First Asian Himalayas International Conference on Internet AH-ICI2009 Hyatt Regency Kathmandu, KATHMUNDU, NEPAL 3- 5th of November, 2009
Recent Trends in RFID and a Java based Software Framework for its Integration in Mobile Phones Rohit Pathak╫, Satyadhar Joshi┼ ╫ ┼
Acropolis Institute of Technology & Research, Indore, M.P., India Shri Vaishnav Institute of Technology & Science, Indore, M.P., India
[email protected],
[email protected]
Abstract-Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) is generic term for technologies employing radio waves for detecting objects. We describe our approach with recent methodologies in RFID systems sighting its commercial ventures as it is the most researched and rapidly emerging technologies. RFID has wide application in payment systems, access control and asset tracking as the companies are using the technology’s potential in manufacturing and other areas. A proposed software framework for RFID integrated mobile phones with considerable changes in the system has been explained in the paper. Installation of the operating system with a driver to run RFID reader and involvement of Java Platform ME package for support in programming for RFID reader .A system service will continuously watch over the RFID hardware for events. Standalone application made in Java can use and control the reader. Exemplary future applications and systems based on RFID and other technologies integrated with RFID mobile phones are proposed in this paper. We have discussed about applications, problems being faced by such RFID systems & their limitations in other fields in the current era. The commercial scope in the field of RFID manufacturing and research has been discussed with its integration with current technologies. Some hardware and software limitations that restrict its feasibility in some fields like Mobile Phone based RFID technologies are discussed with some future enhancements in this area. Keywords-Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), Wireless Sensor Network (WSN), Electronic Product Code (EPC), Java Platform ME
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I.
INTRODUCTION
FID is a major component of Pervasive computing and is considered “a key to automating everything” [26]. Nowadays, RFID and Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) are used widely in pervasive computing environment [2]. RFID finds its use in areas including asset tracking, real time supply chain management and telemetry based remote monitoring [4]. It was used in World War II by army planes to distinguish enemy planes from allied planes through the use of radar [23]. RFID and similar technologies will play a vital role in future with large wireless networks for communication and small wireless networks between different kinds of entities [5].RFID relies on storing and remotely retrieving information or data as it consists of RFID tag, RFID reader and back-end database [6, 7]. RFID tags are used to store ID information of any object and are used to communicate tags to remotely retrieve their ID. The technology is dependent on communication between RFID tags and RFID readers. The range of the reader is dependent upon its operational
frequency [8]. RFID tag is a small device consisting of an integrated circuit and an antenna [9]. Tags can be incorporated into any device, object or living being for tracking and identification. The integrated circuit is used for modulating/demodulating radio frequency, processing information and other purposes. The microchip can be as small as 0.4 mm2, comparable to a grain of sand [10]. The antenna is used for receiving and transmitting radio signals. The data stored in a tag may vary from 32 Bytes to 1 Megabyte depending upon the type and design of tag [11]. RFID technology will be the performance differentiator for a variety of commercial products. Its power has been realized but its capabilities are yet to be utilized completely. In business, reader reads the tag then sends the information, identification and location of the object to a computer. Now with this information further business processes are initiated [13]. There has been an outbreak in many areas of research with RFID such as environment management [14], project management [15], e-commerce [16], information systems [1718], innovation management [19], supply chain management and warehousing [20-21]. With the help of a well organized inventory system RFID systems can help in preventing theft, shop lifting, error and fraud losses, which amounts to nearly $31 billion USD in US [22]. The transformation of retail industry has been witnessed as “Retailing in the 21st century will no doubt be very different from retailing in the 20th century, just as retailing in the 20th century was very different from retailing in the 19th century” [23], and currently RFID tag market has its largest share in retail industry [24]. The main device in use is EPC (Electronic Product Code) and standards for these devices is overseen by EPCglobal Inc. which is a joint venture of EAN and UCC, the bodies which controls the regulation of Barcodes in US and rest of the world [25]. In large quantities, EPC tags may even cost cheaper than 13 US cents [26] and is expected to drop to as low as 5 US cents in a few years [27]. IBMTM and InfosysTM are in RFID manufacturing and services for commercial market requirements and also develop software for the same [2], such as IBMTM Websphere and SUN EPC network provided by Sun MicrosystemsTM. II.
