Sean Loving

Of Frequency Wars and More Interesting Topics

info@skyetek.com — Wed, 19 Apr 2006 17:09:00 GMT

It appears as though some are taking sides in the RFID Frequency War. Most agree the *war* is between 900MHz UHF and 13.56MHz HF as the better solution for item level RFID tagging. Last month at the RFID World Conference in Dallas, Texas several people asked me "what frequency is going to win the war for item level tagging"? Then in just the past couple of weeks there have been several noteworthy op ed, articles and events that continue to explore this question.

There was that report from Odinabout UHF versus HF for Pharma SCM and ePedigree. One important note is how the conclusions were based on their comparison of E-field UHF with H-field HF.

And there have been several other recent op eds and articles [pdf] that further explain some of the issues important to this *war*.

I think the discussion (thankfully) is starting to expand to include other factors that are equally as important as frequency. Namely, some of these articles and reports are starting to discuss "coupling".

Finally, the industry is starting to understand that coupling, the wireless but physical connection between tag and reader, is independent of frequency.Coupling is something the industry is only starting to recognize as a key RFID systems level consideration. Here are a few terms to keep straight for these two basic types of coupling:

Electric field coupling, E-Field, Capacitive Coupling, Far-Field, Dipole antenna, Magnetic field coupling, H-Field, Inductive Coupling, Near-Field, Loop antenna

As a long time technical expert, I started SkyeTek already with several years experience making E-field tags and readers at both LF and HF – I think before Matrics and Alien were sampling their first UHF tag silicon.Now there appears to be a reverse opportunity for making inductive coupling tags with UHF tag silicon.The promise is to solve some remaining problems with UHF item level tagging, and to further drive the economy of scale for Gen2.

Indeed, SkyeTek applauds some of the new tag product announcements and the flurry of reader, antenna, and installation development that will necessarily follow to provide among other things - UHF item level tagging.

The result is that more products, systems and applications than ever will become RFID-enabled.

Until now the industry has focused more on the differences than the similarities between HF and UHF.Now that's starting to change as awareness continues to grow. SkyeTek is a neutral party because we provide Tagnostic(R) HF and UHF RFID reader technologies that easily configure for use with either type of coupling. Because we don't prefer either frequency HF or UHF, we can provide the best solution for our customers, instead of looking to force our solution on the world.

Embedded Reader Technology

info@skyetek.com — Mon, 27 Mar 2006 18:05:00 GMT

While the buzz is squarely on Supply Chain Management (SCM), I happen to believe that SCM is the least interesting part of the RFID market. Frankly, SCM is downright dull when you start to understand enabled reader technology.

At SkyeTek, we divide the embedded reader market into two primary segments: dedicated and enabled.

Dedicated readers look and smell like RFID readers - things like dock-door readers, handheld scanners, label printers, etc.

Enabled readers are far more interesting, because most of the time you wouldn’t know or expect RFID to be in there - things like medical devices, exercise equipment, and consumer electronics to name just a few of the places we have embedded enabled readers.

Though it gets somewhat scant industry attention, I expect the mega opportunity in RFID will have almost nothing to do with SCM. While analysts have not covered embedded RFID readers (especially the enabled portion) and thus there are no reports to support this theory, (though I’d welcome the research…are you listening VDC, IDC, Gartner, etc.?), I have strong anecdotal evidence that comes from our customer base.

Many if not most of our customers are not your typical SCM RFID install. Rather they work in vertical industries where RFID was not even in the consideration set a year ago, and amongst their competitors probably still isn’t. Yet our customers are solving real problems and enjoying real benefits from enabled solutions.

From our perspective, the attention that WalMart and the chips inserted in “Muffy” have generated is certainly a positive. It has gotten people thinking about what RFID can do for them, and I think it is worth pointing to some illuminating facts from our business:

(a) SkyeTek had already enabled over 100 unique applications with RFID before ever making a single outbound sales call

(b) we continue to see increasing demand in the form of inbound inquiries for embedded reader technology in some form or another.

