RFID technology has huge potential in IoT applications!NFC Bracelet Production

　　RFID technology has huge potential in IoT applications

　　Speaking of the history of the Internet of Things, there is one technology that has to be mentioned, and that is RFID (Radio Frequency Identification). In the 1990s, Professor Kevin Ash-ton, the founder of the Auto-IDCenter (Auto-IDCenter), an RFID research institution at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, proposed a concept of the Internet of Things. He defined the Internet of Things as: the identification of all items by radio frequency Other information sensing equipment is connected with the Internet to realize intelligent identification and management. Although in this definition, the "perception" technology of the Internet of Things is limited to a few sensing technologies such as RFID, which is very different from our current understanding, but it also sees the application of RFID technology in the Internet of Things Great potential in China.

　　RFID technology definition

　　RFID technology belongs to electronic label technology in automatic identification technology (automatic identification technology also includes "bar code/two-dimensional code identification technology", magnetic card identification technology, etc.), and is a non-contact automatic identification technology: through radio frequency (wireless ) The signal automatically recognizes the target object (tag) and obtains relevant data. In various industry applications, RFID technology has realized the function of collecting physical object data.

　　Because RFID has the characteristics of wireless signal recognition, the object carrying the tag can also be recognized during the movement, and the distance can reach tens of meters.

　　EPC/RFID basic structure

　　Before the 1990s, RFID applications were not connected to the Internet, and the data in electronic tags were all defined by enterprises or organizations. The concept of the Internet of Things put forward in the 1990s is actually based on RFID technology, integrating Internet technology, and standardizing the coding format of tags, establishing a global and open EPC (Product Electronic Code) system. The combination of EPC system and RFID technology is considered by the industry to be the prototype of the Internet of Things.

　　According to the structure of RFID technology, the industry divides EPC/RFID technology into two parts: "edge system" and "software system". The edge system mainly includes electronic tags and readers; the software system mainly refers to the application system and the middleware system. Although the middleware system belongs to the software system, in essence, each part of it is in the "edge" and "software" systems, between the edge system and the software system.

　　If the EPC/RFID technology architecture is placed in the technology matrix of the Internet of Things, the edge system can be understood as the "edge domain" and the software system as the "cloud domain". In the edge system, the object data in the electronic tag is mainly collected by the reader, and then translated and obtained in the network through the middleware, and finally sent to the application system (high-level software system). The application system is responsible for the centralized processing of information --- the realization of application logic.

　　However, many current RFID industry applications are based on cost and security considerations, and there is still no middleware and Internet connection configuration: after the data is read by a reader, it is directly sent to a dedicated system in the private network for application processing. (The RFID technology introduced in this article is mainly for EPC/RFID systems, RFID systems with Internet of Things characteristics)

　　EPC/RFID main components

　　1, electronic label

　　Electronic Tag (Electronic Tag), also called transponder or Smart Label, is essentially a miniature wireless transceiver, mainly composed of electronic components such as built-in antennas and chips. Normally, the electronic tag is attached to the item to be identified, and the chip has a globally unique electronic code (EPC code), which is the data source in the RFID edge system. Most of the electronic tags in the application are not equipped with a power source, and directly obtain energy through wireless signals.

　　Among the most basic components of RFID electronic tags, dedicated chips are mainly used to store data and realize control functions, and antennas are used to sense wireless signals to receive energy, and to send and receive radio signals. Some electronic tags have their own power supply and have the ability to actively transmit signals.

　　RFID technology has huge potential in IoT applications

　　2, reader

　　Reader, also known as reader (Reader), is used to read the memory information in the electronic tag, or write information into the electronic tag. The reader can either be an independent terminal or be embedded in other systems for use. The hardware of the reader mainly includes antenna, radio frequency module, controller, network communication module, I/O interface and other components.

　　Antenna and radio frequency module, used to send or read data to electronic tags through wireless signals;

　　The controller, that is, the microprocessor, acts as the "brain" of the reader, and controls each component of the device to realize application functions: obtain electronic tag data, realize internal signal conversion, and communicate with external systems.

　　The network communication module is responsible for data communication with the cloud, encapsulating and decoding the upstream and downstream data, and realizes the function of routing and forwarding.

　　I/O interface, to communicate with a block or peripheral device in other systems.

　　For passive RFID electronic tags, the reader needs to have the function of activating the tag, that is, transmitting energy to the electronic tag through electromagnetic waves. After the reader’s antenna and radio frequency module receive the information from the electronic tag, they will hand it over to the controller for preliminary processing of the tag information (data format conversion, etc.), and then pass the network interface (external network interface, local I/ O interface) to transfer it to other information processing equipment.

　　RFID technology has huge potential in IoT applications

　　3, RFID middleware

　　The birth of RFID middleware, on the one hand, is to solve the heterogeneous problem of various equipment and software (electronic tags, readers, application servers and operating systems) in the RFID application system; on the other hand, it makes RFID applications easier to deploy: The needs of massive data processing, distributed computing, development efficiency, cost control, etc.

