Introduction
The Internet of Things (IoT) refers to a worldwide infrastructure based on routing capabilities and data exploitation that can connect physical and virtual objects irrespective of distance. IoT represents the future of communications and computing and its development is dependent on technical innovation in various fields such as nanotechnology, smart, sensor, and Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technologies. Network connectivity, self-sufficient data capture, event transfer, and interoperability among applications, sensors, and devices are some of the critical benefits of the IoT (Hassan, 2018). Although RFID technology provides crucial benefits to multiple systems, its implementation in IoT is hampered by privacy and security challenges.
What Is Your Selected Category?
The selected technology category is RFID, which is a self-regulating technology used for different systems to assist in carrying out functions based on object identification, object controlling, and data recording. RFID systems are wireless and comprised of two components: readers and tags (Hassan, 2018). The RFID reader or receiver refers to a device that emits radio waves and receives signals from the RFID tags through the use of one or several antennas. Tags can be active or passive and they communicate their identities as well as other information to close readers using radio waves. Batteries power the active RFID tags, whereas the reader powers the passive RFID tags and has no battery. RFID tags usually store different types of information such as a single serial number or several data pages (International Telecommunications Union, 2005). RFID is a quick and reliable method of tracking, controlling, and detecting numerous objects electronically.
What are the leading technologies in your selected category?
RFID technology has become a part of human lives; yet, most people may not know if they are interacting with the technology. RFID is applied in different industries such as the aerospace and defense, healthcare, and retail sector. The most important functions of RFID are monitoring, supervising, and tracking.
Aerospace and Defense Sector
Defense and aerospace manufacturers focus on making most of their processes RFID-enabled. Airframers utilize RFID technologies to monitor and track multiple airplane parts as well as reinforce their supply chain. Companies can automate the identification and tracking of shipments before shipping, reducing manual labor in search, verification, and confirmation activities. Additionally, RFID facilitates faster confirmation of work order progress and tracking of equipment and tools reducing production delays. RFID tags can alert staff when specific manufacturing components are missing or need maintenance (Hassan, 2018). RFID technologies can also be used to surveil soldiers’ movement and weapon location.
Healthcare
RFID is used in multiple healthcare scenarios to improve the efficiency of processes and patient safety. For instance, RFID wrist bands improve the safety of patients by retrieving medications, medical history, prescribed medicines, and meal schedules. Furthermore, RFID embedded devices reduce the chances of infection in the cases of hip and knee replacement surgeries. Regarding inventory, RFID systems control the inventory of critical devices such as heart pumps and bedpans. Medical supplies can also be tracked, ordered, and sorted through RFID, which ensures reliability. On the other hand, RFID sensors track and monitor blood and tissue samples requiring temperature control (Pal & Balas, 2020). Accountability and reliability in surgical departments are facilitated through RFID systems.
Retail Sector
RFID technology is revolutionizing the retail sector to meet the high demand from customers. RFID increases the visibility of products in the retail inventory to improve customer experience and control. Additionally, RFID facilitates enhanced product identification through the storage of a distinguishing identification number. Finally, RFID systems enable shoppers to scan the entire cart contents without picking any single item, which reduces checkout times (Hassan, 2018). RFID tags can help in employee tracking, theft reduction, and dynamic pricing.
How RFID technology contributes to the Internet of Things?
The role of RFID in the IoT is undeniably critical since it can be seen in its benefits in various industries. In healthcare, RFID systems offer various benefits related to patient care efficiencies, patient safety, and tracking. RFID technology helps to identify medical staff, blood, and tissue sampling data, patient IDs, and medication in real-time. In defense and aerospace, RFID-tagged items enable real-time tracking of airplane parts, soldiers, and weapons. RFID integration in the retail industry reduces out-of-stock conditions and increases efficient handling of materials and inventory control (Hassan, 2018). Through RFID, systems, data, and processes in various industries become interconnected, promoting reliability and efficiency.
Emerging Risks to Privacy and Security
Security and privacy concerns caused by RFID tags affect both organizations and individuals. Unguarded tags are often susceptible to traffic analysis, spoofing, and eavesdropping. Additionally, counterfeit RFID tags can be easily attacked since they are cheap to make. In addition, the algorithms of unencrypted chips are possible to crack. In eavesdropping attacks, hackers use rouge readers to intercept data that is being transferred. Traffic analysis affects location privacy, which makes it easy to access tags (Singh et al., 2017). Finally, spoofing disguises communication to appear trusted to attack the RFID systems.
Conclusion
The selected technology, RFID, provides multiple benefits in different industries but it is affected by privacy and security risks. RFID systems are wireless and comprised of tags and readers. RFID is a self-regulating technology that is useful in object identification and tracking. RFID technologies are useful in tracking weapons, improving patient safety, and increasing supply chain efficiency. However, privacy and security are a concern for RFID; therefore, addressing the privacy and security issues can make RFID systems safer for society.
References
Hassan, Q. F. (Ed.). (2018). Internet of Things A to Z: Technologies and applications. John Wiley & Sons.
International Telecommunications Union. (2005). ITU Internet reports 2005: The Internet of Things [Executive Summary]. Geneva, Switzerland.
Pal, S., & Balas, V. E. (Eds.). (2020). Healthcare paradigms in the Internet of Things ecosystem. Academic Press.
Singh, N., Bhatt, J., & Purohit, K. C. (2017). A survey on IoT and security issues of RFID. International Journal of Engineering and Computer Science, 6(4), 21061–21066. Web.