FRAMEWORK
A. Hardware Changes RFID tag
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First Asian Himalayas International Conference on Internet AH-ICI2009 Hyatt Regency Kathmandu, KATHMUNDU, NEPAL 3- 5th of November, 2009
RFID tag is a small device consisting of an integrated circuit and an antenna incorporated into any object or living being for tracking and identification by storing ID information or data. Implantable RFID tags are specially designed tags which can be implanted into human body by inserting into hand or behind the neck or any other suitable organ of body. The tag carries identity of person in a unique form of an ID carrying encrypted information of the person. RFID reader integrated mobile phones Mobile phone will be integrated with RFID reader and powered by mobile phone’s battery. Its functioning is managed by the combined effort of its device driver, operating system and its software installed on the mobile phone. RFID tags can be read through these mobile phones and information can also be send to the mobile phone service provider for many types of transactions. Mobile phone acts as a mediator between Mobile NSP and RFID tag. This functionality can provide many services like banking, billing, purchasing, electronic payment etc. We propose that the mobile phone should support multiple RFID communication protocol allowing it to read multiple kinds of tags. RFID reader modules can also be attached to PDA’s which can provide the capability to read RFID tags. Some modules such as syscan can be attached into the slot of PDA and used. In our proposal mobile phone will initiate communication to any service provider through its network service provider. This communication can also be done using Internet facility provided by the NSP. The mobile will read and send information of RFID tag to network service provider for further processing of transaction. B. Proposed Software Framework Mobile phone Operating System Operating system is capable of handling RFID reader installed on the mobile phone. Any software requiring reader device’s services has to request operating system through system calls, and cannot use the device directly. The operating system in turn uses reader device driver to interact with hardware. The operating system has system calls which allow software to use RFID reader. Our proposed software framework is shown in Fig. 1. The operating system also runs a low level service which looks after the device's functioning when its idle. Some of the mobile phone operating systems such as Symbian OS in Nokia phones, MAC in iPhone, Windows, Real Time LINUX and many other OS provide functionality to add device driver to use additional hardware.
Fig. 1. Proposed RFID Software Framework.
System Calls We propose that some system calls should be added in the operating system. These system calls will allow programs to communicate with the operating system for using RFID reader hardware as shown in Fig. 2. Software and user processes have no direct access to the RFID reader device. System calls act as a layer between operating system and software. As kernel has full control over the hardware, processes have to request hardware services from the kernel. System calls provide an interface between the kernel and process as shown in Fig. 2.
Fig. 2. Role of System Calls.
Driver Operating system has a RFID Reader device driver which allows it to control and interact with underlying RFID reader hardware as shown in Fig. 3. The kernel of the OS communicates with the reader device using the device driver. This device driver has a set of low level machine instructions which are specific to a device. These set of instructions helps the kernel in controlling the device. The driver is specific to a hardware model and is strictly dependent on it. The driver would be provided by the device manufacturer.
First Asian Himalayas International Conference on Internet AH-ICI2009 Hyatt Regency Kathmandu, KATHMUNDU, NEPAL 3- 5th of November, 2009 consists of a set of classes and functions which allows easy interface with the RFID hardware for its usage and management. The communication of Java application is depicted in Fig. 5.
Fig. 3. Role of Device Driver.
Service The operating system runs a service which overlooks the device’s functioning such as power management and is a process that runs for a long time continuously monitoring the hardware and keeping a watch for events. The service can be configured to work in desired manner. It can be configured to auto search for tags. The service should manage hardware efficiently. RFID communication protocols RFID protocols will be included in the OS as shown in Fig. 4, which will allow communication between RFID reader and tags. The operating system also allows adding Network Protocol Plug-ins. This will allow adding new protocols when needed.
Fig. 5. Java Application & OS communication.
Standalone Application A standalone application is application software which will allow the user to use the RFID reader hardware and can be used to manage and configure the functioning of RFID reader hardware on the mobile phone. The software can be used to read and store RFID tag information or data .The software is to be made on Java platform using Java ME (Micro Edition) as Java applications are platform and OS independent.
Fig. 6. Proposed additions to Java Platform package Fig. 4. OS Networking Services.
