The School of Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering of the North-West University is conducting research about RFID (radio frequency identification) medium range reader systems for an international company, iPico. The focus area of the present research is the development of a robust tag detection algorithm for noisy environments. During the past three years a digital detection algorithm was developed. This digital detection algorithm delivered significant improvements in detection of RFIDs over its analogue counterpart, especially in noisy environments. However, the digital detection algorithm was found to be very sensitive with regard to data rate deviations. Although the latter algorithm improved the detection of RFIDs, ghost (absent) tags were now also detected. The objectives of this project are, to develop an enhanced detection algorithm which is less sensitive to frequency deviations and to eliminate the appearance of the so called ghost tags. The proposed enhanced algorithm will be implemented on a FPGA (field programmable gate array), more specific the Altera Cyclone EP1CT144C6 FPGA. / Thesis (M.Ing. (Computer and Electronical Engineering))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2009.

The School of Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering of the North-West University is conducting research about RFID (radio frequency identification) medium range reader systems for an international company, iPico. The focus area of the present research is the development of a robust tag detection algorithm for noisy environments. During the past three years a digital detection algorithm was developed. This digital detection algorithm delivered significant improvements in detection of RFIDs over its analogue counterpart, especially in noisy environments. However, the digital detection algorithm was found to be very sensitive with regard to data rate deviations. Although the latter algorithm improved the detection of RFIDs, ghost (absent) tags were now also detected. The objectives of this project are, to develop an enhanced detection algorithm which is less sensitive to frequency deviations and to eliminate the appearance of the so called ghost tags. The proposed enhanced algorithm will be implemented on a FPGA (field programmable gate array), more specific the Altera Cyclone EP1CT144C6 FPGA. / Thesis (M.Ing. (Computer and Electronical Engineering))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2009.

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) används i många områden idag. Det finns olika typer av sårbarhet och hot mot RFID-system där bland annat skimning av bankomatkort är ett hot. Skimning är bankomatkortsbedrägeri genom att stjäla känsliga kortuppgifter som senare kan användas i brottsligt syfte. På grund av hot för skimning, har olika RFID-skydd dykt upp på marknaden, så kallade skimningsskydd som är designade att placeras i plånboken för att skydda korten mot avläsning. I examensarbetet har olika skimningsskydd testats, där resultatet blev att de var skillnad mellan dem. Det dyrare skyddet skyddade flera kort samtidigt medan det billigare alternativet endast kunde skydda ett kort samtidigt. Efter resultatet var slutsatsen att skimningsskydden inte var tillräckligt effektiva för att skydda alla korten i en plånbok. För att ge bästa skydd bör placeras längst ut på varje sida i plånboken. Många telefoner har en inbyggd RFID-standard vid namn Near Field Communication (NFC), som gör det möjligt att scanna beröringsfria bankomatkort med inbyggd RFID-krets. I det här examensarbetet har olika beröringsfria kort lästs av med hjälp av en telefon med inbyggd NFC-teknik med härför avsedda applikationer. Både kortnummer och utgångsdatum gick att läsa av, dock inte CVC-koden. Slutsats efter detta experiment var att det är svårt att skimma en annan persons kort med hjälp av en telefon med inbyggd NFC-teknik. Telefonen måste vara i direktkontakt med kortet för att kunna läsas av, däremot kan en RFID-läsare med lång räckvidd skimma från längre avstånd. Två olika RFID-läsare har testats, där den ena läsaren hade en inbyggd antenn men till den andra läsaren har en extern antenn designats och kopplats in. Syftet var att mäta läsavståndet mellan tagg och RFID-läsare. Läsavståndet varierade på grund av antennens egenskaper.

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) is a technology that has been around for three decades now. It is being used in various scenarios in technologically modern societies around the world and becoming a crucial part of our daily life. But we often forget how the inner technology is designed to work, or even if it is as trustable and secure as we think. While the RFID technology and protocols involved with it has been designed with an acceptable level of security in mind, not all implementations and use cases are as secure as consumers believe. A majority of implementations and products that are deployed suffer from known and critical security issues.      This thesis work starts with an introduction to RFID standards and how the technology works. Followed by that a taxonomy of known attacks and threats affecting RFID is presented, which avoids going through too much of technical details but provides references for farther research and study for every part and attack. Then RFID security threats are reviewed from risk management point of view, linking introduced attacks to the security principle they affect. We also review (lack thereof) security standards and guidelines that can help mitigating introduced threats. Finally to demonstrate how practical and serious these threats are, three real-world case studies are presented, in which we break security of widely used RFID implementations. At the end we also review and highlight domains in RFID security that can be researched farther, and what materials we are currently missing, that can be used to raise awareness and increase security of RFID technology for consumers.      The goal of this thesis report is to familiarize readers with all of the publicly documented and known security issues of RFID technology, so that they can get a sense about the security state of their systems. Without getting involved with too much technical details about every attack vector, or going throw tens of different books and papers, readers can use this report as a comprehensive reference to educate themselves about all known attacks against RFID, published to the date of writing this report.

Die Technik der Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), die automatische Identifizierung und Lokalisierung von Gegenständen und Lebewesen mit Hilfe von elektromagnetischen Wellen, ist seit etwa zehn Jahren auch in Bibliotheken zunehmend verbreitet und wird besonders bei Bibliotheksneu- oder größeren Umbauten inzwischen fast ausnahmslos eingeführt. Ein RFID-System besteht aus einem Transponder, der sich am oder im Gegenstand oder Lebewesen befindet und diese kennzeichnet, sowie einem Lesegerät zum Auslesen der Transponder-Kennung. RFID-Chips sind seit einigen Jahren in allen deutschen Reisepässen enthalten, regeln vielerorts Zutritt und Zeiterfassung, bilden den Kern elektronischer Wegfahrsperren und werden vielfach für das Waren- und Bestandsmanagement eingesetzt, wie es auch in Bibliotheken täglich mit hohen Durchsätzen erforderlich ist. Mit Hilfe der RFID-Technik lassen sich Medien zuverlässig sichern, Buchungs- und Sicherungsvorgänge verbinden, Stapel verbuchen sowie weitgehend intuitiv benutzbare Ausleih- und Rückgabeautomaten betreiben.

