Internet-of-Things (IoT)

Acknowledgement: Christian Poellabauer for Lecture Slides

 General Enablers: Portability

▪ Reducing the size of hardware to enable the creation

of computers that could be physically moved around
relatively easily
 General Enablers : Miniaturization

▪ Creating new and significantly smaller mobile form

factors that allowed the use of personal mobile
devices while on the move
 General Enablers : Low Power and Low Heat

▪ Low power architectures

▪ Low power radios
▪ Sleep modes
▪ Energy harvesting
 General Enablers: Connectivity

▪ Developing devices and applications that allowed

users to be online and communicate via wireless data
networks while on the move
 General Enablers: Convergence

▪ Integrating emerging types of digital mobile devices,

such as Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs), mobile
phones, music players, cameras, games, etc., into
hybrid devices
 General Enablers: Divergence

▪ Diverse interaction design by promoting information

appliances with specialized functionality rather than
generalized ones
 General Enablers: Ecosystems

▪ The emerging wave of digital ecosystems is about the

larger wholes of pervasive and interrelated technologies
that interactive mobile systems are increasingly becoming
a part of.
 Example of General Enablers : Smartphone

▪ Portability: carry it anywhere you want

▪ Miniaturization: make it possible to build device to fit in
your pocket

▪ Connectivity: Wi-Fi, LTE/4G, cellular, Bluetooth

▪ Convergence: phone, camera, gaming device, movie
streaming, music player, …

▪ Digital Ecosystem: cloud, social networks, software

development kits, app stores, big data, standardization …
IoT – Enabling Technologies
IoT – Evolution of Sensing Technologies

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 RFID - Some Historical Background
▪ Identification Friend or Foe (IFF) used by Allied bombers
during World War II
▪ In 1948: passive RFID
 RFID - Some Historical Background

▪ Despite the name, IFF can only positively identify

friendly targets, not hostile ones.

▪ If an IFF interrogation receives no reply or an invalid

reply, the object cannot be identified as friendly,
but is not positively identified as foe (it may, for
instance, be a friendly aircraft with an inoperative
or malfunctioning transponder).
 RFID

▪ RFID is an acronym for “radio-frequency identification”

and refers to a technology whereby digital data encoded in
RFID tags or smart labels (defined below) are captured by a
reader via radio waves.

▪ RFID is similar to barcoding in that data from a tag or label

are captured by a device that stores the data in a database.

▪ RFID tag data can be read outside the line-of-sight,

whereas barcodes must be aligned with an optical scanner.
 RFID

▪ RFID belongs to a group of technologies referred to

as Automatic Identification and Data Capture
(AIDC).

▪ AIDC methods automatically identify objects,

collect data about them, and enter those data
directly into computer systems with little or no
human intervention.
 RFID

▪ RFID methods utilize radio waves to accomplish this.

▪ RFID systems consist of three components:
❑ an RFID tag or smart label,
❑ an RFID reader, and
❑ an antenna.
▪ RFID tags contain an integrated circuit and an antenna,
which are used to transmit data to the RFID reader (also
called an interrogator).
▪ The reader then converts the radio waves to a more usable
form of data. Information collected from the tags is then
transferred through a communications interface to a host
computer system, where the data can be stored in a
database.
 RFID Systems

Main components:
▪ Tags (transponders)
- Microchip & antenna

▪ Tag reader
❑ Decoder & antenna
❑ RFID reader sends pulse of
energy and waits for response
❑ Can be on all the time or
activate only in response to
external event
 RFID

▪ Passive Tags
▪ Active Tags
 Passive Tags

▪ Passive tags are comprised of three elements:

❑ an integrated circuit or chip,
❑ an antenna, and
❑ a substrate.

▪ The RFID chip stores data and perform specific tasks.

