The More We Change

One interesting thing about technology is that it never ceases to evolve. The

other interesting thing is that that the problems in widespread implementation

always seem to be similar. In the digital age, auto identification or Auto ID is

becoming a norm. Auto ID is a broad term used for all technologies that help

machines identify an object or person. The stated aim of these technologies is

to increase efficiency, reduce data errors and free people for more value added

roles like customer service. The techniques used to make this happen are bar

codes, smart cards, biometric techniques like retinal scanning, voice

recognition and radio frequency identification.

Radio frequency identification or RFID is one of the most talked about of

auto ID technologies today. A microchip with an antenna is embedded into the

tagged product and this communicates with a reader. The reader converts the

radio waves into digital information that can be passed on to a computer. Using

this, virtually anything can be tracked through its life cycle. Not only that

the microchip can also have information embedded for product usage. For

instance, the tag on a food product can contain instructions on how to microwave

it. Put the packet in an intelligent oven and it will automatically know how to

cook it. The range of possibilities is immense. Attach a tag to a bank note and

see how it moves through various hands. Put it on a medicine package and it can

track the expiration date automatically. Put a chip on a car key and the car

will not open unless the numbers match with those on the reader in the car. Pay

for road tolls and petrol using RFID tags. Put it on this magazine and find out

reader habits. For the moment there is no chip so you do not need to change

them!

While the applications are new, the problems are old. RFID has been around

for a long time. As a technology it is more than 30 years old. Does that sound

like a standard time for technologies to become mass use items? And only now are

there indications that it is catching on. This is due to a number of reasons.

First, the lack of standards-RFID systems use proprietary technology, which

means that if one company puts an RFID tag on a product, another company's

reader cannot communicate with it. So does that mean a supermarket will need

scores of readers?

Second, the cost. The RFID reader could cost between $500-1000 or more and

RFID tags cost not less than 20 cents. So a lot of money is needed to install a

sufficient number of readers. And even 20 cents can be a large amount for low

cost products, especially for low cost countries like India. A tag costing

something like ten rupees would be unviable for a large number of products sold

on a daily basis.

Third, lack of a single allotted frequency. At present, different countries

are using different frequencies for RFID systems. Without a common frequency, a

RFID reader cannot read across countries.

Fourth, there are reliability issues. Would the tags and the readers work

under all circumstances and with different kinds of products-metals, clothes,

liquids, etc.

And last, privacy. Now computers-and therefore the people running them-will

know the medicines you use, the clothes you buy, where you spend your cash,

places you visit in your car and much more. The pros and cons are similar. RFID

will enable governments to track criminals. It will also make ordinary folks

feel like criminals. It will also give the marketing hordes one more data source

to badger you with. Advocates of consumer privacy have been, predictably,

protesting against this invasion.

Somewhere along the line the question does arise: can we find technologies

that do not have these problems?

Now a word for our readers. Cyber Media India Limited-the publishers of

this magazine-are coming out with an IPO very soon. Your continued support has

made this possible. Thank you for the past support- and in advance for the

future.

The author is Editor-in-Chief of CyberMedia, the publishers of Dataquest

(with inputs from Saswati Sinha) He can be reached at Shyam

MalhotrA