Radio Frequency Identification: Frequency, Standards, Adoption and Innovation
by Matt Ward, Rob van Kranenburg, Gaynor Backhouse
May 2006
Executive Summary
At the very simplest level, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technologies allow the transmission of a unique serial number wirelessly, using radio waves. The two key parts of the system that are needed to do this are the RFID 'tag' and the 'reader'; attaching an RFID tag to a physical object allows the object to be 'seen' and monitored by existing computer networks and back-office administration systems.
So far, the key driver for the development of RFID systems has been the desire to improve efficiency in globalised supply chains but implementation of the technology has been problematic. This is partly due to the manufacturing costs of tags, which are currently too high to justify widespread deployment across supply chains in the way that was originally imagined, and partly due to concerns over the potential for infringing the privacy of consumers who purchase RFID-tagged products. In addition, there are concerns about the health implications for staff employed in RFID-enabled workplaces, although this has not received as much attention in the press.
One of the areas where RFID has been a cost effective deployment is within library systems, where, due to the high value of individual books and journals and the many ways in which each tag can deliver value (e.g. issue/returns, stocktaking etc.), the one-off cost of a tag is easily off-set by overall cost savings and efficiency gains. However, there is a second key significance for RFID technologies: RFID tags are capable of providing the technological 'glue' to join physical objects to computer networks, and this is an important part of the technological jigsaw that will enable the 'seamless' and 'calm' technology vision of ubiquitous computing. A key milestone in this development is the realisation of the Internet of Things, where increasingly large numbers of our everyday objects and gadgets will have some kind of simple communication technology embedded into them, allowing them to be connected to each other within local networks and, ultimately, connected to the wider network of networks – the Internet. One of the critical factors will be how concerns about the potential for privacy infringement are reduced
There are various ways in which RFID may impact on the core business of Further and Higher Education (F&HE) but in the short term, one of the critical factors will be how concerns about the potential for privacy infringement are reduced. Although these concerns have not had as high a profile in the UK as they have elsewhere, pressure from the EU will require UK F&HE to start addressing these issues, and it will ultimately be more cost effective and time efficient if this is done in a pro-active rather than a re-active way. The influence of the library sector, in its dual role as a public sector body acting in the 'public good' and working as a test-bed for the technology, has the potential to be important in setting the pace for establishing good practice in this area while the technology is still relatively new and there is still the opportunity to have an impact.