26th January 2004, IST, Libon, Portugal The Emergence of RFID/EPC and Beyond – Architecture Implications by António Murta.

26th January 2004, IST, Libon, Portugal26th January 2004, IST, Libon, Portugal

The Emergence of The Emergence of RFID/EPC and BeyondRFID/EPC and Beyond – –

Architecture Architecture ImplicationsImplications

by by António MurtaAntónio Murta


Agenda• Physical objects and Data: two parallel worlds

• What if the two worlds collapse?

• Key technological trends coming…

• … translated into specific technologies

• “Animated” physical objects: a simple taxonomy

• Getting real: trace-ability implementations on the Supply Chain

• Communication between physical objects

• Concluding remarks: Architecture Implications


Physical objects and Data: two parallel worlds

• Implications

– Check-in / Check-out

– Are the flows in sync? (necessary to check all the time)

Reference + Transaction Data

Physical ObjectsIn therecent past…


What if the two worlds collapse?

• Implications

– Big potential for automation on check-in / check-out

– Guaranteed sync between the two worlds

– Ethical / Legal: limits of trace-ability / visibility

Physical Objects & Reference + Transaction data


Key technological trends coming...

• Mobility leading to Pervasiveness

• Auto-identification

– Products

– People (?)

• Patterns of ambient intelligence


... translated into specific technologies

WWi-i-FFiirolloutrollout

RFID on RFID on ProductsProducts

EPCEPC

Savant Savant ServerServer



• Implications for UMTS (Telco)

• Implications for customer expectations in some sectors (e.g. hotels, airports)



EPCEPC




• Size

• Price

• Price Expectations

• Constraints (current and future)

WWi-i-FFii

rolloutrollout


EPCEPC




• Coding limits

• The code is just a pointer

• Think of a list of all the static and dynamic attributes of any physical object

• Call that “The Universal Directory off All Physical Objects”

WWi-i-FFii

rolloutrollout


EPCEPC




• Use case 1: Happy Hour!

• Use case 2: Total Inventory Counts!

• Is this sufficient to make you wonder what we are talking about?

WWi-i-FFii

rolloutrollout


EPCEPC

SavantSavant ServerServer

Savant

Server



Startbucks leading example

Weapons’ trace-ability

EAN/UCC standards in Q3/Q4 2003

MIT Labs

Mobile internet everywhere and

anytime

Full trace-ability made possible

A P2P universal directory of all

physical objects of the world

A server to communicate

with N physical objects without

wires


RFID on RFID on ProductsProducts EPCEPC Savant Savant

ServerServer


“Animated” physical objects: a simple taxonomy

No RFID tagsNo RFID tags Passive TagsPassive Tags Active TagsActive Tags Active and Active and sensing tagssensing tags

No digital interaction potencial

Pure scan / auto-id potential

Physical objecthistory + state

“Proxies” of human beings

Intelligent devices

That’s today Check-in / Check-out

More sophisticated

interaction

Savant server, our phones

Growing degree of ambient intelligence


Getting real: trace-ability implications on the Supply Chain

• BIG OPPORTUNITY for

– Cost reduction (elimination of check-in / check-out)

– Increased supply chain visibility

Source: Auto ID Center - IBM Business Consulting Services, 2002

Labour Cost Reduction

Impact of RFID on

Distribution Centres

DC Processes Min Max

Receiving 60% 93%

Picking

Shipping

up to 36%

up to 90%


Getting real: trace-ability implications on the Supply Chain

Reusable physical

asset tagging “From 2005 onwards

only electronically

tagged cases and

pallets will be

accepted”Time

Ite

m V

alu

e /

Shr

inka

ge

exp

osu

re

Asset Tracking

Full Supply Chain

tracking

Pallet/Case Tracking

Single Item

tracing for internal

purposes

Item Tracking

New

models of

customer

interaction

with

physical

products


Communication between physical objects

• What about the impact of all this on day-to-day life?

– Can my phone ask my tie where did I buy it and for how much?

– What about your phone?

– What about my shirt?

– What do shirts debate with ties?

“Someday, objects will be wide-ranging and have deep conversations with other objects, and their silent form of commerce will be the rule.”

Glover Fergueson, Harvard Business Review, June 2002


Concluding Remarks: Architecture implications

Ambient Intelligence as “The Bridge”

Extreme“Centralization”

(P2P)

ExtremePervasiveness

The computer is... Everything!

“Universal Directory of Physical Products”for the rescue(yet another component of the Semantic Web)


Concluding Remarks: Architecture Implications

• Emergent notions = “Object field”, Personal Area Networks (eg. ZigBee)

• Need to orchestrate the interaction between objects

• Some objects will be “proxies” of us (P-Comm concept)

• Towards a more “Matrix-like” Architecture: Atoms ... + Bits!


TAGUSPARK – Construção de um Futuro26 de Janeiro de 2004

26th January 2004, IST, Libon, Portugal The Emergence of RFID/EPC and Beyond – Architecture Implications by António Murta.

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