RFID advances bring fundamental changes to security and personal safety

By Toni McConnel, Contributing Editor
iApplianceWeb
(06/04/03, 08:10:35 PM EDT)

Radio frequency identification (RFID) systems have been around for quitea while, but the number of viable applications have been limited by systemcosts and lack of standards as well as by limitations of the technology. Until recently RFID has been practical mainly in closed-system manufacturing environments, for livestock identification, access control, and theft protection of high-ticket items.  (For more on the basics of RFID, go to RFID 101).

Over the last couple of years technological advances have resulted higher frequencies and longer transmission ranges at lower cost, and miniaturization has made it practical to use RFID in locations where it simply wouldn't fit before.

Collectively, these advances are opening up possibilities that will change the way we do business as fundamentally as credit cards did, increase personal safety exponentially, and provide a level of security against theft and fraud for which there is no historical comparison unless we go all the way back to the lock and key. (See Sidebar on RFID Privacy Issues).

For example, Hitachi recently began marketing an RFID IC that is only slightly bigger than the period at the end of this sentence - or more precisely,  16 square mm.  The 2.45-GHz 'mu-chip' stores information such as identification and security code in 128 bits of read-only memory (ROM).  Its RF wireless circuitry allows it to transmit to a reader over a distance of about 25 cm via a tiny metal antenna.  (see Block Diagram  Below).

Hitachi claims that the mu-chip can be coded with trillions of trillions of individual ID codes without duplication, so implanting RFID in all the bills printed is not unrealistic.

The implications of this technology are enormous. Counterfeiting today is a huge 'industry', but once the cost of paper-implantable RFID tags drops to 5 cents or less (and it will), it will be practical to put them not only in paper money, but in drivers' licenses, passports, stock certificates, manuscripts, university diplomas, medical degrees and licenses, birth certificates, and any other sort of document you can think of where authenticity is paramount.

If that's all that could be accomplished with the emerging RFID technologies, we would have sufficient cause to celebrate, but that's only the beginning.  All RFID tags and labels operate on the same principle -- they store information that can be transmitted to a reader, and in some cases they can receive and store information as well.  But they come in a wide range of form factors, sizes, power strategies, transmission ranges, cost, and capabilities.  It's this diversity of design options that will eventually make them ubiquitous anywhere there is something -- or someone -- that needs to be identified. 

"Chipped" people may be next

One of the most exciting of the emerging applications is implantable RFID chips for the human body that can carry not only personal identification, but information about medical conditions and anything else the 'chipped' individual cares to have included.  Everything else seems to have a microchip in it these days, why not people? 
 
The VeriChip from Applied Digital Solutions, Inc., is similar to the RFID chips implanted in pets, but the VeriChip is designed for humans.  It includes a 125-kHz RFID chip, an electromagnetic coil for transmitting data, and a tuning capacitor, all in a silicone-and-glass enclosure that measures a mere 11.1 x 2.1 mm (see Photo to left).  Having it implanted requires only a local anesthetic and a very small incision; the procedure can be done in an outpatient setting.  Volunteers who have already had the chip implanted say the procedure is painless, quick, and easy.

The data on the chip is retrieved through an external scanner within a range of four feet.  It works by allowing a small amount of radio frequency energy emitted by the scanner to pass through the skin and "energize" the VeriChip. The chip then emits a 125-kilohertz radio frequency signal that transmits the encoded information for display on the scanner. 

The device is being touted principally for allowing medics to extract vital medical information from people who may be unconscious either from a disease-caused crisis or an accident.  Being able to get this information instantly from a person who may be unable to communicate can be life-saving, such as in the case of a diabetic in insulin shock or a person who has had a heart attack who may be suffering from another disease, not obvious on initial examination, that requires immediate concurrent attention. The VeriChip is already available to consumers in Mexico and is only awaiting FDA approval to be marketed in the USA.

Applied Digital Solutions has also developed what may be the first-ever subdermal GPS "personal location device" (PLD). The dimensions of the initial PLD prototype are 2.5 inches in diameter by 0.5 inches in depth, roughly the size of a pacemaker, but the company expects to shrink the size to at least one-half and perhaps as little as one-tenth of its current size. 

Like a pacemaker, it will not need an external power source in order to operate.  When perfected, such chips may be implanted in children and Alzheimer's patients so they can be located when they are lost.  Where this technology will have its most precious application is in the location of abducted children.

The day is not far off when a variety of devices carried or implanted in individuals will interact wirelessly.  It is not hard to imagine a medical device that monitors blood sugar connecting to a cell phone to call an ambulance when it detects that the user has gone into insulin shock.  A GPS unit in the device will tell the ambulance exactly where to find the person.  Similar devices may detect and report heart attacks and other critical medical emergencies.

RFID technology is impacting other areas of modern life just as dramatically.  Health care, retailing -- especially the way we pay for things, security, and supply chain logistics are already being kicked into the future in ways that would boggle the mind of Jules Verne.  These changes will be the subject of the second article in this series.

Contributing editor Toni McConnel also writes the column Security Sentinel for iAppliance Web.  You can contact her at or visit her website at www.tonimcconnel.com.

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