RFIDtechnology. There is some asset tracking andsome patient tagging. The introduction ofwireless networks in some hospitals isstarting to prompt questions such as, ‘Howcan we best use this?’

At a high level there is a small amount ofactivity in terms of Department of Health (DH)initiatives eg the Healthcare Quality Directorateis looking at opportunities to improve patientsafety using AIDC technologies.

The mission to Japan highlighted sometechnological developments such as theRECO-View rewritable and reusable taggedpaper, the ubiquitous communicator and thelinen tag. However the team did not seelarge-scale implementation of RFID acrossthe Japanese healthcare industry. Examplessuch as the implementation of the RECO-View technology at the Seijyu-kai MedicalClinic in Osaka were the exception ratherthan the rule.

In the USA the situation is different.Companies such as InfoLogix (asset, patientand staff tracking), PanGo (networks andasset tracking), Cisco (wireless local areanetworks) and AeroScout (asset tracking)have installed thousands of RFID applicationsin US hospitals. By December 2006,InfoLogix had implemented 1,100 solutionsspecifically for hospitals.

The USA is clearly ahead internationally interms of the implementation of RFIDtechnology applications and solutions. Thedrivers behind this implementation rate arethe clear benefits being seen to accrue fromprocess visibility (patients, staff and assets)and improved patient safety all combinedwith reduced technology (tag) costs. Thetechnological developments in Japan have

70


yet to see significant implementation andsome (ubiquitous communicator) needfurther refining.

7.3.3 Japanese Government support andpromotion of RFID in healthcare

The Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade andIndustry (METI) and Ministry of InternalAffairs and Communications (MIC) aresupporting and promoting the adoption ofRFID technology in Japanese healthcare.RFID is viewed as a technology that cansupport the achievement of Governmenttargets and a solution to national challenges.

METI and healthcare

METI has invested over £25 million in RFIDtag field trials since 2003. One trial was inpharmaceuticals, covering plants andhospitals, which targeted improvements inaccuracy and management ofpharmaceuticals, improvements in medicalsafety, and the optimisation of productinventories for the entire supply chain.

METI’s view of RFID is that it can:

• Provide solutions to global policychallenges including healthcare

• Become a ‘killer application’ to manageand solve business resource problems egsystem and process transformation inhospitals and healthcare in general

• Provide a quick solution to a lack of volumeand quality in IT investments eg healthcareinformation systems

• Provide seamless integration to existingeconomic activities eg improved financialmanagement and efficiency in healthcare

MIC and healthcare

The realisation of a Ubiquitous NetworkSociety (u-Japan) is one of the aims of MIC.This means simply a society where everyonecan access and use a communications

network any time and anywhere, and whereeverything is connected. Healthcare issuesare addressed under the sub-headings of‘Sensor Network & Medical Care Health,Living’ and ‘Securing Safety and Securitythrough ICT’.

‘Sensor Network & Medical Care, Health,Living’ promotes health managementthrough the monitoring of physical conditionand behaviours (elderly), technology aidedlifestyle support (parents with young children)as well as environmental monitoring(pollution, earth tremors). ‘Securing Safetyand Security through ICT’ picks up issuessuch as food safety through the monitoringof the product lifecycle, ambulances beinglinked to hospital information systems andtransmitting real-time patient conditioninformation, drug safety and security(tracking product lifecycle, prescriptions,allergies, multiple drug effects) and intelligenttransport systems to reduce road trafficaccidents. The policy views healthcare from aprevention, treatment and maintenanceperspective rather than just healthcaretreatment on its own.

7.3.4 Organisation of Japanese industryand lessons for the UK

METI’s promotion and support, and the useof RFID across industry, is with anexpectation that it will lead to:

• Enhanced efficiency• The development of new products and

services• The maintaining of international

competitiveness for user industries

The willingness of Japanese industry toembrace field trials supports this view.

The UK’s healthcare providers and supportingindustries will likewise benefit if the adoptionof RFID is promoted and supported byappropriate government bodies like DTI and

71


DH. The many benefits that can accrue fromthe successful adoption of RFID and AIDCtechnologies should be sufficient to drive anybusiness plan for investment in any case.

One other lesson regards cost and theapproach taken by the Hibiki Project. The unitcost of tags/chips was identified as too high,and a target set to meet high-volumeaffordability criteria. The two-year projectresulted in the target cost being met.

This ‘target costing’ approach is somethingthat has been associated with Japaneseindustry for decades. UK industry and thehealthcare market would benefit fromtaking a similar approach. Indeed, cross-sector co-operation would help, forexample, in bulk use of tags for assettracking across diverse industries such asmanufacturing and healthcare.

7.3.5 The UK healthcare market andRFID and other AIDC technologies

As noted earlier, the UK healthcare markethas isolated pockets of RFID implementation.The Department of Health/NHS, whichcontrols almost the UK’s entire healthcarespend, is the dominant market force.

The NHS Plan published in 2000 set out aprogramme of investment and reform totransform healthcare services to make themmore responsive to patients and to improvethe quality of services within the resourcesavailable. January 2006 saw the publication of‘Our health, our care, our say: a new directionfor community services’, which envisagesmore services in community settings andsome movement away from acute hospitals.The NHS operating framework for 2007/08has recently been published, and includes thefollowing recommendations:

• More choice for patients • More diverse providers, with freedom to

innovate, improve services and compete

• National standards on quality and safety• A requirement to improve productivity to

meet a minimum waiting time for patientsof 18 weeks (from seeing GP to hospital orclinic treatment)

• Capital investment linked to affordability• A 2.5% efficiency savings target as well as

a slowdown in funding growth• Reducing MRSA and other hospital-

acquired infections

All of this leads to a focus on improvingprocess visibility and improving patient safety.

7.3.6 How RFID and AIDC technologiescan help healthcare providers

The implementation of RFID and AIDC inhospitals and primary care (GPs) has thepotential to help them become morecompetitive and to deliver key NHS targetsand objectives. The technologies couldsupport and drive system and processtransformation, namely:

• Improved patient safety – better patientidentification, patient tracking, linkingmedicines to prescriptions

• Better financial management throughprocess visibility – ability to track costs,reduced staffing and equipmentrequirements

• Tackling MRSA and other hospitalinfections – McDonalds using RFID tomonitor hand washing

• Improved productivity and meeting patientwaiting targets through process visibility –improving scheduling of patients, staff andequipment using RFID tracking, better bedmanagement, implementation ofproduction line control systems andprocesses

St George’s Healthcare NHS TrustAIDC/RFID project

This project has been provisionally titled ‘TheAmbient Intelligent Hospital’. The existing

72


patient flows and related hospital systemsand process would be mapped as a startingpoint. This would give a starting point on thepathway towards improving process visibility,competitiveness and patient safety.

Work streams will look at the trust’s IT andestates infrastructure as well as resources(staff, funding etc). The project is proposing touse RFID and AIDC technologies to trackpatients, staff, equipment and consumables.Target outcomes include productivityimprovements, better financial management,improved patient safety and reduced hospitalinfection rates.

