Lesson 1 RFID Basics

Welcome to your first free lesson in RFID basics. If you know of someone who you think would
like to take this course please send them the URL for SkyRFID http://www.SkyRFID.com rather than send this lesson as we are continuously updating this
information based on your feedback. We hope by the end of lesson six, you will have a good
basic understanding of RFID, its strengths and its weaknesses. Additional in depth On Site and
Web technical courses are available from SkyRFID, please check our web site for further
information.
Now on to RFID!

What is Radio Frequency Identification?

Radio Frequency Identification is a technology that uses Radio Frequency waves to
interrogate or read objects known as transponders or tags. Each tag always has a Unique
Identification Number (UID) stored in bits in the tag memory that is transmitted to the
reader when the Tag is Read. In addition to the UID there may be other information stored in
the tag memory. The technology allows for reading of tags from physical contact to beyond the
line of sight of the reader. A simple RFID system consists of a reader with a cable attached to
an antenna and a tag that is read(interrogated) by the reader.

Radio Frequency (RF) Basic Terminology

Radio Frequency signals are a form of electromagnetic wave consisting of the same
radiation as light, ultra-violet, and infra-red rays. Radio Frequency waves/signals radiate
outward from an antenna and have both an electric and a magnetic wave component.
The frequency that a radio frequency identification (RFID) system operates is called a carrier
wave or "carrier frequency".
RFID systems operate on a number of frequencies. Some of the common RFID
Frequencies are

125 kHz. Also known as Low Frequency (LF)

134.2 kHz. Also known as Low Frequency (LF)
13.56 MHz. or High Frequency (HF)
433 MHz. Ultra High Frequency
868 MHz. European Ultra High Frequency (UHF)
915 MHz. Ultra High Frequency (UHF) - North America and other countries
2.45 GHz. Microwave Frequency (SHF)
5.8 GHz. Microwave Frequency (SHF)

433 MHz, 2.4 GHz and 5.8 GHz are active technologies with long range capabilities of
between 50 meters and 500 meters or more. Due to the nature of these technologies we
will not really discuss them in these courses.
Many of these

belong to the Industrial, Scientific and Medical (ISM) radio bands which were
originally reserved internationally for the use of RF energy for industrial, scientific and medical
purposes other than communication. The ISM bands typically do not require any licensing to
operate in these bands. Note: some countries will not allow some ISM bands at all.
Antennas are tuned to resonate only to a narrow range of carrier frequencies that are
centred on the designated RFID system frequency. This means that a system with a carrier
wave of 915 MHz.(centre of 902 ~ 928 MHz.) will not read a tag at 13.56 MHz., 125 kHz.

Frequencies or 2.45 GHz. However it may be able to read an 868 MHz. tag if the tag is EPC
Gen 2. More about this later.
RFID systems use the decibel (dB) to describe antenna gain, cables losses and power
output for all hardware specifications and regulations. There are different regulations for
different frequencies in different countries that must be taken into consideration when
designing, installing and maintaining an RFID system.
The wrong power selection has serious legal and health implications!
The Decibel is a ratio between two signal strength levels and is a 10th of a Bel. Bel is named
after Alexander Graham Bell (hence the letter B is capitalized). Incidentally Bell invented the
telephone as well as numerous other inventions. These calculations are "logarithmic scale
measurements" so they use the logarithm of a physical quantity instead of the quantity itself!

Bel = log (P2/P1)

dB is also a logarithmic measurement and gives simple numbers for large-scale variations in
signal strength. This is very useful as you can easily calculate the RFID system gain and
losses by adding and subtracting whole numbers.

dB=10*log (P2/P1)

The dB unit allows big variations in signal strengths/levels to be handled with simple
math.

Gain is positive and loss is negative.

A 3dB gain/loss is equal to a 2 times increase or decrease in signal level. So if a cable

has a 3dB loss, it loses 50% of its signal strength by the time it gets to the other end of
the cable.

