RFID looks for a killer app

Radio frequency identification is well known but hardly used. That won't be the case.

By -- Modern Materials Handling, 4/1/2000

For years now, radio frequency identification (RFID) tags and readers have been on display at various shows here and in Europe. There are even plenty of going applications from access control systems for buildings to toll collection on highways and railroad car tracking. The technology has also worked its way into many people' s pockets as a Mobil SpeedPass and other gasoline payment fobs.

Despite these claims to fame, RFID is still pretty much an underachiever. It' s still looking for that killer app. That, however, seems about to change. Lower cost tags and more flexible readers are part of this shift. So is a major push by suppliers worldwide to standardize RFID systems along the same lines as was done years ago with bar codes. These and other developments are expected to propel the technology in the future.

In this exclusive interview, Steve Halliday, vice president of technology for the trade association AIM Inc., talks about the search for a killer app and other developments that are expected to turn RFID into a power house in the automatic data capture arena in the near future.

MMH: For the past 18 months, MMH and others have been reporting on the great new promise of RFID. There are more companies than ever talking about RFID at trade shows and there are some great new ideas out there like labels that combine RFID and bar codes. However, most of the talk seems to be coming from suppliers and other industry insiders, not from end users. Is this nothing more than hype?

Halliday: RFID did not take off in 99 as was expected. The technology to drive applications is certainly available, but, as you say, end users have not yet migrated toward the technology. There are at least two good reasons for this lack of movement.

To begin, there needs to be a better effort to educate end users about RFID and what it can do for them. The technology is not generally going to be a substitute for bar codes. Instead, it will complement them in a lot of applications. Elsewhere, RFID will go where bar codes don' t generally fare well. Especially in harsh industrial environments and in supply chain applications that require better control and movement of information about items.

The other obstacle to rapid acceptance of RFID is the standards situation. End users have heard there is a lot going on

in standards but they don' t know where they stand. And that creates uncertainty that tends to slow up adoption of the technology.

MMH: Tell us more about supply chain applications.

Halliday: There is massive potential for RFID there. None of the applications already in place have the potential of the supply chain. RFID' s killer app is probably going to be supply chain based. I' m not talking about a single use but an entire family of applications that will make supply chains work better.

You can start at the container and truck level and move down to pallets and then cartons before getting to individual items. As you can easily see, there' s lots of potential there. The U.S. Postal Service is already experimenting with RFID at some of these levels. RFID' s value is in providing a portable database that offers access to information in real time at even the most remote locations. That' s the technology' s strong suit.

None of this is going to happen overnight. It' s going to take time to build the infrastructure. You can' t forget how much infrastructure is in place for bar codes. And even with such a broad base, bar codes are widely used but they aren' t universally used.

MMH: Where do standards fit into the future infrastructure of RFID?

Halliday: Standardization is essential. Just look at what it did for bar codes years ago. You also have to remember where RFID is starting from. Basically it' s ground zero. All of the RFID world at this point is pretty much proprietary.

The first standard for RFID was issued by the U.S. organization ANSI last October. But it is limited. It only covers systems that operate at 2.45GHz and 400-900MHz, and not the three other commonly available frequencies.

The standard specifies how to create an RFID system and build a common interface. This allows end users to match up data readers and tags from different suppliers. But I have to emphasize that word "match." Users still need to use readers in a system from a common supplier. This is still the case because the new interface doesn' t get around the situation that RFID tags are still proprietary to individual suppliers. And that common reader must be matched to the RFID tags.

Some suppliers are already offering systems that meet the standards. But I can' t say as I' ve seen it have any real impact yet. It' s only a matter of time before it will, however.

MMH: Are there international standards efforts too?

Halliday: On a major scale. But we' re in even earlier stages there. Working across several countries toward an ISO standard is a much tougher undertaking than working just here in the U.S. Better than 95% of the world' s 120 plus RFID suppliers are involved with the ISO effort. So you get an idea of the scale involved.

I would say it' s going to be at least 2 years before much of anything comes out of these efforts. And when we get to that point, don' t expect the result to be sweeping standards that make RFID plug and play technology. Expect a series of standards that will address various aspects of systems at various frequencies.

MMH: So, what does an end user considering RFID do now? Sit and wait for standards?

Halliday: No. If there' s value to using RFID, go for it now. With such broad participation by suppliers worldwide, I' ve got to believe that a system created today will be migratable to the standards of the future. Suppliers will have to do it. Otherwise, all of the infrastructure and installed base they are now installing will be for nothing. They' ll essentially be starting all over again and they don' t want to do that.

MMH: But with so many suppliers out there, how does a company know where to start?

Halliday: My organization, AIM, is working on what we call "three clicks to a solution." By the third quarter of this year, you can visit www.aimglobal.org and access a database of suppliers. And then you' ll be able to call up an application checklist and in just three clicks match your application to a list of potential suppliers. That should help to cut through the underbrush and put end users on a path a to a solution.