Depending on its design, the chip may be read-only (RO),
write-once, read-many (WORM), or read-write (RW).
Typically, RFID chips carry 96 bits of memory but can range
from 2-1000 bits.
 Passive Tags

▪ Attached to the chip is the antenna, whose purpose is to

absorb radio-frequency (RF) waves from the reader’s signal
and to send and receive data.

▪ Passive RFID tag performance is strongly dependent on the

antenna’s size: the larger the antenna, the more energy it
can collect and then send back out. Larger antennas,
therefore, have higher read ranges (although not as high as
those of active tags).
 Passive Tags

▪ The third component of a passive RFID tag is called a

substrate, which is commonly a Mylar or plastic film.

▪ Both the antenna and the chip are attached to the

substrate, which may be thought of as the “glue” that holds
all of the tag’s pieces together.
 Active Tags

▪ Like passive RFID tags, active tags have both a microchip

and an antenna. The chips, however, are usually larger in
size and have greater capabilities than the RFID chips in
passive tags.

▪ Active tags have two additional components that

differentiate them from passive tags:
❑ an onboard power supply and

❑ onboard electronics.
 Active Tags

▪ The power supply is usually a battery, although it can also

be solar.

▪ The built-in power supply allows the tag to transmit data to

a reader on its own, without the need to draw power from
the reader itself like passive tags do.

▪ In addition, active tags can be read from distances of 100

feet or more, whereas passive tags can only be read from
up to about 20 feet.
 Active Tags

▪ Onboard electronics may consist of sensors,

microprocessors, and input/output ports, all of which are
powered by the tag’s onboard power source.

▪ The electronics allow active RFID tags to be used in a wider

range of applications than passive tags.
 Active Tags – Example

▪ Perishable food products may be tagged with sensors that

collect data that can then be used to determine expiration
dates and warn the end user that the item may be spoiled.

▪ Even though many products have expiration dates printed

on them, these dates are valid only if the product is stored
under the optimal conditions for that type of product.

▪ Thus, the product may expire before the printed date if it is

not stored properly. An RFID tag equipped with a
temperature sensor might be able to predict the actual
expiration date of a carton of milk, for example, which may
be very different from the printed date.
 Active versus Passive

Active RFID Passive RFID

Tag Battery Yes No

Required signal strength Very Low Very High

Range Up to 100m Up to 3-5m, usually less

Multi-tag reading 1000’s of tags recognized Few hundred within 3m of

reader, about 3 sec per read

Data Storage Up to 512 KB 16 bits – 1 KB

Active Tag
Passive Tag
Frequency Ranges
RFID Working Principle - Low Frequency: Load Modulation
RFID Working Principle - High-Frequency:
Backscatter Modulation
 Communication and Collisions
Cyclic

▪ Very simple packet formats Redundancy

Check
❑ General structure:

Sync Header Command Data CRC

❑ Usually reader-to-tag and tag-to-reader format

somewhat different.

❑ Typically 2 byte CRC

 Collisions

▪ All tags receiving query will respond: collisions!

▪ Many readers feature “simultaneous read” capabilities

(resolve collisions)

▪ No “carrier sense” possible

 Collisions

▪ The reader of the QT sends queries and tags, whose ID

match that query, respond to the reader. After a collision,
the reader increases the query with 1 or 0, obtaining two
new queries, and sending them repeatedly upon the
successful response of all the tags. The process needs to go
through all the possible queries to detect all the tags. QT is
called memoryless because tags do not require any counter
or memory.
Binary Tree Algorithm
 Binary Tree Algorithm

▪ Poll tags bit-by-bit

▪ Example (figure):
❑ Query “x”: 7 tags respond: collision
❑ Query “0x”: 3 tags respond: collision
❑ Query “00x”: 1 tag responds
❑ Query “01x”: 2 tags respond: collision
❑ Query “010x”: 2 tags respond: collision
❑ Query “0100x”: 1 tag responds
❑ Query “0101x”: 1 tag responds
❑ Query “011x”: no response
❑ Query: “1x”: 4 tags respond: collision
❑ Query: “10x”: 1 tag responds
❑ Query: “11x”: 3 tags respond: collision
❑ …
 Application Scenarios
▪ Inventory Management
▪ Track the movement of consumer product goods
▪ Animal identification/tracking/counting
▪ Toll collection
▪ Implantation of RFID chips into people, e.g., Alzheimer
patients
 Applications

