RFID in Education: Revolutionary or Evolutionary?
Overview of RFID Technology: "The Internet of Things"
A technology revolution has been taking place over the last several years yet few people are aware of it. As much as the Internet was a disruptive technology in the 1990s, the "Internet of Things" promises to be equally as disruptive, not only technologically, but socially as well.
 There are signs of the revolution everywhere. From embedded highway sensors that give real time traffic updates to web pages and cell phones to web and surveillance cameras, which provide real-time views of wide tracks of populated areas, there is an explosion of devices at the edge of the Internet. With the release of the Electronic Product Code Network (EPCglobal), a widely-accepted open technology infrastructure and set of standards developed by a global consortium of researchers and companies, including Sun Microsystems, the "Internet of Things" paradigm will finally start to permeate the global consciousness, just as its predecessor, the Universal Product Code (UPC), better known as the bar code, did beginning in the 1950s.
One of the most visible technologies emerging from this new paradigm is Radio Frequency Identification (RFID). RFID is a fast-growing technology that entails using tiny wireless transmitters to tag individual objects to uniquely identify them on the network. Allied Business Intelligence (ABI) estimates that sales of RFID tags (i.e. transponders) will grow from about 323 million in 2002 to about 1.62 billion in 2007. The primary process driving this explosive growth is supply chain management. ABI reports that use of RFID in supply chain applications is expected to grow from 1% of the top retailers and distributors in 2001 to 46% by 2007. Market expansion such as this has attracted many of the top system vendors such as Sun, IBM, Oracle and SAP.
Now that size (about the size of a pencil tip) and cost of an RFID chip are being driven down, many major retailers, including Wal-Mart, Marks & Spencer, and Tesco, and consumer products companies such as Gillette, Proctor & Gamble, and Michelin, have begun employing RFID technology in their supply chains, saving billions of dollars in operation efficiencies, in addition to gaining a wealth of information to be mined. Wal-Mart, in particular, mandated that in 2005, its top 100 suppliers have to ship their pallets and cases with RFID tags starting next year. It expects to save $8.4 billion per year when RFID is fully deployed throughout its supply chain and in the stores.
While RFID technology can be argued to be nothing more than an evolutionary upgrade on bar codes, it has the capability to be truly revolutionary, particularly for software developers. RFID is yet another example of Metcalfe's Law. Though the chip transmits nothing more than a unique number, when connected to a network like the Internet, its value multiplies. "In the future, everything of value will be on the network in one form of another," says John Fowler, Software CTO of Sun Microsystems. "And once they're on the network, we can aggregate data from those diverse devices, and then deliver that data to equally diverse devices — in informative and compelling ways."
Applications for RFID in Education
While most of the early attention has been on RFID's impact on supply chain management, the technology will also play important roles in education, health care and research. University libraries have been the first institutions on campus to implement RFID, for many of the same reasons that Wal-Mart has employed the technology — improved inventory tracking, faster checkout (employee or self serve), reduced theft and better information on which to make strategic decisions.
The University of Nevada libraries found more than 500 lost items after officials tagged 600,000 items in its collection, which saved the library $40,000 in replacement costs. The library does inventories more frequently now. At the University of Connecticut, RFID tags have allowed the library to set up self-checkout stations. That has freed up staff members for other tasks around the library.
The use of RFID for asset control and tracking will also be an important benefit to many institutions. Real-time identification and location of assets will be possible, instead of the current method of walking around and scanning bar codes, or worse yet, manually counting every chair, overhead projector and pencil. With tighter control of assets and inventories, educational institutions will be able to operate more efficiently at a lower cost.
As part of merchandiser's supply chains, the campus bookstore will also experience RFID. Many items, such as CDs, cosmetics, food and books will be accepted upon shipment arrival, inventoried, tracked, secured, and paid for, using RFID technology. Various types of sensors will be deployed across campus for safety, environmental, or information-related applications — all attached to the network through RFID and companion technologies. Even the campus vending machines will not be immune.
Applications for RFID in Hospitals
Other major uses of RFID technology will come in university hospitals where RFID systems can be utilized in such diverse applications as helping automate the supply chain, track blood supplies, match the right medication to the right patient, manage specimen collection and tracking, increase surgical site safety, and capture patient charges. Kansas State University is evaluating RFID technology as a possible solution for helping to eliminate the spread of livestock-borne diseases.
RFID tags embedded in patient wristbands are becoming more widespread in hospitals around the world. The benefits of ensuring positive patient identification to reduce medical errors are obvious. Information gleaned, particularly with active RFID tags, will move far beyond location to offer insight into how operations and workflow efficiencies can be improved.
One hospital has attached active tags to 25 staffers and 25 objects. Since the tags can be monitored constantly through the hospital's wireless network, administrators are able to instantaneously locate a physician or piece of equipment. RFID saved as much as $300,000 a year of equipment that was previously lost, stolen or accidentally destroyed. Doctors and nurses spend less time looking for each other and more time giving care to patients.
RFID in Singapore
Sun Microsystems is also active in Singapore's efforts to become the RFID center of Asia. Singapore was one of the earliest users of RFID technology in the world. In 1998 it implemented an automated toll-collection system to manage and control traffic in the city. RFID tags on books in the National Library automate the borrowing and returning of library books and speed up the process of sorting books and returning them to shelves.