Investment costs are expected to come fromsavings. Financial instruments such asmanaged facilities service contracts will betested as an affordable and robust means offinancing the technology and relatedsolutions. A managed facilities servicescontract could offer the advantages ofspreading costs over 15 to 20 years, flexibilityregarding changes in the organisation’s futureplans, the ability to keep track of technologicaldevelopments and changes and a fixedaffordable annual payment.

The project will also look at sustainable andenvironmentally friendly development. Thetrust is currently developing the project planwith BT and AIM UK.

7.3.7 Conclusions

The opportunities for the UK healthcaresector and UK industry through large-scaleadoption of RFID are immense. Spending onRFID technologies worldwide is forecast togrow exponentially. The worldwide healthcareRFID and AIDC market has the potential togrow into tens of billions of pounds in a veryshort time.

There are opportunities for healthcareproviders to improve national and internationalcompetitiveness. There is an opportunity forthe IT, electronics and service industries todevelop new products and services and sellthem to the healthcare industry. With a littleco-ordination, UK healthcare and thesupporting UK industries could work togetherfor mutual advantage through joint ventures.

7.4 Futuristic RFID trial in Tokyo

shopping district

RFID will figure prominently in one of themost ambitious city-of-the-future projects todate. In Tokyo’s famed Ginza shopping district,10,000 RFID tags and similar wirelessbeacons will be embedded in public fixtureslike walls and street lamps, according toComputerworld. Passers-by, equipped withprototype reader devices, will be able toobtain location-specific information as theypass each beacon. Examples includedirections to the closest public transportationterminal, current promotions at a retailer inthe neighbourhood, or the menu of a nearbyrestaurant. The information will be available inJapanese, English, Chinese and Korean.

Trials begin on 21 January 2007 and runthrough March. It is an initiative by the TokyoUbiquitous Network Project, a joint venturebetween the Japanese Government andelectronic manufacturing heavyweightsFujitsu, NEC, Hitachi, and NTT East. KenSakamura, a professor at the University ofTokyo, leads the project.

The information is presented on 3.5-inchdisplay panels. In addition to RFID, wirelessLAN and Bluetooth technology comprise thetotal system.

73


It was very encouraging that a consistentpicture of the state of the RFID market inJapan emerged from the organisationsvisited. The overall impression was verypositive and there is general optimism aboutthe state of RFID uptake, perhaps counteredby a wish that the market would developfaster. It was accepted that this is a majormarket with significant growth potential and itwas generally felt that the variousGovernment-led initiatives have ensured thatthe Japanese RFID market opportunity isbeing developed as anticipated.

The Japanese RFID market is probablysomewhat behind that in the US as,significantly, there have been no majormandates acting to make the market demandled. However, a major difference in Japan isthe degree of Government sponsorship andco-ordination of RFID initiatives. The level ofco-ordination and strategic ambition thatJapan is using to approach the RFID marketwas very impressive. Perhaps there arelessons to be learnt in the UK.

Now that earlier inhibitors such as the lack offormal UHF frequency allocation have beenremoved, it is expected that the pace of RFIDadoption will accelerate, particularly at UHF.Japan has a further major strategic advantagebecause of its strong ties and collaborationswith Korea and China. This represents a hugemarket opportunity for Japanese-sourcedRFID technology.

While the Japanese RFID market has notbeen significantly driven by mandates, this isnot to say that there is not full awareness ofwhat is going on, for example, at Wal-Mart,US DoD and M&S. Typically, Japanesecompanies and institutions look for positive

exemplars of a technology’s use and thenrefine and perfect the implementation.

Cost is identified as a major driver forJapanese companies and the Hibiki Projecthas resulted in the potential availability oflow-cost UHF inlets and complementarytechnology. The cost of equipment, especiallytags, was raised by some organisations as ahistoric barrier to RFID uptake, but it was byno means given as much significance asmight have been expected. However, thereseemed to be an acceptance that at thisstage of the market development it is moreimportant to address the issues ofrobustness, performance and functionality.Appropriate pricing will be a naturaldeterminant of the market, business casesand volumes employed. The outcome of theHibiki Project is giving Japanese companiesconfidence that tag cost and availabilityshould not be a problem in the future.

Privacy is a concern in Japan, but temperedby confidence that appropriate steps havebeen taken to defuse any potential problems.It is seen as a Government issue and onethat has been addressed. In the USA privacyhas been an issue, but not a major one.However, most implementations to date havebeen one step removed from the consumer.A key message in countering privacyconcerns is to engage and communicate withindividuals and communities that will beimpacted by the introduction of RFID.

The main concern regarding regulations isrelated to the EC regulatory environment forUHF RFID use and, by inference, the currentJapanese regulations. Other frequency bandssuch as LF and HF are covered by regulationsthat support global interoperability. However,

8 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

74


the current ETSI regulations for the UHF bandare seen as a potential major inhibitor toEuropean adoption of RFID and, by inference,to global interoperability of the technology.There are a number of proposals that couldresolve this problem. Mission findings stressthat time is of the essence in agreeing apositive resolution that will allow RFIDadoption to proceed at the pace beingachieved in other parts of the world.

In conclusion, the drivers for adoption ofRFID in Japan have had a very positiveimpact on the uptake of the technology.Some of the drivers are different, certainly inemphasis, but many are identical. Themarket opportunities generally map to theUK and EU environment, and successfuladoption of RFID in Japan is expected tohave a similarly positive impact on UK andEU opportunities.

Recommendations for action

1. The UK Government should follow theJapanese example and develop a directionand policy for RFID, promote trial projects,create guidelines and treatment of privacy,develop an economic infrastructure andthereby increase the number of companiesusing the technology.

2. The UK Government needs to act quickly ifit is not to be left behind. It should followthe Japanese METI example and createspecific funding to encourage UKcompanies to adopt RFID.

3. Retail is one of the major applicationsectors to accept and benefit from the useof RFID. It is important for the UKGovernment to seek to extend applicationareas and to look in particular at areaswhich directly affect citizens.

4. The DTI should fully support specialist UKinstitutions, such as AIM UK and theEuropean Centre of Excellence for AIDCtechnologies, in organising and stagingenterprise seminars and follow-throughactivities relating to Japanese innovation inthe RFID and associated fields, includingrewritable paper and ubiquitous computing.

5. The European Commission should urgentlyfund a review of ubiquitous ID and itsdevelopments within Japan to establishhow they contrast with EPC and todetermine the impact they should have inframing the EC strategy with respect toRFID in relation to European and global,open systems requirements. This isparticularly important in view of the EC-funded ‘Bridge’ project which onlyaddresses EPC global standards and doesnot take into consideration the widely usedISO/IEC and other standards for RFID.

6. UK and mainland European stakeholders inRFID should unite in lobbying regulatoryauthorities to take a European lead indeveloping more practical regulations forUHF in respect of RFID.