Java Package Java ME consists of a number of packages which adds specific device oriented functionality and numerous others can be added for more functionality in JRE. An RFID reader package for Java ME should be made which is an interface between Java and RFID reader hardware and this reader package provides the Java Platform with a set of instructions and functions to communicate with kernel using system calls for using the RFID reader hardware. It consists of an OOP class library for RFID reader which provides an API for making applications which use RFID reader device. The library
The applications run in a virtual machine which is created by the Java Runtime Environment (JRE) and JRE is required to run Java applications and it’s usually supplied by the manufacturer of the mobile phone. Java applications once compiled can be executed on any hardware device or OS having a JRE installed on it. The architecture of Java Platform ME is shown in Fig. 6. C. Execution Informal Description RFID reader integrated mobile phones will be able to read tags and this functionality will prove very useful in many kinds of transactions. To perform a transaction using a RFID reader integrated mobile phone several software layers will
First Asian Himalayas International Conference on Internet AH-ICI2009 Hyatt Regency Kathmandu, KATHMUNDU, NEPAL 3- 5th of November, 2009
communicate and work together. The transaction can be any type such as banking transaction, billing, payment, purchasing, etc. The transaction includes following. RFID integrated mobile phone – The mobile phone which is being used to initiate the transaction process. It has an Operating System (OS) with RFID reader driver installed which is capable of using the device. A Standalone Application (SAA) which is used for transaction. Network Service Provider (NSP) – The mobile phones network provider. RFID tag – The tag which is involved in transaction and data on the tag is encrypted by the vendor of the tag and its key is stored in the company's database. Can be a RFID integrated credit card, Authentication card, any ID card etc. Third party (TP) – The company or service provider with whom the transaction is being processed. TP can be bank, epurchasing company, hotel, shop etc. Phase I- We assume that the proposed software framework is deployed on the RFID reader integrated mobile phone which has to read a RFID tag. The SAA will generate a private key SAPRI and corresponding public key SAPUB. SA will then request the OS for network access. It will then send a request to the NSP for communication with third party. The NSP will forward request to TP. SA will then send its public key SAPUB to the TP which is used by it for further communications. TP will generate a pair of public and private keys TPPUB, TPPRI respectively and send the public key TPPUB to SA to initiate the transaction process. In the transaction process TP will request for RFID authentication. Phase II- The application will then request the OS for using the RFID reader hardware and will send the key SAPUB to OS. The application runs in a virtual machine under the JRE, thus in reality Java communicates with the OS for the operations requested by the application. The OS generates a public key OSPUB and corresponding private key OSPRI. OS sends OSPUB to SAA and then uses the device driver to communicate with the RFID reader hardware. OS sends the key OSPUB to the RFID tag which then generates its public key TPUB and corresponding private TPRI. The tag sends key TPUB to the Mobile phone's OS. The OS will then use the public key TPUB to encrypt further communication requesting the tag to send it’s ID. The tag sends OSPUB(data) to OS and OS uses key OSPRI to obtain data from OSPUB(data). OS then sends SAPUB(data) to the software which requests to read the tag. SA obtains data from SAPUB(data) by using key SAPRI. If the user wants SA can store this information for future use. Phase III- SA uses the key TPPUB on data to obtain TPPUB(data) and sends it to TP and TP uses key TPPRI on TPPUB(data) to obtain data. TP checks for a key EPRI corresponding to the tag, which is used to decrypt data received. The decrypted data is checked for validity and authenticity. If the data is valid further process is initiated else if data is invalid then the transaction is dropped. In case of valid data TP then requests SA for a PIN code which exists
corresponding to every ID. SA forwards request to the user and user enters the PIN. The PIN is encrypted using TPPUB to obtain TPPUB(PIN). This is sent to TP which uses key TPPRI on TPPUB(PIN) to obtain PIN. TP checks for authenticity of the information provided by the transaction user. If the information and data provided by the user is correct the transaction proceeds in the third party company or service provider. D. Overview This software framework can be used for a variety of purposes as tags can be read and the information can be saved in the mobile phone memory for future use. Companies can offer services which require RFID authentication and RFID tags will be supplied with a PIN code which is to further increase security of the system. Standalone application will request OS for network access and initiate communication with the third party with the help of NSP. The TP will request for RFID authentication and SAA will request OS to read RFID tag using device driver's help. This information is given to SAA. SAA then sends the information to TP which has a data base of keys corresponding to RFID tags. This data base is used to obtain a key for decrypting the information received from SAA and if the information is valid TP requests the SAA for PIN code verification. User enters the PIN and SAA sends it to TP which has a database of PINs corresponding to RFID tags. This PIN is verified and if it is correct, the transaction process is continued. III.
CONCLUSION AND DISCUSSION
Integration of RFID technology into mobile phones can bring about a revolution. The major challenge in current era is cost of RFID readers. RFID readers are very costly, nearly thousands of US dollars per reader [28]. The cost of integrating such devices would be even greater. As research and development in RFID reader technology progresses, new innovative manufacturing techniques will emerge over time. The size of mobile phones is small and with integration of RFID reader its size would be considerably increased. Battery of mobile phones also remains a big issue. RFID readers will consume the battery of mobile phones quickly. Low consumption and highly efficient RFID reader devices will be needed if they are to run on a mobile battery backup, and that too with the battery shared with mobile. In future when Nanotechnology becomes more mature, nano-batteries would be used which would be smaller and more efficient. Previously we have worked in reliability analysis of Nanotechnology and MEMS devices. We are currently working on design and implementation of integration of RFID reader into mobile phones. Other areas to work on the middleware software and protocol design for such a system. Working on designs which would use MEMS and Nanotechnology to make these devices smaller and more power efficient is an important area. Even if nano-batteries can be successfully integrated in such a design, their cost would be a major issue.
First Asian Himalayas International Conference on Internet AH-ICI2009 Hyatt Regency Kathmandu, KATHMUNDU, NEPAL 3- 5th of November, 2009
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