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Introduction 1 About This Book 1 Who This Book Is For 1 You Don''t Need a Slide Rule and Pocket Protector to Use This Book 2 How This Book Is Organized 2
Part I: Now That You Can Spell RFID, Here''s the Rest of the Story 3
Part II: Ride the Electromagnetic Wave: The Physics of RFID 3
Part III: Fitting an RFID Application into Your World 3
Part IV: Raising the Beams for Your Network 4
Part V: How to Speak Bean Counter 4
Part VI: The
Part of Tens 4 Icons Used in This Book 5
Part I: Now That You Can Spell RFID, Here''s the Rest of the Story 7
Chapter 1: Taking the Mystery out of RFID 9 What Is RFID? 9 The origins of RFID in inventory tracking 10 Tracking goods with EPC codes 10 Sizing Up the Benefits of RFID 11 Tracking individual items with serialized data 12 Reducing human intervention 13 Moving more goods through the supply chain 14 Capturing information in real time 14 Increasing security 15 Mandates, Womendates, Blind Dates -- Forcing Efficiency 16 What are the major mandates? 16 Responding to the mandates 17 Calling All Physicists! Calling All Physicists! 18 Finding a physics expert 19 The basic physics of RFID 19 Finding Success with Four Ps in a Pod 22 Planning 22 Physics 24 Pilot 26 Production 27 A Ride in the Time Machine 28
Chapter 2: Auto-ID Technologies: Why RFID Is King of the Hill 31 Planning an Auto-ID Strategy for the Times 32 Comparing the major players in Auto-ID: Bar codes, contact memory, and RFID 34 Crafting an Auto-ID strategy for your business (Or, why RFID is the wave of the future) 41 To EPC or Not to Be: Unraveling the Words, Words, Words of the Electronic Product Code 44 How EPC is different from UPC 45 Why an EPC RFID tag doesn''t contain more information 47 How the EPC works 48 How the EPC prepared for the future, and who oversees that 52 Addressing Privacy Concerns 53
Chapter 3: Making Basic Decisions about Your RFID System 55 Midas Touch Points: Where RFID Impacts Your Organization 56 Outlining how RFID affects your business processes 57 Determining how RFID will affect your facility 60 Evaluating your technical needs 61 What''s the Frequency, Kenneth? 64 Understanding the difference between licensed and unlicensed frequencies 65 Examining the most common frequencies in RFID 65 Frequencies, power, and countries 67 Beyond UHF: Looking toward the future 68 Speed, Accuracy, or Distance -- Pick Two 69 Designing for the right read distance 70 Reads -- tell me how fast and how many 71 Reading multiple tags at once -- accuracy considerations 72 Now What about the Tags and Objects? 73
Part II: Ride the Electro-magnetic Wave: The Physics of RFID 75
Chapter 4: What Makes Up an RFID Network 77 Elements of a Basic RFID System 77 Everything starts with the tag 79 Antennas send and receive radio waves 79 Readers tell the antennas what to do 80 The middleware transforms the system into a network of objects 80 Time to Make Some Waves -- Electromagnetic Waves 81 Frequency is a measurement 83 History may repeat itself, but virginity comes only once 84 Fields: Electrical and magnetic, near and far 84 Creating resonance between the antennas and the field 85
Chapter 5: Understanding How Technology Becomes a Working System 87 Anatomy of a Passive Tag: Understanding How It Works and Choosing the Right One 88 How do tags receive and transmit information? 88 How does a tag antenna work, and how do you choose among the different kinds? 90 How does the integrated circuit affect performance? 92 Some tag examples for the geek in you 94 Tracking the Tags with a Reader 95 Holler back, young ''un -- Transmitting and receiving signals 95 The DSP chip: Examining the brain of a reader 96 Ring around the dipole and other bad antenna stories 98 Air in Her Face -- Blowing Sweet Nothings 100
Chapter 6: Seeing Different RFID Systems at Work 103 Setting Up RFID Interrogation Zones 103 Coming and going -- Reading at a dock door 104 Your gateway to good reads -- Other portals 106 Keep on rollin'' -- Setting up RFID at a conveyor 108 That''s a wrap -- Interrogating at a shrink-wrap station 109 One at a time -- Reading objects on a shelf 110 From Ski Resorts to Airlines: Applying RFID in the Real World 112 Ski resorts 112 Law enforcement 113 Pharmaceuticals 113 Additional business applications 114