7. The UK Government should initiate andfund a science and education initiativedirected at securing a long-term future andunderpinning for RFID research.

8. The UK Government, through DTI, shouldprovide a programme of support for RFIDinnovation and progression, particularlywith respect to sensory RFID networks,that parallels the co-ordination andstrategic ambition seen in Japan to assistpeople with disabilities.

9. A European consortium bid should bedeveloped for support through EuropeanSeventh Framework funding to collaboratewith Japan on R&D with respect toubiquitous computing involving RFID.

75


Ian Smith

CEO

AIM UKThe Old VicarageAll Souls RoadHalifaxHX3 6DR

T +44 (0)1422 368 [email protected]

Ian Smith trained as a journalist and workedin marketing and communications in theaerospace and manufacturing sectors.In 1984 he was appointed the foundingGeneral Secretary of AIM Europe, theindependent industry association for theAIDC industry. From 30 founding membersin 1984, Mr Smith built a strong Europeannetwork including 14 national affiliates andmore than 700 member companies.

He worked with government agencies informer Eastern Bloc countries, opening upAIM affiliates in Hungary, Poland, the CzechRepublic and Russia. He managed andorganised the international Scantech Europeconferences and exhibitions in Amsterdam,Düsseldorf, Frankfurt and Paris andco-ordinated a wide range of national

conferences on AIDC both within andoutside Europe.

He is a member of the prestigious AIDC 100Club which recognises the 100 leadingcontributors to the development andadvancement of the AIDC and RFIDtechnologies around the world.

Mr Smith was also the founding GeneralSecretary of AIM UK in 1984 which he hasserved continuously. Today he is its CEO,and in conjunction with the BritishGovernment and the Regional DevelopmentAgency for Yorkshire and the Humber he hasestablished and heads up the UK RFIDCentre. He is currently working with otherRDAs in the UK to establish a EuropeanCentre of Excellence for all AIDCtechnologies, which will be operational laterthis year and will include a 10,000 sq ftpermanent exhibit of RFID and other AIDCtechnology.

He was Project Co-ordinator of the ECFramework 5 (FP5) Esprit disseminationprogramme (NOTEPAD) for RFDC, andProject Co-ordinator of the FP5 FoodTraceConcerted Action Programme whichdeveloped a generic framework fortraceability.

He is Work Package leader in the FP6 SpecificSupport Action PETER project (PromotingEuropean Traceability Excellence andResearch) with responsibility fordissemination and the SME community.He has edited and published a range ofindustry publications and spoken atconferences around the world.

Appendix AMISSION PARTICIPANTS

76


Professor Anthony Furness

Professor of RFIDTechnical Director, AIM UK

AIM UKThe Old VicarageAll Souls RoadHalifaxHX3 6DR


Anthony Furness (BSc, MPhil, PhD, CEng,MIET) was formerly Professor of RFID withinthe IT Futures Technology Centre of theSchool of Computing and IT, WolverhamptonUniversity and Technical Director of AIM UK,the not-for-profit organisation serving theAIDC industry. He has many years’experience in developing technology andstrategy in AIDC, particularly at KeeleUniversity and the University of CentralEngland (UCE) Technology Innovation Centre.He is currently developing the underpinningprinciples for AIDC and other item-attendanttechnologies for positioning withinmainstream ICT.

Trained initially as a biomedical engineer, hespent many years in research and indesigning and developing safety-criticalelectronic systems for medical and surgicalapplications. The systems designmethodologies and risk assessmenttechniques applied in this work were laterused as the basis for training in creative

design techniques offered by a joint universityenterprise Design and Technology Centre(DTC) that Prof Furness directed.

The DTC activities were developed toencompass total quality systems and theestablishment of a Regional Quality SupportNetwork. This activity provided the basis for aprocess methodology for applying technologyand in later years has provided a formativeaspect of his foundation work in developing theconcept and principles of item-attendant ICT.

Prior to consultancy appointments with theUCE, Prof Furness served eight years asDirector of Postgraduate Engineering Coursesat Keele University, Director of the AIMUK/Keele Automatic Identification Initiativeand Head of the Automatic IdentificationResearch Group. He is a member of variousautomatic identification interest groups,member of the AIDC 100 club and in 2002received an AIM UK Special Award for ’majorcontribution to developing awareness andunderstanding of the use of AIDCtechnologies in the UK and around the world’.

Prof Furness has presented papers onautomatic ID and the AIM UK automatic IDinitiatives at seminars and conferences in theUK, mainland Europe and the USA. Hisresearch interests include electromagneticfoundations for RFID and the interaction ofEMFs with physical and biological materials.

77


James Stafford

Head of RFID

Marks & Spencer Group plcWaterside House35 North Wharf RoadLondonW2 1NW

T +44 (0)20 8718 [email protected] www.marks-and-spencer.com

James Stafford has over 25 years’ experiencein the creation and management of innovation.As Head of RFID he is leading the developmentof RFID technology to improve supply chainefficiency and customer service at Marks &Spencer. He is a recognised authority in thisfield and has contributed at many internationalconferences. He works closely with UKGovernment on technology issues, and isChairman of both DTI’s Retail Innovation Groupand its RFID Retail Expert Group.

Mr Stafford started his career as a foodtechnologist and holds an honours degreefrom the University of Reading. Hesubsequently broadened his career intohorticulture, cosmetics, footwear, homefurnishings and clothing. He has travelledextensively in his various roles, and spenttime working in Canada. He believes inleading from the front, and this has given himunique experience in RFID retailimplementation.

In a competitive retail environment newtechnology plays a key role in keeping aheadof the competition and Marks & Spencer hasa successful track record of developing newproducts and systems based on majortechnical advances.

78


David Armstrong

Director

RFIP LtdBicester Innovation CentreCommerce HouseTelford RoadBicesterOX26 4LD

T +44 (0)1869 255 [email protected] www.rfipsolutions.com

David Armstrong (BSc, MBA, CEng, CPhys,CSci) is Director and Founder of RFIP Ltd, asupplier of RFID equipment, consultancy andtraining. RFIP takes the risk out ofimplementing RFID and wireless systems,and has key competencies in RF design anddevelopment, antenna design, RFIDapplications engineering, IP management andstandards/regulatory compliance.

Mr Armstrong was previously a Senior VicePresident of BTG plc, a world leader in thefields of IP management, technology transferand innovation. He has extensive businessmanagement experience in technologytransfer, company creation and funding. Hewas a member of BTG’s senior managementteam, where responsibilities includedcorporate strategy, marketing and technologyacquisition. From 1994 he led BTG’s RFIDactivities, with full responsibility for acquiring,developing and commercialising thecompany’s RFID-related IP portfolio. Other posts held include a main board

directorship of SAMSys Technologies Inc andCEO of RFIP Solutions Ltd, a joint venturebetween SAMSys and BTG that developedand licensed IP for incorporation in RFIDintegrated circuits.

The early part of Mr Armstrong's career wasspent at Quantel where he established thecompany's Military Electronics Division.Thereafter he was Technical Director ofKontron Instruments Ltd, part of a majorinternational medical group.

