A Dog’s Tale on RFID Standards
Standards development is powering ahead and fueling RFID.
June 2006 by Ken Reich, Director, Global Marketing & PR, TAGSYS and Alastair McArthur, CTO, TAGSYSTAGSYS is a global leader in item-level RFID infrastructure, providing RFID systems and tags for end-to-end item-level tracking that automates labor-inte
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By definition, “standards” is “fulfilling specific requirements as established by an authority, law, rule, custom, etc.; a guiding principle.” However, I can state without equivocation that sometimes the pursuit of standards can literally go to the dogs. When discussing this matter with TAGSYS’ Chief Technology Officer, Alastair McArthur, he instantly recalled his experience with his children’s pet bulldog, Oscar. It seems Oscar has had an encounter of the closest kind with RFID.
As an unsuspecting pup, the French bulldog was injected with an RFID tag. The use of RFID for the identification of companion animals, referred to as micro-chipping, is a very mature application whereby small glass encapsulated tags are implanted as sub-dermal tracking/identification devices containing preprogrammed memory encoding. This technique offers a means for enabling accurate identification of the animal.
The saga of Oscar’s RFID tag, which later included four RFID tags, actually began in Australia where he was whelped. When the the first tag was inserted, all assurances were given that it was compliant to Australian standards. Later, when McArthtur and his family (including Oscar) relocated to Europe with his RFID Company, TAGSYS, he was informed that a second transponder was required in order to be compliant with the European Union “Pet Passport Program” mandate. The saga continued when the local French vet was unable to read either of these tags and a third tag, governed by the French standard, was implanted.
Clearly, standards are more complex than their name suggests. Just because something is referred to as a “standard” doesn’t necessarily confer interoperability. Often manufacturers design their own proprietary functions into what will be sold as a standard-compliant product and, as a consequence, compatibility with other manufacturers’ products is not guaranteed. In Oscar’s case, while the tags were all different, they did have one thing in common: They were all indeed “standard” tags. But, standard where? And by which set of standards?
Alphabet soup
The micro-chipping of pets and other companion animals is an example of one RFID application which is struggling to implement a globally recognized standard. With the emerging international opportunity of applying RFID to the tracking and tracing of cases and pallets (Logistic Supply Chain applications), and even more critically, tracking products at item level where billions of tags will eventually be deployed, it is clear that standards do require careful scrutiny and meticulous attention.
As an unsuspecting pup, the French bulldog was injected with an RFID tag. The use of RFID for the identification of companion animals, referred to as micro-chipping, is a very mature application whereby small glass encapsulated tags are implanted as sub-dermal tracking/identification devices containing preprogrammed memory encoding. This technique offers a means for enabling accurate identification of the animal.
The saga of Oscar’s RFID tag, which later included four RFID tags, actually began in Australia where he was whelped. When the the first tag was inserted, all assurances were given that it was compliant to Australian standards. Later, when McArthtur and his family (including Oscar) relocated to Europe with his RFID Company, TAGSYS, he was informed that a second transponder was required in order to be compliant with the European Union “Pet Passport Program” mandate. The saga continued when the local French vet was unable to read either of these tags and a third tag, governed by the French standard, was implanted.
Clearly, standards are more complex than their name suggests. Just because something is referred to as a “standard” doesn’t necessarily confer interoperability. Often manufacturers design their own proprietary functions into what will be sold as a standard-compliant product and, as a consequence, compatibility with other manufacturers’ products is not guaranteed. In Oscar’s case, while the tags were all different, they did have one thing in common: They were all indeed “standard” tags. But, standard where? And by which set of standards?
Alphabet soup
The micro-chipping of pets and other companion animals is an example of one RFID application which is struggling to implement a globally recognized standard. With the emerging international opportunity of applying RFID to the tracking and tracing of cases and pallets (Logistic Supply Chain applications), and even more critically, tracking products at item level where billions of tags will eventually be deployed, it is clear that standards do require careful scrutiny and meticulous attention.
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