A 10 dB gain/loss is equal to a 10 times increase or decrease in signal level. If a cable

has a 10dB loss, then it loses 90% of its signal strength by the time it gets to the other
end of the cable.

A 20dB gain/loss is equal to a 100 times increase or decrease in signal level. So if a

cable has a 20dB loss, then it will lose 99% of its signal strength by the time it gets to
the other end of the cable.

The Radio Frequency POWER LEVEL is expressed in watts or in dBm. dBm refers to the
power in decibel referenced to one milliwatt (1mW). The relation between dBm and watts is
given by the formula:

P(dBm) = 10 x Log (P/1mW)

dBm

Watt

0.001

10

0.01

20

0.1

30

1.0

40

10.0
The value 30 dBm = 1.0 Watt should be remembered for future use.

P (dBi; references an isotropic radiator) = 1 - log (Pr/Pi), where Pi is power received

from an isotropic antenna.

P (dBd; references a dipole antenna) = 10 Log (Pr/Pd), where Pd is power received

from a dipole antenna.

Basic electromagnetic (EM) propagation modes are:

Free space line of sight transmission satellite communications

Reflection most commonly used for land mobile communications

Refraction bending the EM waves when it passes through media such as water,
plastic, and other materials that have different refractive indexes.

Diffraction bending the EM waves around an object.

Attenuation is the reduction in amplitude and intensity of a signal. As the EM wave

goes farther, is reflected, refracted or diffracted the signal strength drops dramatically.
An Isotropic source radiates power equally in all directions laboratory and theory only just to
assist you in understanding theory versus practicality.
As the EM signal travels from the transmit antenna to the receiving antenna it loses strength.
While the previous information may seem somewhat complicated, rest assured that it will
become clearer and clearer in the next few lessons.

Lesson 2 RFID Basics

The following is lesson 2 of RFID basics continuing on with:

Radio Frequency (RF) Basics Continued!

There are 3 basic types of tags:

Passive

Semi - Passive (sometimes called "semi - active")

Active

Passive tags have no batteries and rely on the electromagnetic wave from the reader to build
up enough power in the tags integrated circuit to send back the UID response to the reader.
Passive RFID tags and readers communicate by coupling the transmitter to the receiver using:

Load Modulation in the near field (close range) is used in LF, HF and some UHF
Backscatter is used in the far field (longer range) for UHF and Microwave

In near field communication the tag communicates with the reader by electromagnetic
inductance. The coiled antennas of the tag and reader form a transformer. The reader uses
the carrier wave and changes the amplitude (displacement/size), phase or frequency. The tag
detects this as a change in modulation and responds appropriately.

In far field communication backscatter is used. Backscatter is the reflection of the radio
frequency wave when it hits a conductive surface. The amount of energy reflected depends on
how well the surface resonates with the frequency on the wave.
Resonance is the tendency of a system to oscillate at maximum amplitude at a certain
frequency. Similar to when you pick a guitar string, the string and the sound box of the guitar
resonates its not just the string that is making the sound the whole system resonates!
The tag antenna is designed to resonate with the specific carrier frequency of the
designated system. This is why 125 kHz. tags can not be read by 134.2 kHz. readers even
though the frequencies are very close.
In far field communication UHF tags can be specifically tuned to resonate depending on the
type of material that they are attached to. Hence you can now have Pallet tags for wood or
plastic, metal tags for metal bins, metal tags for computer hardware, glass tags for vehicle
windshields, plastic tags for plastic, etc..

The UHF tag can be tuned so that when you attach it to the material it is designed for you get
maximum resonance! So checking a tag read rate and distance without the tag being
mounted to the material will not provide correct information.
In the UHF tags passive backscatter is used to transmit data between the reader and the
tag. Part of the electromagnetic wave is used to power the IC (Integrated Circuit) in the tag
and the reflected part (backscatter) is used to communicate with the reader.

