A multi-frequency RFID reader for cloud-based traceability prototype ...

A multi-frequency RFID reader for Cloud-based traceability Prototype Karima Bournine, Fouad Amine Guenane, Guy Pujolle Sorbonne Université, UPMC Univ Paris 06, UMR 7606, LIP6, F-75005, Paris, France Email: {karima.bournine, fouad.guenane, guy.pujolle}@lip6.fr Abstract—RFID (Radio Frequency IDentification) is a radio frequency technology that can capture, store and manage all the necessary information related to the product attached to an RFID tag. The RFID systems ensure traceability of an object throughout all the stages of the production process. This document relates to the presentation of an RFID reader prototype for reading and writing data on RFID tags at multiple frequencies (HF/UHF). Keywords—RFID, multi-frequency HF/UHF, RFID reader, traceability, tracking, Automatic Identification technology , Internet of Things.

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the concept of the Internet of Things. In this paper, we present a prototype of an HF/UHF multi-band RFID reader which is an important element in our system of traceability. The proposed multi-band RFID reader has been designed to support both for EPCgloabal Class1 Generation 2 protocol of the UHF band, and 13.56 MHz RFID protocols of ISO14443 A/B type, and ISO15693 standards. The paper is organized as follows: first, we introduce an overview of related works, then, we present the proposed Cloud-based RFID architecture followed by the proposed circuit diagram and the used components.

I NTRODUCTION

Nowadays, traceability is a key element in the competitive economic environment. The enabling technologies for traceability are Automatic Identification Technologies (AITs) such as RFID. In recent years, the application of RFID technology has been considerable interest among scientists and managers faced with the problems of optimized production processes in many industries. Many manufacturers such as Wal-Mart, Tesco, Marks & Spencer and other retailers have already started to use RFID successfully [1]–[3]. RFID is actually one of the most promising AITs technologies because it has several advantages compared to the other technologies such as barcode: (1) does not require an optical line of sight; (2) can work over longer distances; (3) stores a large amount of information; (4) identifies several objects simultaneously; (5) requires less human intervention in the identification process; (6) offers the rewriting and (7) a higher level of security [4][5]. Hence, many in the industry have already adopted this technology and see it as "the new generation of barcode" [6]. A basic RFID system consists of three components, (1) an antenna, (2) a transceiver With a decoder (reader), and (3) a transponder or an RF tag located on the object to be identified. RFID tags are classified by its energy source: active, semi-active, and passive. An active tag uses its own battery power to perform all operations. A semi-active tag uses its own battery power for some functions, but uses the radio waves of the reader as an energy source for its own transmission. A passive tag has no battery of its own and makes use of the incoming radio waves broadcast by a reader to power its response. In operation, the antenna emits electromagnetic radio signals generated by the transceiver to activate the tag. When the tag is activated, data can be read from or Written to the tag. For a detailed description of RFID systems, the reader is referred to Finkenzeller handbook [3]. Our project aims to build a traceability system that combines RFID and cloud technology. This architecture is based on c 2015 IEEE 978-1-4673-7707-2/15/$31.00

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L ETRATURE REVIEW

Recent work has suggested multi-frequency RFID systems with the ability to enjoy the benefits of two different frequencies. In [7], the basic idea is to design an HF and a UHF antennas separately and merge them to create a new one supporting both frequencies. The authors proposed to place the UHF antenna in the center of the HF one for a small multi-frequency antenna. For the rest of the components, several hardware and software configurations were performed to design a system compatible with the resulting multifrequency antenna. Article [10] suggested a multi-frequency HF/UHF reader implemented according to Package-in-Package technology. The reader’s components previously configured are built into a single package and the multi-frequency antenna in a different package. An ARM7 processor (32-bit) has been used to control this reader and manage the Input/Output. The multifrequency antenna is made of an HF planar circular antenna and a UHF dipole antenna. Thus, this reader is characterized by his small size and his minimize consumption of energy. The research in [8] proposed an UHF/SHF multi-frequency antenna based on a multilayer coupling: the SHF antenna is placed above the UHF antenna. A dual-band high-gain antenna for long-range RFID tag detection is presented in [9]. The proposed antenna has a novel U-shaped feeding structure and covers the bands of 2.45 and 5.8 GHz. The use of multi-band RFID systems were demonstrated in several applications and different bands. The aim of this paper is to develop a handheld RFID reader that combines both HF and UHF frequencies in the same package using a commercial component. 3.

RFID- BASED TRACEABILITY SYSTEM

The architecture of the traceability system proposed in this project was detailed in the paper [12]. This traceability system is designed to ensure secure end-to-end communication with

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Fig. 1. system

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Architectural block diagram of the Cloud-based RFID traceability SDA SCL

different levels of security and user rights. Our traceability model is composed of three parts as shown in Fig-1. 1)

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Cloud Infrastructure: This infrastructure allows us to store data to complete the information on the RFID tag. Thus, the identification, authentication of the operators and traceability of the objects are made through a protocol established between the Data Processing Block and the Cloud database. Data Processing Block: The block insures the exchanges between the Cloud infrastructure and the RFID reader. It contains several elements: a singleboard computer (SBC) platform (Beaglebone or Raspberry Pi), a controller (Laptop, Smartphone or Tablet) and a local database. The controller is an electronic device that can manage all other modules using a software application. RFID System: Our RFID system consists of tags and an RFID Hf/UHF dual-band reader, which is presented in this paper. Thus, to identify and authenticate the operator that performs operations on an object, we chose the HF RFID tags. UHF RFID tags are used to trace and track the object. All operations performed on the object are stored in the UHF RFID tag. 4.

