scholarly journals RFID Technology for Management and Tracking: e-Health Applications

Sensors ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (8) ◽  
pp. 2663 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuri Álvarez López ◽  
Jacqueline Franssen ◽  
Guillermo Álvarez Narciandi ◽  
Janet Pagnozzi ◽  
Ignacio González-Pinto Arrillaga ◽  
...  

Radio frequency identification (RFID) has become a key technology in the logistics and management industry, thanks to distinctive features such as the low cost of RFID tags, and the easiness of the RFID tags’ deployment and integration within the items to be tracked. In consequence, RFID plays a fundamental role in the so-called digital factory or 4.0 Industry, aiming to increase the level of automatization of industrial processes. In addition, RFID has also been found to be of great help in improving the tracking of patients, medicines, and medical assets in hospitals, where the digitalization of these operations improves their efficiency and safety. This contribution reviews the state-of-the-art of RFID for e-Health applications, describing the contributions to improve medical services and discussing the limitations. In particular, it has been found that a lot of effort has been put into software development, but in most of the cases a detailed study of the physical layer (that is, the characterization of the RFID signals within the area where the system is deployed) is not properly conducted. This contribution describes a basic RFID system for tracking and managing assets in hospitals, aiming to provide additional details about implementation aspects that must be considered to ensure proper functionality of the system. Although the scope of the RFID system described in this contribution is restricted to a small area of the hospital, the architecture is fully scalable to cover the needs of the different medical services in the hospital. Ultra high-frequency (UHF) RFID technology is selected over the most extended near-field communication (NFC) and high-frequency (HF) RFID technology to minimize hardware infrastructure. In particular, UHF RFID also makes the coverage/reading area conformation easier by using different kinds of antennas. Information is stored in a database, which is accessed from end-user mobile devices (tablets, smartphones) where the position and status of the assets to be tracked are displayed.

2021 ◽  
Vol 44 (1) ◽  
pp. 40-52
Author(s):  
Tracy Aleong ◽  
Kit Fai Pun

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology transmits data wirelessly and falls under the broad classification of Automatic Identification and Data Capture (AIDC). The advances in RFID technology continue to be accepted worldwide for various tracking and monitoring type applications. This paper reviews the principle of RFID system operation using an extensive search of relevant articles from technology management and related journals, over the past two decades. It explores 1) the RFID tags operating in the ultra-high frequency (UHF) band, 2) analyses some of the major advancements of this technology in the field of sensor tagging solutions in the past two decades, and 3) discusses industry-based applications utilising UHF RFID sensor tagging solutions for process measurement data acquisition. The main challenges identified are privacy and security concerns on their applications in industry. The paper contributes to amalgamating a list of UHF RFID industry-based applications. It is expected that the findings from this review exercise would shed light on critical areas of the UHF RFID Technology.


2013 ◽  
Vol 371 ◽  
pp. 797-801 ◽  
Author(s):  
Octavian Ionescu ◽  
Gabriela Cristina Ionescu

The system presented in this article has been developed in order to solve several problems occurred during uploading raw materials in the storage tanks of a dry mix mortars plant and to keep an accurate material balance of raw materials introduced in the production process. The proposed approach was to implement a UHF, RFID (Ultra High Frequency, Radio Frequency Identification Device) system consisting of tags on the intake of the uploading pipes and outlets of the transportation trucks and a UHF, RFID Writer/Reader with four antennas in the proximity of uploading and to create an associate database for tracking the uploaded materials. The newly developed system has been successfully operationally tested in a dry mix mortar plant nearby Ploiesti.


2014 ◽  
Vol 697 ◽  
pp. 425-428
Author(s):  
Yan Zhong Yu ◽  
Yun Yan Wang ◽  
Yan Ru Chen

A miniaturized circularly polarized (CP) antenna for ultra-high frequency (UHF) radio-frequency identification (RFID) reader is designed in the present paper. For the aim of miniaturizing antenna, the square radiating patch is opened by four T-shape slots. This can extend the route of surface current, as a result the operating frequency drops and the size reduces. In additional two diagonal corners of the radiation patch are truncated by a square to achieve CP operation. The designed antenna is calculated and optimized by HFSS. The optimized antenna exhibits satisfied performances, and is therefore suitable for UHF RFID reader applications. The designed antenna shows the advantages of small size, simple structure, and low cost.