Part III: Fitting an RFID Application into Your World 117
Chapter 7: Seeing the Invisible: The Site Assessment 119 Planning for Your Site Assessment 120 Getting the right test equipment 122 Setting up for RF testing 124 Measuring for AEN during Normal Operations (And Beyond) 126 Testing key points around the warehouse 127 I''ve been a wild rover for many''s a year 127 I don''t hear anything; time to make my own noise 129 Solving interference problems 130 Testing to Plan Your RFID Installation 130 Gathering your equipment 131 Comparing the perfect signal to the actual signal 132 Setting up the equipment 133 Conducting the test 134 Putting your results to use 136
Chapter 8: Testing One, Two, Three: Developing Your Own Lab 139 To Lab or Not to Lab 140 Beyond a Swanky White Lab Coat: The Tools You Need for Successful Testing 141 Setting Up Your Lab 142 X-ray marks the spot: Find the perfect location 143 Physics eye for the lab guy: Design the physical layout 145 Set up the test equipment 148 Build specific test equipment 151 Develop and implement standardized test procedures 153
Chapter 9: Tag, You''re It: Testing for Best Tag Design and Placement 159 Ready, Set, Test! 160 Looking at the Material Composition of the Items You''re Tagging 162 Examining RF transparent, reflecting, and absorbing materials 163 Using the RF friendliness pyramid to understand the optimal spot for testing 164 Choosing a Tag to Test 166 Testing Tags in an Applications Test Facility 168 Setting up the testing environment 170 Carrying out the test 170 Frequency Response Characterization: Testing Tags with Physics 171 Encoding and Applying Tags 174 Tag and ship 174 Inline production application 176 The Secrets of Read Success 177 Avoiding cross talk 177 Ensuring high-speed reads 178 Executing full pallet reads 178
Chapter 10: Hooked on Phonics: Reader Testing, Selection, and Installation 181 Choosing a Hand-held, Mobile, or Fixed-location Reader 182 Reading between the Lines: Critical Buying Criteria 183 Consider all the costs involved 184 Test reader performance 186 Assess connectivity 192 Evaluate how well the reader can be fine-tuned 196 Installing a Reader and Antennas 201 Mount the reader 202 Mount and connect the antennas 203 Power up the reader 203 Test the interrogation zone for RF path loss 204
Chapter 11: Middle Where? It''s Not Just about the Readers 205 Filter, Smooth, Route: Understanding What You Need Middleware to Do 206 Exploring Middleware Vendors and Their Offerings 208 Piecing Together a Middleware Architecture 210 No more tiers: Grasping the many levels of a middleware architecture 211 Taking stock of existing investments and skills 213 Early bird or late bloomer? Prioritizing your middleware needs 215 Getting the Most from Your RFID Middleware 216
Part IV: Raising the Beams for Your Network 219
Chapter 12: From Pilot to Admiral: Deploying RFID Successfully 221 Creating a Pilot Project Plan 222 Start with your major tasks and timeline 223 Deliverable tracker 224 There''s always an issue with you: Tracking and resolving problems 225 There is no I in team (but there is an M and an E) 226 Factors for a Successful Pilot Test 227 Clearly defined scope 227 Experienced project manager 228 Key executive support 228 User involvement 228 Specific measurements and metrics 229 Risk mitigation 229 Phased approach 229 Moving from Pilot to Production 231 Getting the most of your pilot data: The project debrief 231 Tips for a successful production system 232
Chapter 13: Getting Set to Administer and Maintain Your System 233 Configuring and Setting Up Tag Readers 234 Before you begin 234 Stepping through a reader setup 235 Creating configuration classes 236 Getting the Digits 238 A simple hierarchy for assigning numbers 238 Allocating unique numbers across many lines and locations 239 Applying Tags to Objects 240 Applying tags without breaking them 240 North by northwest as the corrugation travels: Orienting tags on objects 241 Sending Objects through Your Business 242 Lining up tags and readers 242 Just like the neonatal ward: Handle with care 243 School''s in Session -- Training Your Staff 244 Starting readers manually 244 Identifying and responding to missed reads 245 Reinforcing processes versus changing them 24