79


Bernard O’Sullivan

Managing Director

Consull Ltd73 George LaneBromleyKentBR2 7LG


Bernard O’Sullivan (BSc (Hons) FCCA) isManaging Director of Consull Ltd, a companyfocused on four business areas:

• Health activity brokerage in the UK andEurope

• Financial consultancy and corporateturnaround

• AIDC and healthcare.• Healthcare financing, and managed

equipment and facilities services.

His role is to develop the AIDC and managedequipment and facilities services sections ofthe business. He is currently workingalongside St George’s Healthcare NHS Trust inSouth West London. The trust is very keen toembrace AIDC as a driver for improvedoperational efficiency and corporateturnaround and for enhanced patient safety.

Key organisations with which he is working todevelop the concept of ambient intelligenthealthcare through the use of existing andpossible development of new technologiesinclude AIM UK, BT(Health), Connecting for

Health and Asteral. The healthcare financingand managed equipment and facilitiesservices part of his business complementsthe AIDC work through the identification ofappropriate and affordable financingmechanisms.

Mr O’Sullivan was Director of Finance andExecutive Board Member at Whipps CrossHospital NHS Trust from August 2004 to May2006 where he made a major contribution tothe trust’s financial and business operationsin a period of extreme financial andoperational performance pressures. He leftthe trust in May 2006 to develop and exploreinnovative business opportunities associatedwith AIDC, financing and financial turnaroundin the NHS.

Prior to this he was acting Director of Financeand Deputy Director of Finance at TheLewisham Hospital NHS Trust (October 2001to July 2004) and Associate Director ofFinance – Financial Management South WestLondon Community NHS Trust/RichmondTwickenham and Roehampton NHS Trust(November 1998 to September 2001).

80


Anthony Kelly

Director

Intandem Software SolutionsSuite 65 London Fruit ExchangeBrushfield StreetLondonE1 6EP


Anthony Kelly (BSc Hons) is Director and co-founder of Intandem Software Solutions,which operates from offices in London,Birmingham and Leeds. He is responsible forsoftware development and investigatingexisting/emerging technologies for possibleintegration into the company’s suite ofapplications. The core applications manageworkflow and item tracking withinorganisations. Recently Intandem has beenincorporating RFID capability withinapplications which use mobile wirelesstechnology for track-and-trace modules,offering clients an alternative to standard barcodes and signature capture. The company isprimarily interested in document trackingwithin a company and how RFID technologycan be/is being applied.

Mr Kelly was previously employed at WilliamsLeas as a Senior Developer/Project Manager.The company is a solutions outsourcingcompany, primarily providing solutions inprint, mail room and facilities management.He worked in the systems departmentdeveloping and designing web-based

systems using web services, xml, asp etc.The main focus was on implementing anddelivering e-commerce solutions to thebusiness and adding new value-addedservices. During this time he successfullydeveloped and implemented a printing portalsystem, equipment tracking and a billingsystem, rolled out the company’s intranet andwas a key player in moving the company’score MIS system to the web.

He worked for Sakura Information Systems(an IT subsidiary of the Sakura bank) and priorto that was employed by KennedyInternational Tokyo for three years, where hewas IT manager responsible for assigningtasks, daily operations management, and thedevelopment and enhancement of company’sdatabases. He developed and implementedvoice and fax systems used in marketingcampaigns by most of the foreign touristauthorities in Japan.

Phillip White

International Technology Promoter

DTI Global Watch ServicePeraMelton MowbrayLeicestershireLE13 0PB

T +44 (0)1664 [email protected]/itp

DTI Global Watch Service TechnologyPartnering is characterised by a network ofDTI International Technology Promoters (ITPs)– specialists working with UK organisations tofacilitate inward technology transfer andbroader technology collaboration.

Phillip White is the DTI International TechnologyPromoter (ITP) with specific responsibility forJapan, widely recognised as one of the world’sleading investors in technology development.

Phillip’s main objective is to accesstechnology-based opportunities in support ofthe UK IT, electronics and communicationsindustries, though he welcomes enquiriesfrom any UK company seeking a Japanesetechnology partner.

Phillip graduated from Cambridge Universitywith a degree in Electronic Engineering and apostgraduate course in Production Methodsand Management. He has more than25 years’ experience in engineering, with over 16 years spent working in Japanese

companies in the electronics and automotiveindustries. He hopes that UK companies willbe eager to take advantage of his technicalexperience, language skills and pragmaticapproach to working with Japanesecompanies.

81


82


Government initiatives to create demandfor RFID tags in North Asia

The development and deployment of RFIDtechnology in China, Korea and Japan isgrowing rapidly. The applications of RFID tagsin different verticals are progressingdifferently, and the market sharecontributions vary across the countries,although they are all in the growth stage ofthe market cycle. With increasinggovernment support for the technology, useof RFID is expected to see phenomenalgrowth in the coming years, with greaterinitiatives by industry participants as well,according to the analyst of this study. Theauto-ID labs in China, Korea and Japan areinitiating joint research on RFID topicsranging from RFID chips to middleware.

In addition to technological advances,government support is also likely to boostsales of RFID tags. Governments in China,Korea and Japan are aggressively promotingRFID tags in society by forming RFIDinformation centres, hosting conferencesand summits in order for companies tobetter understand the latest development inRFID technology and its applications. Thisincludes the RFID China Alliance, theKorean Ubiquitous Sensor Network (USN),and the Hibiki Project to make cheaper RFIDtags in Japan.

Growing demand for commodities hikesgrowth of RFID tags in North Asia

China is considered to be the largestmanufacturing centre in the North Asianregion, followed by Japan and Korea. Theincreasing demand of commodities,especially in China, may lead to highconsumption of RFID tags in the next fewyears. RFID tags play a crucial role ininternational commerce and will become animportant technology trend in China, Japanand Korea. These countries understand thepower of RFID tags for improving theefficiency of manufacturing, supply chainoperations, and data collection. Given theenormous variety of possible applications andthe potential to drastically reduce supplychain costs, the market is expected to growexponentially in the next few years.

China has also started to move ahead withthe development of RFID standards, and ispoised to become the largest RFID tagsapplication market in the world. This is due tothe huge manufacturing capital in the country.China is not only one of the world’s importantmanufacturing and assembling bases, but, asthe third largest trading country, is a keyconsumer market as well. With somecompanies in these countries being directsuppliers to Wal-Mart, they need to tag all theproducts that they ship to this enterprise.