Author(s):  
Varun Bhogal ◽  
Zornitza Genova Prodanoff ◽  
Sanjay P. Ahuja ◽  
Kenneth Martin

RFID (radio frequency identification) technology has gained popularity in a number of applications. Decreased cost of hardware components along with wide adoption of international RFID standards have led to the rise of this technology. One of the major factors associated with the implementation of RFID infrastructure is the cost of tags. RFID tags operating in the low frequency spectrum are widely used because they are the least expensive, but have a small implementation range. This paper presents an analysis of RFID performance across low frequency (LF), high frequency (HF), and ultra-high frequency (UHF) environments. The authors' evaluation is theoretical, using a passive-tag BFSA based simulation model that assumes 10 to 1,500 tags per reader and is created with OPNET Modeler 17. Ceteris paribus, the authors' results indicate that total census delay is lowest for UHF tags, while network throughput performance of LF tags is highest for large scale implementations of hundreds of tags in reader's range. A statistical analysis has been conducted on the findings for the three different sets.


Author(s):  
Kassy M. Lum ◽  
Donnie Proffitt ◽  
Ann Whitney ◽  
Johné M. Parker

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) is a disruptive technology that uses radio waves to uniquely identify objects. As such, it has the potential to bring significant benefits to numerous government and private sector initiatives. However, significant technical challenges remain. A key area of study is in system performance: while the major hardware components in an RFID system (i.e., tags, readers and middleware) have been and continue to be studied extensively, there has been little research, comparatively, in characterizing RFID system performance. The research presented in this paper was inspired, in part, by a laser printer RFID solution; i.e., one in which the printer simultaneously prints and programs ultra-high frequency (UHF) tags embedded in print media. In this paper, we have conducted a detailed experimental investigation of the primary factors influencing the performance of RFID systems similar to the print solution. This study aims to provide a systematic experimental process for investigating key factors — e.g., the air gap between reader antenna and tag, in-plane orientation of the tag with respect to the reader antenna, and power level output of the reader — which affect the programmability of UHF RFID tags. Results provide a baseline evaluation of the functionality of RFID systems of similar designs and provide a basis for a detailed exploration of the primary factors which affect RFID UHF passive tag dynamic programming capabilities. By understanding which factors significantly affect the readability and programming of RFID tags, this research suggests optimal designs for system functionality and provides data needed in order to advance such designs. Additionally, a key obstacle for RFID implementation is tag selection. Effectively matching tags to applications requires numerous economic and technical considerations; these considerations generate different implementation constraints. This paper lays the foundation for a multi-objective optimization algorithm to help determine optimal tag selection for a given application, based upon tag performance and cost.


2017 ◽  
Vol 2017 ◽  
pp. 1-8 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Akbari ◽  
H. He ◽  
J. Juuti ◽  
M. M. Tentzeris ◽  
J. Virkki ◽  
...  

This paper introduces 3D direct writing and microdispensing of graphene ultrahigh frequency (UHF) radio-frequency-identification (RFID) antennas on textile, wood, and cardboard substrates, subsequently cured either by conventional oven or photonically by pulsed Xenon flashes. Photonic-cured passive UHF RFID graphene tags on cardboard, wood, and textile substrates achieve read ranges of 5.4, 4.6, and 4 meters, respectively. These results are superior to those achieved by the oven-cured tags that featured read ranges of 4.8, 4.5, and 3.6 meters, respectively. This work presents the first integration of 3D printing and photonic curing of graphene antennas on low-cost versatile substrates.


Sensors ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 882
Author(s):  
Peng Wang ◽  
Lihong Dong ◽  
Haidou Wang ◽  
Guolu Li ◽  
Yuelan Di ◽  
...  

