RFID is hot on the RF DesignLine, so I had a virtual "sit down" with some leaders in the industry to see where the technology is, and where they think it is going. The following article includes some of the thoughts and remarks of Todd Humes, Senior Director, Engineering Embedded NVM Group, Virage Logic Corporation; Darren McCarthy, Technical Marketing Manager, RF Test, Tektronix, Inc; Jeff Miller, Product Manager Tanner EDA; David Hall, Product Manager, National Instruments RF & Communications; and Dirk Morgenroth, Marketing Director, RFID, NXP Semiconductors.

After the interview, I’ve included some links to some of the most popular RFID articles on the site.

RFDL: What is the status of the technology?
Humes: RFID technology continues to become more prevalent as standards-based designs reduce die cost and drive broader market adoption. ISO standards 14443, 15693, and 18000 have created opportunities for companies to enter the RFID space without forcing proprietary solutions onto their customers.

McCarthy: RFID technologies are becoming ubiquitous. The cost and benefits of various RFID technologies have enabled the adoption in homes, cars, documents, animals, and phones. Tire pressure monitoring systems (TPMS) have been mandated on all cars for safety concerns about the operating pressure of our tires. Passports issued worldwide in recent years have all migrated to the ISO 14443 "proximity" RFID standard to simplify and coordinate worldwide immigrations. There is no single RFID technology that can fulfill all applications. Near Field Communications (NFC) on mobile phones and UHF RFID technologies for tracking cargo shipping containers need to operate over different distances and temperature ranges, and the amount of data and security are defined by the end-use application of an RFID technology.

Miller:RFID tags are used in a wide variety of applications around the world, and their use is expected to explode as the unit costs decrease and new markets open up.

Hall: RFID adoption is still sometimes limited by tag manufacturing costs and the need for better understanding of UHF signal propagation. However, it seems that greater awareness of the technology’s benefits is needed in order to drive widespread adoption. I am continually amazed at the new applications people are able to solve with RFID. And, further improvements in RF performance will naturally occur as a result of increased awareness.

Morgenroth: The RFID industry has moved forward significantly in the last year, and EPC technology is finding significant deployment in closed loop applications in various projects/markets. ISO-based technologies have also seen significant uptakes in projects. Performance levels in UHF have now reached customer acceptance so that RFID can replace barcode in more and more applications, surpassing the identification rates of barcode. The growth in pieces in RFID this year has continued at 40% CAGR, as in previous years.

RFDL: How do you see market opportunities?
Morgenroth:The market opportunities for RFID are manifold. New markets which have established themselves this year are car windshield tagging; product authentication of high values goods, such as alcohol and tobacco; document control; RFID used for electronic gaming in Asia; and RFID used for fashion/apparel item level tagging.

Hall: In many ways, the cost of deploying tag and reader systems dictates the market opportunity for RFID. As innovation continues to reduce the cost of RFID system deployment, we’ll continue to see RFID being used in applications that we never even thought of before.

Humes: Market adoption continues to increase, especially given the recent work on the ISO 18000-6C UHF RFID specifications and its broad range of applications. UHF RFID, once thought to only be applicable to pallet tracking and dock door applications, has found new niches in areas previously dominated by HF RFID, such as item-level tracking and pharmaceuticals.

Miller:The new opportunities in the RFID market will come from new usage models made possible by decreased cost. As each new cost barrier is broken, huge new markets will open to the tune of billions of units. However, there has been some backlash from consumer and privacy groups concerned about the impact of pervasive use of these tags. A company managing to solve the privacy issues surrounding RFID without raising the unit costs may have a unique opportunity to take over the market.

RFDL: What do you wish every RF engineer knew about this topic?
Humes: RF performance in CMOS technologies has enable newer, more cost effective RFID IC designs. Not only has UHF performance been demonstrated in logic CMOSprocesses, new applications and markets continue to emerge. Hall: RFID tag-reader systems are subject to the inherent challenges of understanding how read range is affected by (1) RF characteristics of the deployment material, and (2) variation in signal propagation from one environment to the next. As a result, engineers would benefit from a better understanding of how to (1) conduct automated read-range measurements, and (2) perform an adequate site survey.

Morgenroth:We continue to see a persistent issue in reaching the target levels set by customers/end users to use RFID. Here, RF engineers have a significant role to play: to optimize RFID solutions to the application and needs of the customer and end users, so that projects with RFID continue from the trial phase to full deployment.

Miller:On relatively simple circuits like RFID tags, designers don’t really need all the power provided by buying the most expensive EDA tools on the market. Our customers in the RFID space have demonstrated that designs can be completed just as well with lower end tools at a much lower total cost.

McCarthy: The big challenges in RFID are optimizing performance, interoperability, integrating RFID into devices along with other technologies (i.e. Cellular, WLAN, Bluetooth, Zigbee, etc.) and fielding the technology in the presence of interference. The Real-time Spectrum Analyzers are the most widely used in the design, development, and interoperability of RFID standards. The latest RFID application information and webinars from Tektronix are available on-line at www.tektronix.com/rfid.