Types of RFID Systems

The two broad categories for RFID that we have are based on how they communicate with the
reader which is Near Field and Far Field We have no idea why the other experts in the
technology insist on calling them near field and far field. In plain English close range and
far range. Close is 1 meter (3 feet) or less and far is more than 1 meter or 3 feet.
Near Field characteristics:

Usually coiled antenna due to wavelength size

Use electromagnetic inductance to communicate
Reader and Antenna form a transformer to communicate
Have short read ranges
Work well with water
Good for item level tagging
125 kHz. and 134.2 kHz. maximum read range 30 cm or 1 foot. Norm is 50% of
maximum. Cheaper tags read range is under 10 cm or 4 inches.
13.56 MHz. maximum read range is 1.5 meters or 5 feet. Norm is about 80 % of
maximum. Cheaper tag read ranges are about 1 meter or 3 feet.
860 ~ 960 MHz EOC Gen 2 Near Field maximum read distance with correct antennas
will be under 50 cm or 1.5 feet

Far Field characteristics:

Antennas are 1 wavelength or larger due to much smaller wavelengths

Use RF passive backscatter to communicate with tags
Have a much longer read range
Do not work well with water ***
Reader and tag both have antennas
Good for Pallet and box tagging
868 MHz. read ranges are slightly lower than 915 MHz. due to regulations. Ranges of 5
meters or 16.4 feet are not uncommon. Up to 7 meters or 22 feet can be accomplished
in UHF under Ideal conditions.
902 ~ 928 MHz can reach over 12 meters with hand held readers and much longer with
fixed readers under "ideal" conditions.

*** Since the release of the new Gen 2 EPC standards there are numerous manufacturers that
have researched and successfully developed tags for use on bottled liquids, bottled gases,
inside laptop computers, inside cell phones, and more! What was fact six months ago in
constraints has now been broken. You can even have a high temperature tag for use in an
oven that still works after it has been heated over and over again. Gen 2 EPC is continuously
evolving with new improved tags and hardware being introduced on a regular basis.

Communication Methods
There are multiple methods of communicating data between the reader and tags. It is not the intent of
this course to get into these details as it would be longer than the entire 6 lessons.
However the short version is as follows:

There are numerous ways to communicate depending on whether it is a near field or far field system.
Near field systems such as the 125 and 134.2 kHz. systems use different modulation, phase shifting and
encoding schemes to communicate data. These systems are either proprietary for security or
standardized for interoperability. For interoperability the main methods of communication are Half
Duplex and Full Duplex. Full Duplex is faster but requires more power. We will cover off more about the
125 and 134.2 kHz. in a later lesson.
The other near field system 13.56 MHz. has been designed to be used for maximum security applications
and as such the method of communication is dependant on the IC (Integrated Circuit) used and also the
method of encoding. 13.56 MHz. tags have much more capabilities in terms of memory storage,
security, multiple read write capabilities, anti - collision and more.
The far field UHF generally uses spread spectrum frequency hopping technologies plus various encryption
methodologies to communicate between the reader and the tag. How UHF operates is governed by
regulations in most countries.

Directional Antenna
An antenna that has High Gain or more attenuation will provide more power to the tag if the
tag is in the direction of the antennas main beam. With directional antennas the gain focuses
energy in one direction instead of radiating it equally in all directions like an isotropic antenna.
Higher gain antennas also collect received power more effectively in the direction of the main
beam.

Effective Isotropic Radiated Power

Effective isotropic radiated power (EIRP) is the power gain (G) of the antenna plus the power
minus the loss.
EIRP = Power (dBm) + gain (dBi) loss (dB)
Since Isotropic is theoretical ERP Effective Radiated Power is usually used when measuring
power but EIRP is usually used in regulations!
ERP = Power (dBm) _ gain (dBd) loss (dB)
The likelihood of interference from an RF radiator depends on the peak power density in the
main beam rather than the average power.
An example of a High Gain Reader Antenna Received power is increased by 10 dB which
equals a range increase from 2.7 M to 8M or 3X. But EIRP = 30 dB + 10dB = 40 dBm.
More on antenna, gain, environment effects, licensing and polarization next lesson.