The generation and propagation of cracks are critical factors that affect the performance and life of large structures. Therefore, in order to minimize maintenance costs and ensure personal safety, it is necessary to monitor key structures. The sensor based on ultra-high frequency radio frequency identification (UHF RFID) antenna has the advantages of passive wireless, low cost, and great potential in the field of metallic structure health monitoring. In this paper, aimed at the key parts of a metallic structure, a dual-tag system is used for crack monitoring. In conjunction with mode analysis, the principles of the sensing tag and the coupling principles of the dual-tag are analyzed. Considering that the dual-tag is placed in different methods, the effect of mutual coupling on the sensing performance of the tag is studied. The results show that the frequency of the sensing tag can be tuned by adding the interference tag, and the dual-tag sensor system has reasonable sensitivity. The results also provide potential guidance for the optimal placement of multiple tags in the near-field region.


Sensors ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (15) ◽  
pp. 5183
Author(s):  
Andrea Motroni ◽  
Alice Buffi ◽  
Paolo Nepa ◽  
Mario Pesi ◽  
Antonio Congi

The I-READ 4.0 project is aimed at developing an integrated and autonomous Cyber-Physical System for automatic management of very large warehouses with a high-stock rotation index. Thanks to a network of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) readers operating in the Ultra-High-Frequency (UHF) band, both fixed and mobile, it is possible to implement an efficient management of assets and forklifts operating in an indoor scenario. A key component to accomplish this goal is the UHF-RFID Smart Gate, which consists of a checkpoint infrastructure based on RFID technology to identify forklifts and their direction of transit. This paper presents the implementation of a UHF-RFID Smart Gate with a single reader antenna with asymmetrical deployment, thus allowing the correct action classification with reduced infrastructure complexity and cost. The action classification method exploits the signal phase backscattered by RFID tags placed on the forklifts. The performance and the method capabilities are demonstrated through an on-site demonstrator in a real warehouse.


Electronics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. 1310
Author(s):  
Yuan Yao ◽  
Qiuyue Ge ◽  
Junsheng Yu ◽  
Xiaodong Chen

This paper proposed a novel antenna for ultra-high frequency (UHF) radio frequency identification (RFID) near-field applications with uniform distribution of the electric field along the x-axis (Ex), and the y-axis (Ey). The proposed antenna adopted a spiral structure to achieve broadband and multi-polarization. The novel antenna achieved good impedance matching within 860–960 MHz. Using a ground plate, the proposed antenna achieved low far-field gain and a maximum gain of less than −11 dBi. The component of the excited electric field Ex and Ey parallel to the antenna surface was uniformly distributed, and there was no zero point. The proposed antenna achieved a 100% read rate of tags parallel to its surface in the reading area of 150 mm × 150 mm × 220 mm. Simulation results were consistent with the results of real-world measurements, and the proposed antenna was suitable as a reader antenna in near-field applications. The polarization mode of RFID tags is mostly linear polarization, and the placement of tags in practical applications is diversified. Compared with the traditional RFID reader antenna, the proposed antenna achieves uniform electric field distribution parallel to the antenna surface, but the single-direction electric field has zero-reading points, which is easy to cause the misread of tags. The RFID tags can be read more accurately. To verify the scalability of the reading area of the spiral antenna unit, it was used for array design, and simulations were conducted using 1 × 2, 2 × 2,1 × 4, and 2 × 4 arrays. The component distribution of the electric field excited by the four array antennas in the x and y directions was uniform and the reading area was controllable. Therefore, the proposed spiral antenna has the expandability of the reading area and can meet the needs of different application scenarios by changing the number of array units. With the array extension, the matching network also extends, and the impedance characteristics of the array antenna are somewhat different, but they also meet the application requirements.


Author(s):  
Jordan Frith

The phrase the Internet of things was originally coined in a 1999 presentation about attaching radio frequency identification (RFID) tags to individual objects. These tags would make the objects machine-readable, uniquely identifiable, and, most importantly, wirelessly communicative with infrastructure. This chapter evaluates RFID as a piece of mobile communicative infrastructure, and it examines two emerging forms: near-field communication (NFC) and Bluetooth low-energy beacons. The chapter shows how NFC and Bluetooth low-energy beacons may soon move some types of RFID to smartphones, in this way evolving the use of RFID in payment and transportation and enabling new practices of post-purchasing behaviors.


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