The point is that once people start thinking about RFID, they end up applying the technology in totally new and innovative ways. Usually the more deeply they embed RFID into the product or service they already provide, the more interesting and useful the application becomes. Again, from our own sales leads we can say that when embedded customers seek out RFID solutions they occasionally find the marketplace offers what they need. More often, at least outside of SCM, they quickly learn how hard it is to fit a dock door reader or an animal scanner into their next generation DVD player, stair-climber, or microwave oven.

While the business motivations of customers are predictable (protection of consumables revenue, security and authentication, inventory and positive id), the functional and performance requirements are diverse, from readers in cell phones to readers in conveyor belts. Regardless of the type of equipment, OEMs are finding they need embedded reader technology to meet the most important requirements of their particular application and market, and this means looking beyond the purpose-built, vertical-specific hardware devices that seem to dominate the market.

In order to extend RFID to 1000s of new applications, a new technology and approach is needed to address this vastly underserved opportunity, and this means embedded readers. At SkyeTek we are looking beyond the current landscape and, along with others, are working to make embedded RFID reader technology more readily available, and able to meet the widespread but under-reported demand that is brewing across every vertical and horizontal market, and not simply working within the SCM doldrums.

RFID Implants for Humans

info@skyetek.com — Thu, 23 Mar 2006 18:03:00 GMT

Now there’s a bad idea. When I first heard about the Baja Beach Club application I loved it, but I thought “Oh boy, this is going to freak out lots of people”. Then the Mexican judges started chipping themselves, then came the FDA approval for VeriChip, and recently the chipping of some US officials. I say go ahead and chip yourself if you want - but don’t even think about mandating implants on me, because I promise to take up arms against that kind of nonsense. In my opinion the worst thing about implanting humans with RFID is how it gives fearful people something more to worry about. Indeed, using RFID to track humans really touches a nerve, doesn’t it? For example I recently heard that RFID helped prevent an infant from being abducted from a North Carolina hospital. My first thought was “Hooray RFID”. But after a little research I learned it was the parents that were attempting to “abduct” their own child. Then I thought “Oh no, RFID has now been used to keep a child from its parents”. Alas, it’s no surprise that all these new uses of RFID are bringing such questions and controversy to the spotlight in the public debate over RFID.

Waving your phone over the cash register to pay for your groceries will happen. Uptaking a new song into your iPod by scanning an RFID tag will happen. Having your oven receive cooking instructions from an RFID tag in the food packaging will happen. But although implanting RFID in humans is unfortunately already happening, I am not concerned that this is a sign of Armageddon. As a member of the world society, I do agree completely that we should not allow ourselves to trick ourselves into fulfilling the prophecy of Revelation 13:16-18, as some of the anti-RFID Christians warn. And although Revelation, like all good prophecies, has deep meaning and wisdom, fear not people of Earth because RFID is not the mark of the beast. For soon enough there will be DNA scanners that can access the unique code that God put into each of us. And so this debate will shift again, this time with new Bible verses as supporting evidence.

No, I am not afraid of the end of the world, but I am concerned that more fear than good will come from the reckless use of RFID. In my opinion RFID scanners, like DNA scanners or the Internet or any technology, should be used for the good of people. So I want to shift the debate away from how we can outlaw RFID, to a more pragmatic debate on how we can best utilize this simple but powerful technology. The SkyeTek inbox is open for suggestions. As an industry leader, SkyeTek is unique among other RFID technology providers because we focus on humane, positive uses of RFID, intentionally attempting to avoid and prevent the misuse of the technology. Beyond the mundane applications like manufacturing and inventory control, some of my favorites so far have been ScripTalk the talking Rx pill bottle reader for the blind, the various children’s museums like EdVenture and the Exploratorium and Wiley’s Woods, and the DR-1000 that was designed to assist caregivers in eliminating mistakes at the hospital bedside.

Hello World

info@skyetek.com — Thu, 16 Mar 2006 08:00:00 GMT

For a long time my colleagues, advisors, and customers have encouraged me to launch some type of forum from where I can share my RFID expertise and express my opinions and perspectives from 10+ years in devotion to the technology and the industry. After considering several options, I have decided to launch an RFID blog whose initial focus will be on the dynamic impact RFID is having on the world of business and society-at-large.