　　RFID middleware encapsulates the general functions in the application process (source data collection/filtering/integration/transmission, Internet routing analysis and item information query), forming standard data (structured data) and capability interfaces that are open to the outside. Through the middleware, the application system can directly establish a connection with the reader, obtain the relevant information of the electronic label, and query its associated data in the network. RFID middleware effectively reduces the complexity of application software and hardware architecture and maintenance, and realizes agile development and light-load operation.

　　RFID middleware function is often not realized by a physical device. Various basic and expanded application functions of RFID usually require multiple related devices (servers, network devices) to be deployed and implemented according to business requirements. RFID middleware mainly includes the following basic functions: reader interface, network access interface (public network access interface), application software interface, middleware function module.

　　Reader interface, network access interface, and application software interface are respectively connected to the terminals and devices (electronic tags, readers) of the edge network, Internet application services, and internal dedicated application systems. The three interface functions realize signal connection and communication protocol adaptation in all directions, and concentrate the data in the middleware function module for pre-application processing.

　　The middleware function module is the core control unit of RFID middleware, which mainly implements data mapping conversion, data filtering, equipment management, business control, and basic RFID application functions. Among them, the basic application functions include providing EPC/RFID "Name Resolution Service (IOT-NS)" and "Information Publishing Service (IOT-IS)".

　　RFID middleware has the role of connecting above and below, providing basic tools in the field of RFID, as well as data format conversion and packaging services, and opening capabilities to the outside (Internet), with typical Internet of Things platform (Paas) characteristics.

　　At present, many technology giants have realized the commercial deployment of RFID middleware-type IoT platforms, including IBM's "WebSphere", Microsoft's "BizTalk RFID", Oracle's "Xterprise" and so on.

　　4. Application system

　　EPC/RFID technology enables the application system to be connected to all production materials for centralized equipment management and production operations.

　　From the perspective of technical principles, as long as the physical objects (people, animals, plants, and articles) are given a unique ID identification number, RFID can be used for information management. This object can be a work card, a membership card (identified as “person”), an ankle ring, a neck sleeve (identified as “animal”), or a car or express box (identified as “article”). All kinds of production information systems in the enterprise can integrate RFID technology to improve the "transparency" and "precision" of the production process, improve the "real-time" and "accuracy" of monitoring and management, and realize inter-system and inter-enterprise Information sharing and interaction, expanding application boundaries and forming an industrial ecology.

　　RFID application software includes business applications: customer relationship management system (CRM), enterprise resource management system (ERP), supply chain management system (SCM), warehouse management system (WMS), order management system (OMS), asset management (AMS) ), logistics management system (LMS), etc., as well as public service applications: ETC (Electronic Toll Collection System), electronic tickets (such as one-time subway tickets), access security systems, etc.

　　RFID technology has huge potential in IoT applications

　　EPC/RFID reading process

　　The function realized by the EPC/RFID system is the data collection process of "reading" RFID data. The basic process of reading is as follows:

　　1. The electronic label is affixed to the article. When the article is close to the reader, the electronic label generates various types of electromagnetic coupling effects in the signal magnetic field of the reader and obtains energy (electric energy). The writer performs information interaction: the electronic tag and the reader perform mutual safety authentication, and then the electronic tag accepts the instructions of the reader and returns the stored data information.

　　2. After receiving the data in the electronic tag, the reader sends it to the RFID middleware. The data in the tag is "EPC code", including embedded information (Embedded Information, product characteristic information, including attributes such as item ID) and reference information (Information Reference, data network information).

　　3. The RFID middleware sends the tag information (EPC code) obtained by the reader to the Internet of Things Name Service (Internet of Things Name Service, IOT-NS) via the Internet. After receiving the tag information, IOT-NS will find the corresponding server IP address according to the "reference information" in the EPC code. This IP address is the server address of the Internet of Things Information Service (IOT-IS).

　　(This step is similar to Internet DNS-domain name resolution)

　　4. The IOT-IS server will query the detailed information of the corresponding item ID according to the tag information sent by the RFID middleware, and return it to the RFID middleware.

　　5. The RFID middleware sends all information related to the item (electronic tag information, item detailed information, reading status of the reader, etc.) to the application system as needed. The application system software will make corresponding processing after receiving the data: send out instruction signals-control the action of the actuator, or present the on-site status on a visual interface, or issue business reports after data analysis, and so on.

　　RFID technology has huge potential in IoT applications

　　The reading process introduced here is based on the EPC/RFID system architecture. In a large number of practical applications, RFID industry applications have not deployed EPC system functions: there is neither RFID middleware, nor Internet-based name resolution services and information query services. It uses a non-networking model: after the reader receives the electronic label data, it directly sends it to the local application server for processing.

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