Read this lesson at least once today, once again tomorrow and once again in 7 days and you will
remember most of this for the rest of your life!

Lesson 3 RFID Basics

In lesson 1 you learned:

There are several frequencies for RFID

RFID uses electromagnetic waves to communicate
Decibel (dB) is an very important unit of measure
Gain is positive and loss is negative
Attenuation is the reduction in signal strength

In lesson 2 you learned:

There are 3 types of tags

Near field uses electromagnetic inductance (transformer)
Far field uses passive backscatter
The tags are tuned to resonate based on application
Communication involves modifying the wave characteristics
EIRP and ERP

The following is lesson 3 of RFID basics continuing on with:

Radio Frequency (RF) Basics Continued!

Antennas can be a whole 6 lesson course just to understand the importance of VSWR,
impedance, Power reflection and more. We will cover off more about antennas in a following
lesson (6), but only in minor detail as the objective of this course is to provide you with the
Basics. We do have a fully detailed web page on antennas that you should review once you
have completed this 6 lesson course.

Standards, and Regulations and Big Business Mandates

Standards

Created by companies or standards organizations

May or may not be government requirement
May be open or proprietary
Use is optional but may affect ability to use certain products
Usually no legal consequences

Regulations

Created and enforced by Governments

Apply to specific physical boundaries of regulating authority
May vary between different governing authorities
Legally binding and non-compliance may have serious legal consequences

Big Business Mandates

Created by large organizations or institutions usually to achieve efficiencies (Wal-Mart

and others)
Optional use may cause reduction in your business
Non compliance may cause you to incur fines

Standards Organizations

International standards organizations

ISO International Organization for Standardization

ITU International Telecommunication Union
IEC International Electrotechnical Commission

CEN European Committee for Normalization and Standardization - Regional standards

National Standards

ANSI American National Standards Institute

BSI British Standards Institution

Industry

EPCglobal Electronic Product Code

GS1 European specific of EPC plus UCC/EAN - Uniform Code Council/European Article
Numbering System
AIAG Automotive Industry Action Group

Each of the aforementioned entities can and usually does have sub organizations that
represent specific arenas or markets specific to RFID technology.
Suffice to say that when you are looking to design and install an RFID system you must be
aware of all of the International, Federal, Local and other regulations and standards or you
may have a system that gets shut down by the enforcers and you incur legal charges. Even
worse you sustain permanent damage to your health!
Types of Standards

Technology
Hardware requirements
Host interface
Air interface
Data syntax, structure and content
Conformance - read rate, test procedures, print quality, compliance specifications
Application standards labelling, package, numbering, master labelling, etc.

Generically speaking ISO RFID standards cover all of the above for many types of RFID
systems and applications. ISO is a good starting point to use to discover if your intended
application has standards that must be used.
ISO 18000
For many years in RFID there were no unifying or unilateral standards until late 2006. The
change in product availability, quality, application specific and price has changed dramatically
with ISO 18000 and EPC Gen 2 Global standards. More manufacturers are entering the market
and forcing the competition to reduce pricing.
ISO 18000 covers 5 RFID air interface frequencies:

