In a recent presentation, Dr. Chris Diorio, Impinj Founder and CTO, described how UHF RFID allows computers to identify, locate, and authenticate things, thereby truly enabling the Internet of Things. Dr. Diorio, in his role as project editor for the original and recently updated UHF Gen2 protocol, also shared his unique insights into UHF Gen2 RFID today and in the future.

1. The Resurgence
of UHF RFID
Chris Diorio
1
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2. UHF Gen2 was Ratified in 2004…
• First UHF Gen2 demonstration at
2005 EPCglobal US conference
– Two readers inventorying tags
• Transmitting simultaneously
• Rejecting interference
– 40 tags moving fast
• No missed tags
• No ghost reads
2
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3. …But Adoption was Painfully Slow
UHF RFID Tag Units in BILLIONS
1
0.5
Impinj Monza was
first to market
by 18 months
0
2005
3
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2006
2007
2008
2009

4. Reason: The Industry Focused on Pallets
Walmart pallet testing
Dock door w/ interfering readers
Pallet w/ 40 boxes of soap
4
Metro pallet testing
Motorized pallet sled
Changeable pallets
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5. Fast-Forward to Today
5
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6. The UHF Tag Market is Growing 35% YoY
UHF RFID Tag Units in BILLIONS
5
4
3
Impinj Monza is
~60% of the market
2
1
0
2009
2010
Source: VDC Research Group
6
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2011
2012
2013
2014

7. Item-Level Tagging Fuels the Resurgence
Medical Inventory
Operational Configuration
Brand Protection
Retail Inventory
Customer Service
Race Timing
7
Laundry Management
Asset Management
Logistics/Security
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8. Two Applications Stand Out
1. Retail Apparel
– On-shelf availability: 74%  94%
– Sales uplift:
5%
– Apparel, but also electronics, shoes,
jewelry, fragrances, tires, batteries
2. Embedded RFID
– Consumables authentication
• Example: Coke Freestyle
– Device configuration
• Example: HP Envy
8
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9. Retail Apparel is 75% of the Tag Market
Some well-known
programs
American Apparel
Chico’s
Gerry Weber
Inditex (Zara)
Liverpool
Lord & Taylor
Macy’s
Marks & Spencer
Memove
Patrizia Pepe
Tesco
Walmart
16
14
12
Billions
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Projected RFID Tag Consumption by
Top 50 Worldwide Apparel Retailers
10
8
6
4
We are here
@ 2.4Bn/yr
2
0
2009
2011
2013
2015
2017
2019
2021
Top 50 apparel retailer TAM = 25Bn garments/year
9
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10. UHF RFID Transforms Retail
Inventory Management
Point of Sale
Omnichannel Fulfillment
Loss Prevention
Customer Experience
“We've spent the last
153 years building
warehouses, we just
called them stores”
Peter Sachse, Chief Stores
Officer, Macy’s
10 | © 2013

11. Embedded RFID is the 2nd Key Market Driver
Freestyle: 100+ drink dispenser
Freestyle uses embedded RFID
Indy® reader chips
Monza® tag chips
Freestyle delights fans
Thousands deployed across the US
Expanding worldwide
11 | © 2013

12. Embedded RFID Enables Retail Configuration
Long-Range
Antenna
Data
Bus
Short-Range
Antenna
Best Use of RFID
in a Product
12 | © 2013

13. Embedded RFID Will Become Pervasive
Servers
Desktops
Netbooks
Tablets
Smart TVs
Phones
Embedded
Laptops
• Consumer electronics will embed UHF RFID broadly
• Zero-power communications = endless applications
–
–
–
–
Device configuration
Sensor-enabled tags
Premise-aware security
Warranty and service history
13 | © 2013

14. The UHF RFID Resurgence Will Accelerate
Identify an Item
Configure an Item
Locate an
Item
Authenticate
an Item

14 | © 2013


15. xArray Locates Items
2D steered-beam
PoE RFID reader
150 m2 floor coverage
at 4.5m height
Better than 1.5m
spatial resolution
Unaffected by 1000’s
of stray tags
6.35 cm
45.7 cm
15 | © 2013

16. xArray Operational Visualization
View from the Side
View Looking Down
Colored balls represent tags
Locate Tagged Items in Real Time
16 | © 2013

17. Authenticating Items
Today’s Gen2 RFID
What We Want
TID
Key
Read
Challenge (RN)
TID
Response
• Reader reads static TID from
tag memory
• Tag computes cryptographic
response from reader’s random
challenge and tag’s secret key
• Counterfeiter can clone tag
by copying TID
17 | © 2013
• Counterfeiter cannot clone tag
without knowing secret key

18. Gen2 V2 Enables Item Authentication
• G2 = Gen2 V2 = Backward-compatible upgrade to Gen2
– GS1 EPCglobal ratified G2 on Oct 30
– ISO will ratify G2 in 2014
In Gen2
New in G2
G2
Long Read
Range
Files & File
Management
File
Privileges
Cryptographic
Authentication
18 | © 2013
Large Tag
Populations
Fast
Inventory
Cryptographic
Security
Short Read
Range
Loss
Prevention
Consumer
Privacy

19. Impinj is The Technology Inside UHF RFID
#1 Market Share
#1 Market Share
#1 Market Share
The best platform in the industry
19 | © 2013
www.impinj.com

20. 20 | © 2013