IEN: What are the major concerns facing RFID, and how can they be addressed?
Church:
- Development of standards for C1V2, although very complex, has held up implementation of existing technologies.
- As Matrics, TI, and Alien Technologies have stated, the real barrier is cost to the tag. High volumes are needed to reduce costs, smaller chip sizes will follow, but customers need to change their expectations of read range to reduce the size of the antenna.
- To take advantage of the technology some changes in customer and shipper material handling with adjustments to operational policies may be required. Mixtures of active and passive transponders will be very beneficial for logistics control.
IEN: What innovations are in store in the next 12 months in tags, antennae, readers, and software?
Church: Attachment methodologies will continue to evolve as tags are placed on and in difficult surfaces and locations. Some tags are buried in concrete, attached to rolls of steel, hung from radiator hoses, on the bottom of greenhouse carts, placed on radioactive samples, stuck to oily machines.
Look for 90 degree tags, increased sensitivity of readers, Internet-enabled readers, hardened tags, passive active technology using thin film batteries for longer read range, smaller chip sizes and lower power chips.
IEN: What are the R & D hotspots? Which R & D areas are closest to commercialization?
Church: Reader development, improved sensitivity, noise rejection, and extended read range; also expansion of multiprotocol readers; firmware programmable readers, cost reduction, and reader miniaturization are hot spots.
Assembly and antenna technology will continue to evolve with the addition of lithium ion thin film batteries to extend read ranges of a new class of passive active tags. Assembly yields of 100% are required to bring down tag costs. Higher assembly rates per dollar of capital equipment is needed; in other words, if the cost of the next generation die attach machine is twice as expensive as the old one, then we need at least a 4-fold increase in speed with the same die attach yields to cut the die attach costs by 50%.
IEN: How can sensitive data be protected in light of privacy and security issues?
Church: RFID tag read ranges are very limited and need to be tied to a person to be of any concern. Industrial applications track pallets and boxes and EPC will eventually track items. How is this different than UPC barcodes? Passive RFID transponders cannot be read from satellites. If you are concerned, pay cash for purchases and crush the EPC chip when you get to the car or at home.
IEN: Will there be a place for RFID in collaborative manufacturing?
Church: If collaborative manufacturing means having design, specifications, orders and WIP and deliveries open for the stakeholders to view and analyze -- then yes, RFID provides the connecting bridge from order to delivery across many tiers of suppliers and customers. Each company in the supply chain will need to consolidate through their B.O.M. the root order number from the initial ordering company: say GM orders a front axle transmission and engine assembly (front clip). The order for the axle could trigger orders for pistons, castings, radiator hoses, and iron ore to be mined, and ceramics to make the spark plugs. Most of the enabling software exists but key links need further development.
The true cost reduction and visibility improvement benefits offered by RFID technology are most effectively utilized between and within multiple levels of complex supply chains. When the cost of implementing the technology and using the data is spread across a dozen or more companies in a vertical or horizontal supply chain, the Return On Investment (ROI) will be maximized.