Appendix BMARKET OVERVIEW (FROST AND SULLIVAN)

83


Japan Automatic Identification SystemsAssociation (JAISA)

Ben KoikeGeneral Secretary

T +81 3 5825 [email protected]

Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry(METI)

Masahiko Fujihara, Director Information Economy Division

T + 81 3 3501 [email protected]

Ministry of International Affairs andCommunications (MIC)

Akiko Uchida AdvisorInternational Economic Affairs Division


Mitsukoshi

Masakazu Nishida General ManagerSCM Solution Dept


The Suit Company (operated by AoyamaTrading Co Ltd)

Hideyuki KojimaGeneral Manager of Marketing and Sales


Toppan Forms

Katsuhiko MoriyamaGeneral ManagerInformation Media Business Division


YRP Ubiquitous Networking Laboratory

Prof Ken SakamuraThe University of Tokyo


Yodobashi Camera (Physical DistributionCentre)

Mr YamamotoDirectorAssembly CenterKawasaki

T + 81 3 3227 2137

Appendix CORGANISATIONS VISITED

84


Ricoh Company Ltd

Tad Umehara Acting ManagerThermal Media Company


HP RFID Noisy LaboratoryKanetsu Solutions Plant

Shinichiro Miyake RFID Program Manager


Ubiquitous Platform Systems R&D LabHitachi Ltd

Shigenori KanekoManager Smartcard Business Development

T +81 44 549 [email protected]

Fujitsu Ltd

Yuko TanakaEurope DivisionGlobal Business Group


85


Within Europe ETSI deals with electromagneticcompatibility and radio spectrum matters (ERM)and generates the supporting standards forspectrum management, while the EuropeanConference of Postal and TelecommunicationsAdministrations (CEPT) generates theregulations and recommendations for spectrummanagement for national adoption withinmember states based upon the ETSIstandards. Within the international frameworkof regulations and standards, the InternationalTelecommunications Union (ITU) developsregulations with respect to global spectrummatters and in doing so liaises with otherstandards and regulatory bodies including ETSI,CEPT and the Federal CommunicationCommission (FCC).

National Radio Regulators deal with theregulations within national boundaries andnormally adopt those provided through CEPT.The UK national regulator is OFCOM (anagency appointed by DTI). An EU Directive canrequire EU members to accept a ‘harmonised’standard (to develop single market).

CEPT Administration working within theEuropean Electronic CommunicationCommittee (ECC) co-operates to harmonise

national regulations and foster worldwideharmonisation on frequencies. The ECC ShortRange Devices Maintenance Group(SRD/MG) maintains an important document,ECC Recommendations 70-03 (available fromwww.ero.dk) dealing with specific regulationsfor all SRDs, including RFID. CEPTAdministrations are encouraged to implementECC Recommendations 70-03 as a vehicle formaximising freedom of use forradiocommunications equipment. CEPTWorking Group WG SE24 supports the ECCSRD/MG in its technical consideration ofspectrum issues including compatibility andinterference studies.

RFID tags and systems may be viewed underthe umbrella of short range devices (SRDs)and as a consequence technical specificationsoften include reference to EN Technicalcharacteristics and test methods. In Europevarious standards are in place that relate to thevarious bands within which RFID can be used:

• EN 300 220 (Parts 1-3) ERM: SRD;technical characteristics and test methodsfor radio equipment in the frequency range25-1,000 MHz with power levels rangingup to 500 mW (1997-2005).

For low frequency (<135 kHz) and high frequency there is a fair degree of allowed use for RFIDpurposes. However, at UHF carrier frequency the situation is somewhat more complicated.

Appendix DREGULATORY CONSTRAINTS ON THE USE OF RFID

NorthAmerica

Europe(302-208) Singapore Japan Korea Australia Argentina,

Brazil, PeruNew

ZealandBand size

(MHz) 902-928 865-868 866-869 –923-925 950-956 950-956 918-928 902-928 864-929

Power 4W EIRP 2W EIRP 0.5 W EIRP2W 4W EIRP 4W EIRP 4W EIRP 4W EIRP 0.5-4W

EIRP# Channels 50 10 10 12 20 16 50 Varied

ERP: effective radiated power, EIRP: effective isotropic radiated powerERP = EIRP – 2.15 dBi (where 2.15 dBi is the gain of a half-wavelength dipole)

86


• EN 300 330 (Parts 1-2) ERM: SRD;technical characteristics and test methodsfor radio equipment in the frequencyrange 9 kHz to 25 MHz and inductive loopsystems in the frequency range 9 kHz to30 MHz (1999-2004).

• EN 300 440 (Parts 1-2) ERM: SRD; radioequipment to be used in the 1-40 GHzfrequency range (2001-2004).

• EN 302 208 (Parts 1-2) ERM: SRD; RFIDequipment operating in the band 865-868MHz with power levels up to 2 W, with200 kHz sub-bands and a mandatory ‘listenbefore talk’ (LBT) function (2004-2005).

Equipment is also required to comply withthe electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) andinterference immunity (EMI) regulations inplace for the country in which it is to be used.

ISO/IEC Standards (www.iso.org/iso/en/)

The importance of standards can not beoveremphasised for technologies, like RFIDthat have universal relevance and significantpotential for open systems use. Internationalstandards have evolved for various sectors ofRFID use, notably in animal identification(ISO 11784 and 11785 with furtherdevelopment through ISO 14223/1) andcontactless smart cards (ISO 10536,ISO 14443 and ISO 15693). Other standardshaving a specific application focus can also berecognised, including identification for freightcontainers using 2.45 GHz transponders(ISO 10374) and data carriers for tools andclamping devices (ISO 69873).

The need to produce broader basedstandards to accommodate supply chain itemmanagement requirements has resulted insignificant standardisation activity beingpursued through ISO/IEC JTC1 SC31 WG4 –RFID Item Management (ISO 18000 series –IT – AIDC techniques – RFID for itemmanagement) with the following air-interfaceand data structure standards now available:

• ISO/IEC 18000-1 Part 1 – Referencearchitecture and definition of parameters

• ISO/IEC 18000-2 Part 2 – Parameters for airinterface communications below 135 kHz

• ISO/IEC 18000-3 Part 3 – Parameters for airinterface communications at 13.56 MHz

• ISO/IEC 18000-4 Part 4 – Parameters for airinterface communications at 2.45 GHz

• ISO/IEC 18000-5 Part 5 – Parameters for airinterface communications at 5.8 GHz –abandoned project.

• ISO/IEC 18000-6 Part 6 – Parameters for airinterface communications at 860-930 MHz

• ISO/IEC 18000-7 Part 7 – Parameters for airinterface communications at 433 MHz

• ISO/IEC 15961 RFID for item management– Data protocol: application interface

• ISO/IEC 15962 RFID for item management– Protocol: data encoding rules and logicalmemory functions

• ISO/IEC 15963 RFID for item management– Unique identification of RF tag

• ISO/IEC 15459-4 – System of unique itemidentification codes

Work on further ISO/IEO standards is inprogress for conformance, applicationsprofiling, interfacing and sensory RFID.