I samband med den teknologiska utvecklingen har användningen av Radiofrekvensidentifiering (RFID) ökat. Tekniken kan ersätta bland annat betalkort och nycklar genom ett implantat i handen. Den här studien undersöker ifall det råder en skillnad i attityd till RFID-implantat mellan kvinnor och män och vilka faktorer som kan påverka inställningen. Urvalet bestod av 116 individer varav 53 kvinnor och 65 män mellan 20-72 år. Studien genomfördes med en kvantitativ metod genom en webbaserad enkät som bestod av instrumenten Affinity for Technology scale (AT), Global Attitude towards Technology Measure scale (GAT), Locus of Control scale (LoC), frågor om attityd till RFID och RFID-implantat samt öppna frågor. Resultatet visade på en icke signifikant könsskillnad i attityd till RFID-implantat. Trots att resultatet ej blev signifikant erhölls medelvärdesskillnader där männen var något mer positiva till RFID-implantat än kvinnorna. Däremot fanns signifikanta huvudeffekter av variablerna AT och LoC. De som skattade högt på AT och LoC hade en mer positiv attityd till RFID-implantat. / With the advancement of technology, the use of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) has increased. The technology is capable of replacing payment cards and keys through an implant in the hand. This study investigates whether there is a gender difference on the attitudes towards RFID-implants between women and men and what factors that can have an influence upon this attitude. The study participants consisted of 116 adults, of which there were 53 women and 65 men between the ages of 20 and 72. They were surveyed on the web using methods of instruments such as Affinity for Technology scale (AT), Global Attitude towards Technology Measure scale (GAT), Locus of Control scale (LoC) and questions regarding attitudes towards RFID and RFID implants, where there were open questions to answer. According to the results of the ANOVAN, there is no significant gender difference in attitudes towards RFID implants. However, it was found that men were slightly more positive about RFID implants than women, although the difference was not significant. In spite of this, the variables AT and LoC had an effect. Those who rated AT and LoC highly had a more positive attitude towards RFID implants.

Abstract: Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) and related technologies have been touted to allow exponential improvements in supply chain logistics and management. However, many industrial users have indicated that these technologies have not provided the anticipated benefits. The two complimentary strategies required to address the RFID reliability are: to improve the reliability of RFID technology and to design the supply chain infrastructure that enables RFID. The focus of this paper is on designing the supply chain infrastructure to enable RFID by developing guidelines for “RFID Ready Facilities”. These guidelines were developed based on a set of experiments conducted in the RFID supply chain laboratory. These guidelines were developed by using Design of Experiments (DOE) to determine the operational and facility factors that impact RFID reliability. The three different packaging strategies were tested on packages, boxes and their various combinations. The main factors considered in the experiments were the following among many others: Package Orientation (PO), Tag Placement (TP), Package Placement (PP), Reader Location (RL), Box Orientation (BO), Tag Placement on Box (TPB) and Tag Placement on Package (TPP). Based on the DOE results, general guidelines were developed for RFID packaging.

Die Technik der Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), die automatische Identifizierung und Lokalisierung von Gegenständen und Lebewesen mit Hilfe von elektromagnetischen Wellen, ist seit etwa zehn Jahren auch in Bibliotheken zunehmend verbreitet und wird besonders bei Bibliotheksneu- oder größeren Umbauten inzwischen fast ausnahmslos eingeführt. Ein RFID-System besteht aus einem Transponder, der sich am oder im Gegenstand oder Lebewesen befindet und diese kennzeichnet, sowie einem Lesegerät zum Auslesen der Transponder-Kennung. RFID-Chips sind seit einigen Jahren in allen deutschen Reisepässen enthalten, regeln vielerorts Zutritt und Zeiterfassung, bilden den Kern elektronischer Wegfahrsperren und werden vielfach für das Waren- und Bestandsmanagement eingesetzt, wie es auch in Bibliotheken täglich mit hohen Durchsätzen erforderlich ist. Mit Hilfe der RFID-Technik lassen sich Medien zuverlässig sichern, Buchungs- und Sicherungsvorgänge verbinden, Stapel verbuchen sowie weitgehend intuitiv benutzbare Ausleih- und Rückgabeautomaten betreiben.

The aim of this master’s thesis is to design a device for identification of bus stops for blind people. In the beginning the work describes information about the RFID system, characterizes each part of this system, mutual communication of its components and evaluates possibilities of RFID communication frequency bands. Subsequently the work describes the block diagram of the device and the circuit scheme of each block. Work concentrates on a selection of circuit components for the RFID transceiver, the voice module, the control module and choose a suitable transponder to place it on metal constructions. Control programs are also described. PCB design of each board, partlists and source codes are in the appendices of this master’s thesis.

Published Article / RFID can work in conjunction with sensors in material handling especially on a conveyor belt. A dozen different graded tagged products can be picked up by the RFID system in real-time and transported to respective chutes into automatic guided vehicles (AGV) for transportation to specific storage locations. The development of this system is now at an advanced stage. Our predictions to date show that the application of RFID in material handling in a manufacturing environment can assist in the fast flow of components throughout the assembly line beyond what available systems can do.