▪ Keyless entry
▪ Proximity cards
▪ Supply chain management
 Implants

▪ It is the most controversial application

▪ Small glass cylinders approximately 2 or 3mm wide and
between 1 and 1.5cm long
▪ Consists of a microchip, a coiled antenna, and a capacitor
▪ Implanted typically under the skin of arm or the back of the
neck

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkKhlLzoGR8
 Instant Checkout

▪ A checkout designed to scan an entire basket or trolley’s worth of shopping in

one go is being trialed.

https://www.standard.co.uk/tech/supermarket-checkout-designed-to-scan-entire-shopping-basket-trialled-in-london-a3747506.html
 RFID Advantages

▪ Inventory efficiency - Because line-of-sight is not required

to read RFID tags, inventory can be performed in a highly
efficient method.

▪ Return on investment (ROI) - Though the cost may be high

at first, the total cost of ownership should go down over
the years and provide a good ROI.

▪ Vulnerability to damage minimized - Barcodes can be

damaged in many ways.
 RFID Disadvantages

▪ High cost - Because this technology is still new, the components

and tags are expensive compared to barcodes.

▪ Unread tags - When reading multiple tags at the same time, it is

possible that some tags will not be read and there is no sure
method of determining this when the objects are not in sight.

▪ Security concerns - Because RFID is not a line-of-sight

technology as barcoding is, new security issues could develop.
For example, a competitor could set up a high-gain directional
antenna to scan tags in trucks going to a warehouse. From the
data received, this competitor could determine flow rates of
various products.
 Near-Field Communication (NFC)

▪ NFC is one of the latest wireless communication

technologies. As a short-range wireless connectivity
technology, NFC offers safe yet simple communication
between electronic devices

▪ It enables exchange of data between devices over a

distance of 4 cm or less

▪ NFC operates at 13.56 MHz and rates ranging from 106

kbit/s to 848 kbit/s
 How NFC Works

▪ NFC is based on RFID technology that uses magnetic field

induction between electronic devices in close proximity

▪ For two devices to communicate using NFC, one device

must have an NFC reader/writer and one must have an
NFC tag. The tag is essentially an integrated circuit
containing data, connected to an antenna, that can be
read or written by the reader
 NFC Applications

NFC is primarily aimed at usage in mobile phones. There

are currently three main uses of NFC:

▪ Card emulation: The NFC device behaves like an existing

contactless card

▪ Reader mode: The NFC device is active and reads a

passive RFID tag, for example for interactive advertising

▪ P2P mode: Two NFC devices communicating together

and exchanging information
 NFC Applications

▪ Mobile payment
▪ Mobile/electronic ticketing
▪ Smart objects
▪ Electronic keys
▪ P2P data transfers
▪ NFC can be used to configure and initiate other wireless
network connections such as Bluetooth or Wi-Fi
 Security/Privacy Issues and Solutions

▪ Unauthorized Reading:
❑ Scan closed boxes and find out what is inside
❑ Read RFID enabled credit card or ID (metal foil in passports)
▪ Unauthorized Writing:
❑ Can change UPC/price of an item
❑ Can kill a tag

▪ RFID Zapper:
❑ Can burn a tag using overcurrent
▪ RSA(Rivest–Shamir–Adleman)Blocker Tag:
❑ Placed near another RFID; prevents its reading
▪ Put Tag to Sleep:
❑ Can wake up later; reuse tags
▪ Re-label Tag and Dual-Use Tag:
❑ Customer sees differed info or can over-write tag with useful
information
▪ Authentication:
❑ Reader has to know PIN