ETSI Standards (http://pda.etsi.org/)

• EN 300 220 (Parts 1-3) ERM: SRD;technical characteristics and test methodsfor radio equipment in the frequency range25-1,000 MHz with power levels up to500 mW (1997-2005)

• EN 300 330 (Parts 1-2) ERM: SRD;technical characteristics and test methodsfor radio equipment in the frequency range9 kHz to 25 MHz and inductive loopsystems in the frequency range 9 kHz to30 MHz (1999-2004)

• EN 300 440 (Parts 1-2) ERM: SRD; radioequipment to be used in the 1-40 GHzfrequency range (2001-2004)

87


• EN 302 208 (Parts 1-2) ERM: SRD; RFIDequipment operating in the band 865-868 MHz with power levels up to 2 W(2004-2005)

EPC Standards (www.epcglobalinc.org)

• EPC tag data specification version 1.1 –specific encoding schemes for serialisedversion of EAN.UCC numbering system

• 900 MHz Class 0 Radio frequency (RF)identification tag specification (Release 1.0)

• 13.56 MHz ISM band Class 1 RFidentification tag specification (Release 1.0)

• 860-930 MHz Class 1 RFID tag RF andlogical communication interfacespecification (Release 1.0)

• UHF Class 1 Generation 2 air interfacespecification (Release 1.02)

Human exposure to EM fields standards

Human exposure to electromagnetic fieldsfrom devices operating in the frequencyrange 0 Hz to 10 GHz, used in ElectronicArticle Surveillance (EAS), RFID and similarapplications:

• EN 50357 – Evaluation• EN 50364 – Limitation

This is effectively a product compliancestandard – requiring compliance with EUCouncil directives 72/23/EEC and 1999/5/EC.

88


Issued by the Ministry of Internal Affairs andCommunications (MIC) and the Ministry ofEconomy, Trade and Industry (METI),Government of Japan on 8 July 2004.

1. Necessity for privacy protection

with regard to RFID tags

With respect to the issues of protection ofpersonal information, where RFID tags aredealt with (referring to tags consisting of ICchips and antennas embedded in productsetc; the tags are then used to record IDinformation etc of said products etc; andthrough the use of radio frequencies, RFIDtags have unique features that enableremote reading of the information theycontain; hereinafter the same shall apply),the use thereof shall be regulated by theLaw for the Protection of PersonalInformation (Law No 57 of 2003;hereinafter referred to as the ’PersonalInformation Protection Law’). However,personal information is defined as’information about a living individual thatcontains name, date of birth, or otherdescriptions which enable the identificationof a specific individual (includinginformation which easily allows referenceto other information and thereby comes toenable the identification of a specificindividual)’ (Article 2 paragraph (1) of thePersonal Information Protection Law), thus,information which does not make aconnection with a specific individual shallnot fall under personal information.Accordingly, in cases where personalinformation is not dealt with, the PersonalInformation Protection Law shall not apply.

Even in cases where personal information isnot dealt with, a problem of privacy

protection could occur. Privacy protectionitself is an issue to be discussed in a generalmanner. It is inappropriate to deal with it inthese guidelines.

However, it is foreseeable that the problem ofprivacy protection could occur due tocharacteristics special to RFID tags. Currently,the characteristics of RFID tags are not wellunderstood by consumers. Thus, even afterpurchasing a product, a consumer would notrecognise that the product is RFID taggedwith an RFID tag.

There could be cases where the consumermoves around with the tagged productunaware of RFID tag capabilities.Furthermore, there would be a risk to thepersonal information, including attributes, IDnumbers etc, which could read from theRFID tags without consent and withoutbeing known by the person possessing thesaid product.

If RFID tags were removed at the pointwhen a retail store hands a product to aconsumer, there would not be question ofrisk. In the future, however, after a productobtained, it is likely that RFID tags arerequired to ensure some kind of consumerbenefits or meet some form of socialneeds. Examples are cases where RFIDtags would be required to recycle theproduct to ensure environment-friendlyrecycling, where RFID tags are embeddedin cars to record auto-repair histories forimproved safety of used cars, and whereRFID tags are used to preventing themisuse of medicines. Even in such cases,however, there are cases where RFID tagsshould not be product-embedded dependingupon purposes of individual consumers.

Appendix EJAPANESE GUIDELINES FOR PRIVACY PROTECTION

89


The ‘interim report from the study group onthe improvement in traceability of products’(April 2003) of METI concluded that, withrespect to RFID tags embedded in goods tobe traded across multiple companies for thepurpose of supply-chain management andtraceability of products, it is preferable thatpersonal information shall not be recorded incost-oriented cheap RFID tags unless furthertechnological innovation is achieved.

Where considering RFID tags other thanthose referred to above, however, therewould be cases where RFID tags containpersonal information.

Because personal information embedded inRFID tags can be read remotely due tocharacteristics special to RFID tags, personalinformation can be accessed without theconsumer realising it. It is therefore, vital topay sufficient and careful attention to thehandling of RFID tags beyond the scope ofapplicability of the ‘Personal InformationProtection Law’.

As referred to above, there could be problemscaused by characteristics special to RFID tags,even in cases where the informationcontained in RFID tags would not be coveredunder the ‘Personal Information ProtectionLaw’ cause, for example, where theconsumption preferences etc of an individualor a family could be inferred from theinformation. To address the privacy problemscaused by characteristics special to RFID tags,it is essential to promote their socialacceptance through the implementation ofappropriate measures from the viewpoint ofprotecting the privacy of consumers.

To this end, MIC and METI jointly developedguidelines within the scope of consensusamong stakeholders (consulting companiesand consumer groups etc; hereinafter thesame shall apply) from the viewpoint of themeaningfulness of a basic concept anddefined contents thereof.

The two ministries will later carry outawareness campaigns on the guidelinesdirected toward relevant organisations,consumers etc.

In line with these guidelines and consideringrelationships with consumers, the companiesconcerned would be requested to takeappropriate measures for dealing with RFIDtags, including verification experiments anddeliberations at industry organisations.

Concepts of privacy protection would changeaccording to alterations in socioeconomicclimates, sense of consumers, technologicalinnovations etc. Thus, MIC and METI shallreview these guidelines taking intoconsideration those changes incircumstances.

Furthermore, when reaching a consensusconcerning RFID tags among stakeholders onprivacy protection, the two ministries shalladd, delete and correct the relevantprovisions.

2. Guidelines for privacy protection

with regard to RFID tags

Article 1 (Purpose)

The purpose of these guidelines shall be toclarify basic matters common to relevantindustries on privacy protection forconsumers pertaining to RFID tags, in orderto utilise the advantages of RFID tags, ensurebenefits to consumers and enable society tosmoothly accept RFID tags.

Article 2 (Scope of these guidelines)

These guidelines shall, where RFID tags areembedded in products and stay there evenafter consumers have been handed saidproducts, stipulate preferable rules thatcompanies dealing with the said RFID tagsand products tagged with said RFID tagsshould abide by.

90


Article 3 (Indication etc of the fact thatproducts are tagged with RFID tags)

Where RFID tags are embedded in productsand stay there even after consumers havebeen handed said products, the companiesconcerned shall, prior to transactions, explainor post the fact that products are tagged withRFID tags, tagged positions of RFID tags,features thereof and information contained inRFID tags (hereinafter referred to as ‘RFIDtag information’), or attach indications to saidproducts or packages thereof so as to enableconsumers to recognise details of RFID taginformation. The companies concerned shallbe requested to make efforts at their storesto enable consumers to recognise the saidfact through such explanations or indications.

