Understanding the Standards
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Open Loop System for Mandate Standards, Protocols and Regulations
Many retailers, businesses and organisations are actively adopting the specifications and standards developed by EPCglobal and other governing bodies indigenous to geographic locations. To understand standards, protocols and regulations, EPCglobal suggests a system model that:
- Defines data structures for producing unique ID numbers
- Defines the technical specifications for reader to tag interfaces and tag/reader performance characteristics
- Assigns every tag a unique ID number
- Applies a code with a serial number that can be used to distinguish an individual item irrespective of its duplication in a particular manufacturing process (e.g. a can of soda within a six pack can be uniquely identified)
- Provides a unique identifier for databases holding specific product information
- Uses specifications unique to each operating frequency, tag performance (class), and communication protocol
The world’s largest retailers and government agencies are specifying that their suppliers use the UHF (Ultra High Frequency) band (860-930 MHz) versions of EPC Class 0, Class 1 and/or Class 1 Generation 2 tags on every box, case and pallet.
The characteristics of these tags differ in read and write capabilities, range and consumer costs. Adherence to standards will be a requirement for companies seeking mandate compliance. However, companies deploying “closed-loop” applications or seeking proprietary performance upgrades may choose to deploy solutions currently outside recognised EPCglobal standards such as ISO18000 protocols, other frequencies, and Surface Acoustic Wave (SAW) technology.
Surveying the Shifting Landscape – C0, C1, C1G2 and ISO Standards
EPCglobal and the companies responsible for driving RFID mandates recognised the first generation comprised of Class 0 and Class 1 UHF technologies as viable and suitable RFID systems for case and pallet tagging for use in supply chain management (SCM) and asset tracking (AT) systems.
The desire to develop a more robust tag and reader architecture with enhanced features then spawned the creation of the Class 1 Generation 2 specification (C1G2). C1G2 tags incorporate the following elements that are designed to enhance RFID system security and performance over existing C1 and C0 standards:
- C1G2 has created a single specification for UHF systems – reigning in C1, C0 and ISO standards
- 16 bit pseudo random number handshake – an effort to utilise a one-time-pad security system
- 32 bit password – divided into two 16 bit portions
- 32 bit “kill code” – divided into two 16 bit portions – enables user to deactivate RFID tags
- Enhanced read speeds – 880 reads per second up from 230 in US systems, 450 reads per second up from 115 in European standards
- Powerful anti-collision properties or “Q” protocol – enables a dense reader environment and better tag performance in multiple tag use cases
- Extensibility to higher function tags and systems – up to 512 bit item ID up from 96 bits
- Extensions into unlimited user memory, in anticipation of Class 2 and Class 3 systems
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