M ATERIALS AND METHODS

Our RFID HF/UHF multi-frequency reader was developed using commercial component. So, we used the Arduino Due microcontroller board, The HF RFID board Adafruit PN532 and UHF RFID module HYM730. A. Microcontroller board The microcontroller was used in this application for frequency management and data transfer to the RFID tags. The prototyping platform Arduino Due is a microcontroller board based on the Atmel SAM3X8E ARM Cortex-M3 CPU (central processing unit). We selected it for this application for several reasons. The card has a powerful 32bit CPU running at 84MHz and 4 serial ports can support various transmission modes. In addition, it allows the use of multiple protocols and communication means such as SPI, UART, I2 C.

Fig. 2.

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Wiring diagram between microcontroller and HF/UHF RFID boards

Adafruit shield was designed with an antenna which provides 10 cm reading range. For communication protocols Adafruit PN532 is flexible and allows the use of the I2 C bus or SPI protocol. C. UHF reader module HYM730 is an UHF RFID reader module based on R500 chip, which complies with EPC C1G2 protocol and its working frequency is 840 to 960 MHz. The reading distance can reach 7 meters and allows the UART connection. This module is connected to a UHF 5dBi antenna. D. Prototype circuit Fig-2 shows the circuit diagram of our dual-frequency RFID reader. The RFID modules use two different communication protocols. The UHF RFID module and the microcontroller communicate by the UART (Universal Asynchronous Receiver Transmitter) transmission protocol. It uses a single data line for transmitting (Tx) and one for receiving (Rx) data. Most often 8-bit data are transferred, as follows: 1 start bit, 8 data bits and 1 stop bit. On the other hand, the HF module is connected via the I2 C (Inter-Integrated Circuit) bus to the Arduino DUE. I2 C is a synchronous protocol uses only 2 wires, one for the clock (SCL) and one for the data (SDA). That means that microcontroller and the HF board send data over the same wire. Fig-3 shows the photography of our multi-frequency RFID reader prototype. This reader sends and receives queries from the controller via Bluetooth. For the microprocessor programming, we used the Arduino IDE (integrated development environment) environment which uses a variation of the C and C++. E. Communication protocol

B. HF reader module We chose the Adafruit PN532 breakout board, the perfect tool for any 13.56 MHz RFID or NFC (Near Field Communication) application. The Adafruit shield uses the PN532 chipset which is very powerful, and can read and write to tags. The

The communication protocol is based on standard serial/TTL. Thus allowing the use of the same formalism across different media widely used in industry: Serial, USB and Bluetooth. To address the different Devices linked to our RFID reader, we chose communication via Bluetooth. The exchanges

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This project is still a work in progress. In this paper, we presented prototype a new RFID reader. This reader is capable of interacting with both HF and UHF tags. We presented the architecture of the multi-frequency reader and the different elements used in the construction of hardware prototype. The next step is to complete the protocol of communication between the reader and the controller. Ones the protocol is completed, a series of tests should be conducted on the proposed traceability architecture. 7.

UHF Module

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C ONCLUSION

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

This research work is realized within the context of GINTAO project which is supported by the FUI (Fonds Unique Interministeriel). The latter is a French program helping applied research to develop new products and services that may be placed on the market on the short or medium term. The GINTAO project aims to satisfy the need for traceability for the aeronautical sector bringing two laboratories (LIP6 and Telecom-ParisTech), three industrials (DICATO, PageUp and Maintag) and one association (CNRFID). R EFERENCES [1]

HF Antenna UHF Antenna

[2]

[3]

Fig. 3.

photography of the HF/UHF RFID reader prototype

[4]

[5]

are in the form of frames of N bytes. Each frame starts with the start character (0x02) and ends with the end character (0x03). [6]

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F REQUENCY MANAGEMENT

To enable reading and writing on the HF and UHF transponders without interference, the HF and UHF antennas management is performed by the firmware application implemented in the microcontroller which is executed in real time. So the reader must manage the HF and UHF frequencies in a way that does not allow reading/writing on the UHF tags if the user with the HF transponder is not yet authenticated. Initially, the microcontroller puts ON the HF antenna and OFF the UHF antenna. In this case, the RFID reader can only read the HF tags. Then, the reader waits for the user to presents his HF badge for authentication. While the user present his RFID HF badge, the reader reads the information contained in this transponder and transmits to the controller. After receiving the information from the dual-band RFID reader, the controller performs an authentication procedure with an electronic signature Cloud-based process. Finally the UHF antenna is turned ON and the operator gets access to all services offered by our traceability system.

[7]

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[10]

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