Article 4 (Reservation of the right of finalchoice of consumers with respect toreading of RFID tags)

Where RFID tags are embedded in productsand stay there even after consumers havebeen handed said products, the companiesconcerned shall, when a consumer wants todeactivate said RFID tags while recognisingthe features of said RFID tags, explain or postin advance the methods to deactivate saidRFID tags, or attach indications to saidproducts or packages thereof so to ensurethat the consumer has a choice.

Examples of methods to deactivate RFID tags:

1. Where it is possible to shield RFID tags byaluminium foils, communications betweenRFID readers and RFID tags can beblocked.

2. Electromagnetically erase all informationincluding unique numbers in RFID tags orpart information selected by consumers, ordeactivate reading functions relating tosaid information.

3. Remove RFID tags.

Article 5 (Information offerings concerningsocial benefits of RFID tags)

In cases where the reading functions of RFIDtags are deactivated pursuant to Article 4, andwhere consumer benefits or the socialinterests is eroded, such as whereenvironmental problems occur by losinginformation necessary for recycling products,or where driving safety is not ensured bylosing information on auto-repair histories, thecompanies concerned shall make efforts toprovide consumers with information to theeffect that consumer benefits or the socialinterests would be eroded through methodsincluding indications.

Article 6 (Handling of RFID tags in caseswhere information is used by linkingpersonal information databases etc storedin computers with RFID tag information)

Even in cases where a specific individual cannotbe identified only by information recorded inRFID tags, when information can be easilyprocessed by linking personal informationdatabases etc stored in computers with RFIDtag information, and when the specific individualcan be identified, the information recorded insaid RFID tags shall be deemed as personalinformation to be covered under the ‘PersonalInformation Protection Law’.

Responsibilities under the ‘Personal InformationProtection Law’ pertaining to companiesdealing with personal information (examples):

1. In relation to purposes of the use ofpersonal information

• To specify the purposes of the use ofpersonal information to the greatestextent possible

• To obtain consent from the principalwhen using personal information forpurposes other than the purposes of theuse of personal information

91


2. In relation to collection of personalinformation

• To prohibit unlawful collection ofpersonal information

• When having collected personalinformation, to inform the personconcerned of the purposes of the use ofpersonal information without delay, or toannounce to that effect

3. In relation to management of personal data

• To make efforts to keep personal datacorrect and to reflect the latest status

• To take measures for safetymanagement to prevent leakage, lose,damage etc of personal data

• When providing a third party withpersonal data, to obtain the consent ofthe person concerned

Article 7 (Limitations on informationcollection and use in cases whererecording personal information inRFID tags)

Companies dealing with personal informationby recording such information in said RFIDtags shall, notwithstanding the amount ofpersonal information to be dealt with by thesaid companies, where collecting or usingpersonal information, make efforts to informpersons concerned of the purposes of theuse of personal information or announce tothat effect. Companies shall make efforts toobtain consent from the principal when usingthe said personal information for purposesother than the purposes of the use ofpersonal information.

Article 8 (Ensuring of information accuracywhere recording personal information inRFID tags)

Companies dealing with personal informationby recording personal information in RFIDtags shall, notwithstanding the amount ofpersonal information recorded in said RFIDtags to be dealt with by the said companies,where collecting or using personalinformation, make efforts to meet thefollowing items:

1. To keep personal information accurate andto reflect the latest status, in light of thepurposes and details of the use ofpersonal information recorded in saidRFID tags.

2. In response to consumers, to discloseinformation recorded in RFID tags relatingto the said consumers and personalinformation of the said consumers linkedfrom ID information recorded in RFID tags;and in response to requests from saidconsumers, to correct errors contained insaid information.

3. To prevent lose, damage, alteration andleakage of personal data recorded in RFIDtags.

Article 9 (Establishment of informationadministrator)

Companies concerned shall, in order toensure adequate management of informationpertaining to privacy protection concerningRFID tags and to make appropriate and swiftresponse to complaints, establish aninformation administrator in charge of suchmatters and disclose methods to contact thesaid information administrator.

92


Article 10 (Explanation and informationofferings to consumers)

Stakeholders, including companies, industryorganisations and public entities, shall makeefforts to encourage consumers tounderstand RFID tags through informationprovision, so that consumers can obtaincorrect knowledge on the purposes of theuse of RFID tags, characteristics thereof,merits and demerits thereof.

93


The UK RFID Council has launched a code ofpractice to help retailers deliver transparent,honest and consistent communication to theircustomers about their use of RFID.

The ‘UK code of practice for the use of RFIDin retail outlets’ is in response tomisinformation and hype surrounding RFID,which has led to privacy concerns amongsome consumers. It is perceived by some tobe a technology that will store personalinformation. However, retailers using RFID areconcerned with collecting and securely storingproduct information, not personal data.

The UK RFID Council recognises that retailerswant to allay these fears and educate theircustomers about their specific RFIDdeployments. The UK code of practice offersretailers a framework for communicationwhich will be consistent with that of theircompetitors. This means that consumers canexpect the same level of information andnotification about the use of RFID, regardlessof where they shop.

Built on the premise of self-regulation, thecode is based on five principals:

• Consumer notice• Consumer choice• Consumer information• Record use, retention and security• Health and safety

The code was developed by the UK RFIDCouncil, which comprises the followingindependent associations:

• AIM UK (The Automatic Identification andData Capture [AIDC] industry association)

• CIPS (The Chartered Institute of Purchasing& Supply)

• CILT (The Chartered Institute of Logisticsand Transport)

• IGD (The Institute of Grocery Distribution)• GS1 UK• The Packaging Federation• Cambridge Auto-id Lab

The code of practice reads:

Tags that provide RFID are being used inretail outlets to improve the availability ofstock on the shelves. RFID is used in muchthe same way as printed bar codes, but canbe scanned more quickly and without theread failures often associated with poorlyprinted or damaged bar code labels. The dataheld in these tags relates only to the productcodes and is not linked to personalinformation.

1. Consumer noticeRetailers should make it clear to consumers ifthey are using RFID tags on products or theirpackaging. They should display a standardlogo or identifier on the products or packagingand post general notices in the store.

2. Consumer choiceRetailers should tell consumers that they candiscard, disable or remove RFID tags fromthe products after purchase. For manyproducts, the radio frequency tags willprobably be part of the packaging thatconsumers can discard on first use, eg pricetags, blister packs.

Appendix FUK CODE OF PRACTICE

94


3. Consumer informationConsumers must easily be able to getaccurate information about RFID tags andRFID, how they are used in the supply chain,and advances in the technology. Retailersusing RFID tags should work together inappropriate ways – for example by producingleaflets, providing information on their websites or contacting local radio or local papers– to help consumers understand why thetechnology is being used and its benefits.