<135 kHz. 18000 - 2

13.56 MHz. 18000 - 3
433 MHz Active 18000 -7
860 ~ 960 MHz. 18000 - 6
2.45 GHz. 18000 - 4

As per lesson one, multiple frequencies are required in RFID as the different frequencies are
absorbed, reflected, refracted and have different read ranges.
ISO 18000 - 1 provides the generic parameters for all globally accepted RFID frequencies.
ISO 18000 2 is for Type A, 125 kHz. using full duplex (FDX) and Type B 134.2 kHz.
supporting half duplex (HDX)
ISO 18000 3 is for 13.56 MHz. and has 2 non-interoperable modes of operation and both of
these modes require a license from the owner of the Intellectual Property.
ISO 18000 4 for 2.45 GHz. also has 2 modes of operation - one for passive mode where the
reader talks first and one for active mode where the tag talks first. Passive mode is under 1 M
or 3 feet and active mode has 100 times more range.
ISO 18000 6 is for 860 ~ 960 MHz and allows for the use of different frequencies in different
regions throughout the world. Versions A & B accommodate a wide range of applications and
Version C is for UHF Gen 2 (Generation 2 Global)
ISO 18000 7 for the active 433 MHz range has very narrow usage and is currently used by
the DoD of the United States for container tracking and the Universal Postal Union. This
frequency has a very long range of hundreds of feet and is very high in cost partially due to
the low number of implementations.
Finally we get to near the end of this lesson!
EPCglobal and GS1
EPC = Electronic Product Code - every product made in the world today can have it's own
unique EPC. Bar Codes were the precursors to EPC

EPCglobal is a neutral consensus based, not for profit organization and has a joint venture with
GS1 organizations around the world.
EPCglobal was established to create a worldwide real-time visibility of objects in the supply
chain. It is used by a broad range of industries to optimize their supply chain efficiency.
EPC Gen 2 is the new standard in supply chain management and provides for goods
manufactured to have an Electronic Product Code (EPC) encoded in a tag that can be read in
any country using the ISO 18000 6 standard.
Since North America uses 915 MHz as an RFID standard and Europe uses 868 MHz as a
standard, an EPC tag must be capable of being read by both 868 MHz. and 915 MHz. readers.
Gen 2 is 96 bits or more but the first 96 bits are for the EPC. While the actual physical number
of bits is larger than 96 they are exclusively set aside for specific standards such as password,
kill code, and more. Yes, Kill code! Under EPC Gen 2 there are specific bits that when
addressed make the tag unreadable and unusable forever. This was implemented to reduce
the privacy issues raised by the global community. EPC 96 bits is 24 characters of
hexadecimal.
EPC Gen 2 tags are advancing technologically and now you can have a 128 to 512 bit EPC
memory. You can also have user memory of up to 512 bits.
End of Lesson 3

Lesson 4 RFID Basics

Standards and Regulations Final Plus Tags

Regulations Summary

Created by governments and may vary between different governing authorities.

Apply within the physical boundary of the regulating authority
Legally binding non compliance has legal consequences
RFID readers transmit and receive RF energy. The signal strength and carrier wave is
controlled by various regulations to avoid:

Injuries to humans and wild life

Interference to and from other radio wave devices

There are 3 ITU regions globally:

Region 1 Europe, Africa, Middle East (west of the Persian Gulf), former Soviet Union
Region 2 North and South America
Region 3 Asia, Middle East (East of the Persian Gulf), Australia and Oceania.

For the UHF 860 ~ 960 MHz. currently there are multiple Frequency Regulations in effect,
hence the EPCglobal Gen 2 standard.

US and Canada 902 ~ 928 MHz.

Mexico 915 MHz. typically
South America 915 MHz. typically
Europe 865 ~ 868 MHz.
Northern Africa 862 ~ 870 MHz.
South Africa 915 MHz. typically
Middle East 862 ~ 870 MHz.
China 917 ~ 922 MHz temporary
Japan 952 ~ 954 MHz.
Pacific Rim Country dependant 866 ~ 925 MHz.
Australia 915MHz.
New Zealand 862 ~ 928 MHz.

Please note that within the MHz. zones there are the ITU regulations that can supersede the
UHF standards plus ERP and EIRP regulations are used in many of the different countries that
can differ between the UHF and ITU zones.
In short each country can have specific sub regulations on the power, frequencies,
channels and sub-bands used within their physical boundaries.
When providing any RFID system it is always best to review all of the current regulations
applicable to ensure legality of the system even though the tag may be read by all locations.

Safety

Frequencies above 100 kHz can have a warming effect on the human body.