But first, here is a little more RFID background on me and SkyeTek, starting from when I first learned about RFID while experimenting with barcode technology at Southern Illinois Universty, BSEE 1993. My career began at RFID startup company ID Technologies; in Boulder, Colorado (1994-1996) where we developed some of the world's first programmable transponder ICs, and readers too.

Then I joined Motorola Indala in San Jose, California (1997-1999) where I designed, researched and patented tags, readers and systems.

Returning to Boulder in 1999 as a consultant I built a series of successful RFID-enabled products including ScripTalk, the talking Rx pill bottle reader for the visually impaired. Faced with consulting opportunities too many to handle, I founded SkyeTek to build and mentor a larger team of RFID engineers.

As RFID-enabling products with RFID readers became popular work, I soon realized SkyeTek should transform itself into a product company with a focus on embedded RFID reader technology. The idea was to design SkyeTek's own IP into high volume products as a more rewarding alternative to simply engineering for hire.

Thus SkyeTek released its first OEM reader module in late 2002 with a business model to enable OEMs to better license, integrate and utilize RFID reader technology. As a good engeineer I could not single-handedly capitalize on the overwhelming demand for this new technology, so I reached out to the Colorado business community (2003-2004) where I found many new friends, colleagues and investors willing to offer advice, effort and money that would obviously be required to take SkyeTek to the next level. Suddenly I had expanded beyond my engineering background and into the world of business. Yikes!

Today as Chief Technology Officer I am a proud member of a growing SkyeTek team whose business is successfully up and running with marquis customers and premier investors as proof points that our technology, IP and market strategy will continue to accelerate the pervasive adoption of RFID across 1000s of new applications, well into the 21st century.

Tagnostic™
SkyeTek defines itself through its commitment to open-architecture and open standards as keys to enabling the broadest, most widely accepted uses of the technology. For example the obvious meaning of our word Tagnostic™ (tag-agnostic) describes how SkyeTek RFID reader technology can read any tag protocol, making our embedded software technology forward compatible, software upgradeable, and data definable. SkyeTek is exploring several requests to license the use of the term tagnostic. A formal licensing program will be announced in the 4Q 2005. Please contact SkyeTek for details.

ReaderWare™ — Disaggregating the RFID Reader
Recently, SkyeTek officially announced ReaderWare™ - a revolutionary open software architecture for the RFID reader. ReaderWare makes it easy to embed RFID reader technology into hundreds, perhaps thousands of existing and new applications.

Because the industry has delivered RFID readers as vertically-integrated, monolithic hardware devices, the RFID industry has not kept pace with the changing needs of a marketplace calling for an increasing number of requirements that span a widening continuum of applications. By disaggregating the RFID reader into its constituent hardware and software components, ReaderWare solves this problem by opening the black-box nature of the RFID reader with an ‘a la carte menu' of reader technology building blocks that OEMs use to add RFID reader technology, incrementally, to new or existing systems and equipment, with minimal impact on size, power and cost. Furthermore, ReaderWare enables value-added software development to occur ‘on-reader', pushing intelligence far to the edge.

Licensing Reader Technology
By taking a software-centric approach to reader technology SkyeTek makes it easy for OEMs and developers to design their own hardware or to license a SkyeTek hardware reference design. In either case, ReaderWare allows adding (and paying for) only the minimum amount of RFID software needed to enable a specific application.

Developers Wanted
SkyeTek is inviting developers to experience the ease by which RFID reader technology can integrate into new and existing products and equipment. Application code and script files can now run ‘on-reader' with access to powerful Tag Protocol Libraries and Radio Drivers provided by ReaderWare. Developing software to customize an RFID reader for a specific application, or developing a totally new application-specific reader are both made easy by ReaderWare.

Standardization
Opening the internal workings of the RFID reader is a good idea, but standards are required for gloabl acceptance of the ReaderWare architecture. ReaderWare 1.0 is now available with the initial Library and Driver API definitions, but SkyeTek is extending an open invitation to developers, OEMs and industry peers to contribute to the evolution and improvement of this important open software architecture. Please inquire via email or comments to this blog.