4. Record use, retention and securityAs with conventional bar code technology,companies must use, maintain and protectrecords generated through using RFID tags incompliance with all applicable laws.Companies will publish, on their websites orotherwise, information on their policiesregarding the retention, use and protection ofany consumer specific data generatedthrough their operations, either generally orfrom the specific use of RFID tags. In allcases companies must comply fully with theData Protection Act.

5. Health and safetyCompanies will take the greatest care of theirsuppliers, employees and customers toensure that all applicable health and safety,and recycling and other regulations are met.RFID tags for use in retail outlets do notcontain a battery, cannot emit any power andare harmless in all general applications. Theyare passive devices and only send informationwhen questioned by a scanning device in theretail outlet, for example at check-out or duringstock-taking. The tags are thus reliant uponthe scanners for the small amount of powerrequired for them to operate. The scannersmust comply with regulatory constraints onthe power delivered and adhere to guidelines,standards and constraints on human exposurelevels to the electromagnetic fields producedby scanning devices.

95


An international academic and technicalconference is being organised to coincidewith launch of the UK-based European Centrefor Excellence in AIDC. The conference isexpected to have both European and globalimplications as far as RFID is concerned, andopportunities for collaborative research.

To meet the expected challenges withrespect to RFID research the organisers planto launch an International AcademicAssociation for RFID and Item AttendantRadio at the conference. This association willpublish a supporting accredited refereedjournal; provide a networking forum foracademic institutions to co-ordinate national,European or, indeed, global R&D projects;collaborate in agreeing a body of knowledgefor RFID and develop the underpinningprinciples needed to ensure that theimportance of RFID is recognised andcorrectly positioned within mainstream ICT.

The conference is being planned forNovember 2007 and the new EuropeanCentre of Excellence for RFID and other AIDCtechnologies in Halifax, Yorkshire, will be thelikely venue.

Appendix GSCOPE FOR COLLABORATION AND INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE

96


AIDC automatic identification and data captureASEAN Association of South East Asian NationsBAP battery assisted passiveCEPT European Conference of Postal and Telecommunications AdministrationsCPU central processing unitCR chemical rewritableEAS electronic article surveillanceEC European CommissionEEPROM electrically erasable programmable read-only memoryEIRP effective isotropic radiated powerEM electromagneticEMF electromagnetic fieldEPC electronic product codeePOD electronic proof of delivery ERO European Radiocommunications OfficeERP effective radiated powerETSI European Telecommunications Standards InstituteEU European UnionFRAM ferroelectric random access memoryGPS global positioning systemHF high frequency IC information captureICT information and communications technologyID identificationIEC International Electrotechnical CommissionILG Inter-Agency Liaison GroupIP intellectual propertyISO International Organization for StandardizationITS intelligent transport systemITU International Telecommunications UnionJAISA Japan Automatic Identification Systems AssociationLBT listen before talkMAFF Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and FisheriesMETI Ministry of Economy, Trade and IndustryMIC Ministry of Internal Affairs and CommunicationsMLIT Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and TransportONS object naming serviceOOS out of stock PDA personal digital assistantPET privacy enhancing technologyPJM pulse jitter modulationPML physical markup language

Appendix HGLOSSARY

97


PR physical rewritableR&D research and developmentRAM random access memoryRF radio frequencyRFID radio frequency identificationROI return on investmentRSC retail supply chainRSI repetitive strain injuryRSS received signal strengthRTL real time locationSCM supply chain managementSRD short range deviceTR thermal rewritableUC ubiquitous communicatorUHF ultra high frequencyUID ubiquitous identificationUWB ultra wide bandUSB universal serial busVDC Venture Development CorporationWLAN wireless local area networkZigBee An IEEE 802.15 communications protocol

98


The mission team wishes to express itssincere gratitude to:

• The DTI Global Watch Service for itsfinancial support of the mission and for allits help in organising the UK side of themission.

• The staff at the British Embassy in Tokyofor their excellent support in co-ordinatingthe visits, schedules, transport andseminar/reception, in particular PaulJohnson, First Secretary, Science andInnovation; Tadashi Shirai, RFID ProjectManager, and Seiko Oya. A special thankyou to the excellent translator whoaccompanied the team throughout.

• All the host organisations for spending somuch time with the team during the visitsand their patience in answering so manyquestions during the meetings.

• Phillip White, DTI International TechnologyPromoter, who worked closely with themission team. His local knowledge and hisadvice and guidance were important to thesuccessful outcome of the visit.

Appendix IACKNOWLEDGMENTS

99


100


Grant for Research and Development – is available through the nine English RegionalDevelopment Agencies. The Grant for Researchand Development provides funds for individualsand SMEs to research and develop technologicallyinnovative products and processes. The grant isonly available in England (the DevolvedAdministrations have their own initiatives).www.dti.gov.uk/r-d/

The Small Firms Loan Guarantee – is a UK-wide, Government-backed scheme that providesguarantees on loans for start-ups and youngbusinesses with viable business propositions.www.dti.gov.uk/sflg/pdfs/sflg_booklet.pdf

Knowledge Transfer Partnerships – enableprivate and public sector research organisations to apply their research knowledge to importantbusiness problems. Specific technology transferprojects are managed, over a period of one tothree years, in partnership with a university,college or research organisation that has expertise relevant to your business.www.ktponline.org.uk/

Knowledge Transfer Networks – aim to improvethe UK’s innovation performance through a singlenational over-arching network in a specific field oftechnology or business application. A KTN aims to encourage active participation of all networkscurrently operating in the field and to establishconnections with networks in other fields thathave common interest. www.dti.gov.uk/ktn/

Collaborative Research and Development –helps industry and research communities worktogether on R&D projects in strategicallyimportant areas of science, engineering andtechnology, from which successful new products,processes and services can emerge.www.dti.gov.uk/crd/

Access to Best Business Practice – is availablethrough the Business Link network. This initiativeaims to ensure UK business has access to bestbusiness practice information for improvedperformance.www.dti.gov.uk/bestpractice/

Support to Implement Best Business Practice

– offers practical, tailored support for small andmedium-sized businesses to implement bestpractice business improvements.www.dti.gov.uk/implementbestpractice/

Finance to Encourage Investment in Selected

Areas of England – is designed to supportbusinesses looking at the possibility of investingin a designated Assisted Area but needingfinancial help to realise their plans, normally in the form of a grant or occasionally a loan.www.dti.gov.uk/regionalinvestment/

Other DTI products that help UK businesses acquire andexploit new technologies

Printed in the UK on recycled paper with 75% de-inked post-consumer waste content

First published in March 2007 by Pera on behalf of the Department of Trade and Industry

© Crown copyright 2007

URN 07/509

Date post:	22-Aug-2020
Category:	Documents
Upload:	others
View:	0 times
Download:	0 times

Radio frequency identification (RFID) – a mission to Japan · 2012. 11. 1. · Although global...

Documents