Mapping The Stakeholders And Rules Affecting Radio Frequency Identification, RFID

When a technology is developing as rapidly as radio frequency identification (RFID) with the active participation of a huge range of industry sectors worldwide – from automotive manufacturing to pharmaceutical distribution and fashion retailing – it is not surprising that overlapping and, at times, conflicting standards develop, according to Peter Gabriel, spokesman for a European research project in this area.

RFID needs a coherent international approach to frequency and radio regulation, communication and data standards, network standards, application standards, as well as safety issues. Some areas require European or even global agreements, others simply require an agreed cross-sectoral approach. The complication is that the standards need to develop in parallel with the innovative research.

In such a complicated and multi-layered environment, RFID and the network that will share RFID-generated ‘Electronic Product Code’ data across the internet is developing rather quickly, according to Gabriel of the CE RFID project.

“The establishment of EPCglobal was a major breakthrough,” he says. EPCglobal is an industry-led organisation that is undertaking the establishment of RFID and Electronic Product Code standards. “[It] started just five years ago and they have built a complete system of standardisation documents… much quicker than would have been the case for an ISO standard.”

However, ISO’s reputation means that its stamp of approval is very important to anything EPCglobal develops. Gabriel points to EPCglobal’s ‘Gen 2’ air interface standard (protocols for RFID tag-to-reader interfaces) that received its ISO 18000-6 label. That speedy establishment of the standard provided a bedrock for future development.

Coordinating dynamic development

The CE RFID report provides an extensive overview of the main industries with an interest in RFID and the level of standardisation they have achieved.

The report draws on the lessons from previous investigations that tackled the same problem: how to ensure the rapid establishment of standards where the range of stakeholders is broad and the technology developing fast.

While European companies are often technology leaders in RFID and EPC, that has not translated to leadership in standards development – a particular interest to the sponsors of this EU-funded report.

The report concludes that fewer and broader standards are needed; a coordinated standardisation roadmap between the main stakeholders (especially EPCglobal and ISO) would ease development; standards should be easier to understand and work with; and regional or even national standards should be avoided where international standards are required.

The time and money European companies need to invest in a wide range of patents to cover their interests in different Member States is one example of how Europe is disadvantaged by its lack of coordination.

Another example in the report is the need for a single European radio regulation authority managing the spectrum. RFID advocates face some powerful rivals in the contest for limited frequencies.

Take UHF in Europe, RFID has only been awarded from 865-868 MHz. In the long run, this limited bandwidth is not sufficient for the expected mass applications. Moreover, the sector lacks the level of radio frequency harmonisation already reached for mobile phones.

The opportunity is now

Many of the most powerful organisations with an interest in RFID are users rather than technology providers. Big retailers, logistics companies and others need to press the need for RFID on regulators, Gabriel suggests. Broadcasters’ move from analogue to digital will create a ‘digital dividend’ over the next 15 years. However, decisions about who will gain control of the freed-up frequencies will be made in the next two years. There is a need to act now!

Some of the frequencies available for RFID in Europe or China have already been awarded to telecoms companies in the USA for their cell-phone networks.

“We will never get a uniform spectrum in UHF,” says Gabriel. “That is not a major problem as all the frequency bands are so close. There will be minor technical problems but nothing the technology providers cannot cope with.”

The next step on the road to the complete RFID-EPC vision will be the EPCglobal internet network. Just as there were a series of air interface standards before the success of ‘Gen 2’, he expects the EPCglobal network will develop in steps.

“There will be first implementations and pilot projects for the great architecture of IT systems that is needed,” he says. “After the first standard, there will need to be a reality check. That will occur in the next one or two years.”