The World''s Smallest RFID Integrated Circuit
The RFID marketplace has seen many promises, but limited delivery. High expectations for supply chain and retail applications run rampant. Companies are looking for the most cost-effective and efficient way to apply technology to solve their issues. Hitachis role is to quantify and qualify our customers unresolved problems and then assist them in using technology to ethically and cost-effectively implement solutions.
In the RFID marketplace, Hitachi provides not only the hardware components chips and chip readers but also the total solution, including enabling application software for reader control, system access, and security. Complete solutions comprise front-end and back-end infrastructures. Beyond readers and tags, there is a critical need for enabling technologies to link the tags and readers to networks in order to transmit ID information from the chips to the backoffice systems.
Chip Development
Development of the µ-Chip, Hitachis RFID tag, began in 1998 as a research project of Hitachis central research laboratory to prevent counterfeit banknotes. It resulted in the ability to embed these tiny chips (0.4 mm x 0.4 mm) into paper-based financial securities. During that project, Hitachi identified a number of potential applications for this technology beyond authenticating banknotes. As a result of the projects success, Hitachi funded µ-Solutions Venture Company to continue µ-Chip innovation. Today, Hitachis µ-Solutions Division, led by Dr. Ryo Imura, manages the business of µ-Chip solutions. Its mission is to provide for commercialization of µ-Chip technology both within and outside of Hitachi.
The µ-Chip and its inlet are currently manufactured by Renesas Technology Corporation, a company jointly owed by Hitachi Ltd. and Mitsubishi Electric Corporation. Renesas mass produces the µ-Chip for a wide range of applications. Sales and marketing activities of µ-Chip solutions, including systems integration support, are implemented globally through Hitachis subsidiary companies and partners, such as Hitachi America, Ltd. and Hitachi Europe, Ltd.
The µ-Chip is Hitachis response to resolving many of the issues associated with conventional RFID technology. All current µ- Chip versions use the 2.45 GHz. The next generation will support this along with the UHF frequency bands. Each chip has a 128- bit ROM that is written at manufacture with a unique ID that can be used to individually identify physical objects. Moreover, with a size of 0.4 mm square, the µ-Chip is small enough to be attached to a variety of minute objects, including being embedded in paper or plastic cards.
A Focus on Partnering
Hitachi currently markets µ-Chip via its global divisions and subsidiaries, but it has plans to include a wide range of partners, from external manufacturers to system integrators. Large-scale RFID deployments will rely on complex project structures and many different players from various sectors will be required for widespread adoption. Hitachi understands and embraces the need for alliances with partner organizations in this type of business.
A successful RFID initiative can include a number of partner organizations contributing expertise such as embedding or attaching the RFID inlets into the objects or packaging. Hitachi clearly understands the value of partnerships and alliances to fulfill enterprisewide deployments of RFID solutions. The core technology components are best enabled by the various end solutions shaped by the integrators.
Hitachi will use its core technologies such as µ-Chip to support a variety of applications for different organizations across a wide range of market sectors. Successful applications always reflect the end users market demand. Partner activities help ensure fit for purpose, practicality, and sustained profitability. In turn, input from partners and their customers feed the technology road map.
µ-Chip Applications
Hitachi wants to provide the core technology building blocks for the applications that end users need. Applications addressed by µ-Chip include secure ID, ticketing, legal applications, label authenticity control, antipiracy, shipping, and high-value item tracking.
There are a variety of exciting µ-Chip projects underway. At Expo 2005 in Aichi, Japan, Hitachi will be supporting a ticketing management system. Hitachi is integrating the complete system supporting 20 to 25 million µ-Chip-enabled tickets and their associated readers and interface software for servers, entrance gates, and ticket-selling interfaces. Hitachi is working in partnership with a well-established provider of paperbased products to support the ticket manufacturing effort for industrial-scale production. Such efforts require a solid resource investment, but they can become key sources of revenue for the partner organization through cross-licensing to organizations in other regions that are looking at similar projects.
An example of a successful µ-Chip application occurs in the steel supply chain in which the µ-Chip is used to track steel plates. The concept is to provide a scalable and cost-effective system across a network linking the organizations in the steel plate manufacturing industry within a given geographic region. The result has been a significant improvement in quality, availability, product history and tracking, and ultimately cost savings.
Another example is a food tracking solution where the Japanese government wanted traceability of foodstuffs from source to sale. µ-Chip technology is being used today in a pilot project to record compliance data and provide audit and inspection services.
Hitachi is also involved in a number of security projects where traditional paper-based tokens such as passports and drivers licenses are being enhanced with electronic features such as RFID and smartcard chips. In some pilots, a new security feature will be based on the µ-Chip to provide a secure and unmodifiable identifier for each issued security token.
Hitachis Approach
The companys approach is to work within a Web-based environment for deployment and data distribution, formatting the ID data from the µ-Chips into standard requests for transmission to back-office and enterprise systems. Additionally, Hitachi adds an element of security management at the front end of the system. This enables better access control, reader registration and enablement, status updates, and high-integrity auditing. Consistent protocols between the readers and the system are required to provide a baseline for reader manufacturers. In turn, this provides the ability for customers to multisource readers from a range of manufacturers because the standard µ-Chip protocol will allow those readers to function correctly once attached to their systems.
As the RFID market evolves, Hitachi will continue to develop and enhance its µ-Chip offering. This includes the creation of LSI-based RFID reader modules to enable Hitachi and other third-party organizations to create costeffective and highly functional reader systems for a variety of applications. Further, Hitachi is cognizant of the markets price sensitivity and has announced that it is launching a µ-Chip PEM (printed etched mask) inlet at a fraction of the cost of conventional RFID inlets. Hitachi is using inexpensive polyester film at the base of the inlet and ultrasound bonding technology to connect the µ-Chip and the antenna. By substantially lowering the costs in manufacturing the inlets, the price of RFID tags can be reduced, opening the way to an array of new applications.
The RFID market is multifaceted, complex, and growing. Hitachi is a proven innovator whose ultracompact µ-Chip has helped to reduce cost and to drive new business applications. Most importantly, Hitachi is proud to provide its customers with quality products backed by an end-to-end integrated solution.