Frequencies under 10 MHz can have effects on the central nervous system due to
electric current flow in the human body.
Safe dosimetric parameter for exposure to RF fields is 0.4W/kg for controlled exposure
and 0.08 W/kg for uncontrolled exposure.

Example 90 Kg (200 lb) person ~ 7.2 W safe exposure

50 Kg (110 lb) person ~ 4 W safe exposure

Safe distance from a UHF antenna ~ 23 cm or 9 inches

RFID Technology Applications

RFID can be used in almost any application where tracking of an object is required. Some
examples of RFID applications are:

Access control buildings, departments, rooms, jail cells, gates, cabinets, containers
Animal/livestock management
Amusement park
Cashless payment systems
Document management
Event management and access control
Evidence management
Healthcare

Hospitality

Access
Events
Cashless payment

Garment rentals
Jewellery management
Laundry and flatware service
Library and video store
Mining - who is in the mine, where are they in the mine
Manufacturing

Patient tracking
Equipment tracking
Services tracking
Medication tracking
Controlled substance tracking
Uniform cleaning

Raw Materials
Work in process tracking
Quality assurance
Finished Goods
Safety

Pharmaceutical

Product
Product
Product
Product

authentication
management
security
documentation

Security

Receiving and shipping

Inventory control
Warehousing
Retail stores
o High value items

Transportation Management

Field service for consumer goods

Field service for HVAC, Electrical Contractors, Mechanical Contractors
Fleet maintenance
Equipment maintenance

Supply chain

Laptops
PDAs
Anything that has value and can be picked up by someone

Service industry

Lot control

Rail cars and containers

Transportation pass
Toll collection
Vehicle identification
Vehicle theft detection
Security

Warranty service and support

When you review the potential applications that we have presented for you, hopefully you will
be able to add a lot more to the list of where RFID has benefits.
Bar Code provided accuracy and real time data collection which improved efficiencies and
reduced costs for many businesses.

RFID provides visibility which will reduce shrinkage/theft, reduce and eliminate time
to Find something and also increase readability rates dirt does not affect the RFID
tag the way a Bar Code becomes unreadable.

Benefits of RFID

Improved data quality

Real time data collection
Reduced data collection time
Minimum human intervention
Improved visibility of assets or products

The RFID Tag/Transponder

IC integrated circuit with the following components

Microprocessor with 40 to 50 thousand transistors

Powered by radio frequency waves
Memory to store data:

Commodity item

The IC has a strap and two conducting pads that are connected to an antenna
For Gen 2 the ICs are mass produced onto a backing that enables high speed
conversion into inlays (inlets), labels or packaging materials.
The antenna is the largest part of the tag and affects the overall size of the tag.

Read Only, rewriteable, write once read many

64 Bits to 4 K bits or more depending on IC and frequency - Smart
card and smart chip technologies - 256k bytes or more
Can have multiple banks of memory that are addressed separately
Can have multiple security encoding schemes
Can have multiple password authentications for security

Designed for specific applications

Designed for specific frequencies

Substrate is the material that holds the IC, strap and antenna together on the tag and
the inlays.
The inlay is a sub-assembly of an IC, antenna and substrate and is used to embed into
labels or form part of a finished tag
A tag has the prior components plus can have substrate on both sides and an adhesive
on one side.
Encapsulated tags are tags with their inlays encapsulated in an RF friendly
material. This is done for protection against the environment, tuning for the material to
be attached to, tamper prevention, implementation management and aesthetics.
Multiple ICs of different frequencies can be combined in a single form factor for
multiple application usage.
Tags can take many form factors

Wristbands
Patient bands
Glass tags
Encapsulated
Buttons
Keychain tags
Heat resistant tags
Metallic tags
Container tags
Epoxy tags
Tickets
Cards
Embedded in products or packaging
Animal tags
Labels

Some examples of really small tags are shown below:

Gen 2 Button

Encapsulated Tag

Glass Animal Tag

To see other types of tags please go to our web site Http://www.SkyRFID.com and view the
products page. There are samples of all types of tags that we have discussed.