As one of Asia's leading convention venues, Singapore has long used RFID technology to trace delegates at large conferences and conventions. More recently, Singapore became the first pilot port in Asia under the U.S. Container Security Initiative and is now implementing use of RFID seals for all containers bound for U.S. seaports. In addition, several local research institutions teamed up to develop solutions to use RFID for tracing SARS contacts in local hospitals.
Earlier this year, Sun announced the formation of an RFID testing and solutions center in Singapore in conjunction with APL Logistics, a supply-chain and logistics-management-services company, and container shipping company Neptune Orient Lines Ltd. As the first center of its kind in Southeast Asia, the facility will provide manufacturers with compliance testing services and help companies determine the best way to tag their products to ensure accurate reading.
The government of Singapore has also allocated resources for RFID training and education to develop a vibrant ecosystem. The two major state-run universities — National University of Singapore and Nanyang Technological University — are developing courses to provide electrical engineering graduates with specialized RFID knowledge. Both schools have strong ties with Sun Microsystems.
Also in Asia, in conjunction with Busan University, Sun will help Korea build RFID-enabled port facilities for the city of Busan. Larger than Sun's RFID Test Center in Dallas, the site in Korea will also encompass an outdoor area for testing RFID technology on shipping containers.
Challenges for RFID in Education
Implementation of RFID technology on campus still faces a number of challenges, both technological and social. Perhaps the biggest issue with current implementations in university libraries in one of privacy and security. RFID technology will enhance efforts to monitor individual usage patterns, perhaps setting off a security flag when a student checks out a chemistry book with bomb-making information within days of a book on radical fundamentalism. The Electronic Frontiers Foundation is concerned about potential abuses of RFID technology that it says could create an "architecture for a surveillance society."
And, as in the early days of wireless, there is concern that someone could use an unauthorized receiver to capture information from RFID tags as they pass by. Experts, however, dismiss this possibility as unlikely. Other concerns center around the trackability of tags after they have left the bookstore. To address this issue, Phillips is making customer-killable tags.
Having the right infrastructure in place to capture, transmit, process, store and analyze the information off the RFID tags will be a major challenge for some. Another consideration that IT administrators will have to face is the impact of RFID technology on existing applications, services, and infrastructure. Java will help greatly in both regards, providing a robust development environment and a tightly integrated middleware layer through the Java Enterprise System (Java ES) to provide interoperability between different types of systems supplying and utilizing the information.
As in the early stages of the development of any new technology, prices remain high for RFID components until anticipated volumes rise to drive costs down. There are different types of RFID tags, such as active, passive and
semi-passive. Active tags generally cost more and are embedded with
batteries, enabling them to transmit as much as 100 feet away from a
receiver. Passive tags, which are significantly lower in cost, do not
come with batteries. Semi-passive tags are a more recent development
that can bridge the advantages of both passive and active. Passive tags
use energy from the reader, when the two devices come within a certain
proximity, to transmit data. In orders of more than a million chips, the
cost of passive tags drop to under $.50 each. The price of an RFID
reader varies from $50 to more than $3,000, depending on its size and
the distance it has to cover — how far the reader can be from the tag
for data to be received.
While RFID enables faster and more automated ways to capture data, it
does have limitations when used on materials such as metal and liquid,
and in environments where there are other frequencies.
Sun Microsystems and RFID
Sun Microsystems has been involved in RFID and related technologies for many years — the "Internet of Things" that RFID enables is merely another expression of Sun's longtime tag line, "The Network is the Computer." All of Sun's solutions are built upon the solid core foundation of the Solaris operating system and Java Enterprise software.
In addition to RFID Industry Solution Architectures (ISAs) that meet unique requirements in various vertical markets such as education and healthcare, Sun offers four types of services:
- Consultancy services on RFID business cases and process re-engineering
- Integration services of RFID middleware with Management Information Systems
- Implementation services of RFID readers and tag devices
- Training services on RFID technology
Sun also offers Java software to simplify development and deployment of RFID applications and services. Java System RFID Software is standards-based and employs an architecture that uses Java and Jini technologies to manage and maintain RFID systems under demanding production environments. It is the critical RFID infrastructure that
integrates the edge of the network with business systems. It provides a self-healing and self-managing architecture and simplifies the integration of RFID data into enterprise information systems. It also reduces the complexity of managing the massive amount of data generated by RFID systems.
The Java RFID software contains two primary components. The RFID Event Manager communicates with EPC tag readers to process large amounts of EPC data coming into the system and also communicates with back-end systems. The RFID Information Server logs EPC data and events and stores and aggregates associated business data around a given EPC event. The RFID Information Server runs on top of the Java System Application Server, a key part of the Sun Java Enterprise System for rapid web services deployment.
RFID is beginning to be found in a number of campus and health care settings because of its improved work flow efficiency, cost savings, simplicity, and in the case of hospital wristbands, increased safety and security. RFID is going to result in huge amounts of data into the network, which will require powerful backend systems for storage, aggregation and analysis. Sun servers and storage, known for their scalability, reliability and availability, are ideal for these types of deployments.
Special RFID Offer for Education
Education and Research customers qualify for a 75% discount on the new Sun Java System RFID Software 2.0 Perpetual License. This is a one-time license for software only, per device. Includes the Sun Java System RFID Event Manager and the Sun Java System RFID Information Server software.
Click here for more information on this offer, contact education_news@sun.com or click here to have your local Sun representative contact you.
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