AutoID Automatic Identification Technologies at the MIT Media Lab Gregory Chittim – ES 112 – 03S

Agenda Introduction What is it? Technologies RFID “An Internet of Things” Developed Technologies Electronic Product Code (EPC) Object Name Server (ONS) Product Markup Language (PML) Savants Field Testing

Introduction How can an organization: Eliminate human error from data collection Reduce inventories Keep product in stock Reduce loss and waste Improve safety Improve security

What is it? Broad term given to a host of technologies that are used to help machines identify objects Often coupled with automatic data capture Item Information Capture Data Translation Data Storage ApplicationWeb Services?

Technologies Bar codes Smart cards Voice recognition Biometrics Retinal scans Fingerprints Optical Character Recognition (OCR) Radio Frequency Identification (RFID)* * Focus of the MIT Lab –

RFID Use radio waves to automatically identify individual items Store a serial number on a microchip attached to an antenna Called an RFID transponder / tag Antenna enables the chip to transmit information to a reader Reader converts the radio waves computer readable form (A to D)

RFID Item Information Capture Data Translation Data Storage ApplicationWeb Services? RFID Transponder RFID Reader -Active vs. Passive -Read-only vs. Read-write -Agile reader – multiple frequency - Reader collision – TDMA -Tag collision – header requests -50 tags / second

“An Internet of Things” Identifying products faces many of the same problems as networking computers in the early days of the Internet Expensive hardware $1000 readers, $0.50 transponders Multiple protocols No common RF frequency for AutoID Proprietary systems No AutoID across supply chain

Developed Technologies Electronic Product Code (EPC) License plate for an individual product Derivative of Global Trade Item Number (GTIN) of which the barcode is a subset 64 and 96 bit version Header EPC Manager ---- Object Class Serial Number EPC v. 1.0 – Coca Cola Corp – Vanilla Coke 12oz Can – Million Million Billion

Developed Technologies II Object Naming Service (ONS) Similar to DNS, but points to info about an object, instead of a website address

Developed Technologies III Physical Markup Language Derivative of XML Common data types Temporal vs. Dynamic Data Common transaction types purchases, requests for quotes, etc… Info stored on PML servers, pointed to by ONS

PML Usage Examples Name and broad category Soft drink, auto part, clothing, etc… When/where made Expiration date Current location Instructions for where a pallet should be shipped Point-of-sale instructions How long your microwave needs to cook a particular brand of frozen pizza.

Savants Solves the bandwidth problem ONS/PML in a distributed network Tasks: Data smoothing Reader coordination Data forwarding Data storage One Savant controls inventory, another displays, another shipping

Field Testing Phase 1 – Pallets – Fall 2001 Bounty Paper Towels Phase 2 – Cases – Winter 2002 Coca-Cola, P&G, Kraft, etc Phase 3 – Units – Winter 2003

Questions?