Technology Trends

Scientists and the military often share a common quality: imagination. For example, in “US military ‘rocks’ spy world,” the Financial Times reports that the U.S. military is developing RFID sensors that will be installed in fake little rocks. These ‘rocks’ which will be the size of golf balls, will be sent from an aircraft and will detect enemies by ‘listening’ to them from 20 to 30 meters. These sensors should be operational within 18 months and they should be cheap enough to leave them on the battlefield after they completed their tasks. Read more…

RFID is being developed into many areas of use. RFID technology is slowly taking over the use of barcodes in many instances. However, there is still something to be said for using barcodes. Many businesses still utilize barcode printers and barcode readers as a way to manage their inventory. Is using RFID scanners better than barcode scanners? Perhaps, but that is something that has to be decided by the individual.

Here is some information picked from the short Financial Times article.

The devices, which would be no larger than a golf ball, could be ready for use in about 18 months. They use tiny silicon chips and radio frequency identification (RFID) technology that is so sensitive that it can detect the sound of a human footfall at 20ft to 30ft. The project is being carried out by scientists at North Dakota State University, which has licensed nano-technology processes from Alien Technology, a California-based commercial manufacturer of RFID tags for supermarkets.

It is an example of the increasing desire for the US military to co-operate with civilian industry and academic institutions in the development of battlefield technology that will reduce the risks to soldiers’ lives. Greg McCarthy, associate vice president at the university’s Center for Nanoscale Science and Engineering, said: “The military wants better sensing capability. People are being killed because someone’s sneaking up on a tent and blowing them up.”

The military don’t distribute many images of future technologies. This picture of RFID sensors hidden inside fake rocks comes from this page on Sci-Tech Today (Credit: unknown).

For — slightly — more information about this project, you can look at the Center for Nanoscale Science and Engineering (CNSE) site at North Dakota State University (NDSU), and especially to this page about MicroSensor Systems. Here is the introduction.

The MicroSensor Systems program (aka Ultra-Low Power Battlefield Sensor Communication Systems, ULPBSCS), is a Department of Defense funded program. This program built a Center of Excellence (COE) at NDSU devoted to wireless microsensor system research and development and to the production of wireless microsensor systems for dual (military and commercial) needs. A central component of the program is advanced rapid microelectronics fabrication technology transferred to the university from Alien Technology Corporation, for the purpose of microsensor fabrication.

I’m feeling somewhat frustrated not being able to give you more details or illustrations about this interesting concept. So, if you have more information about this project, please post your comments below. Thanks.

Sources: Jeremy Grant, Financial Times, May 26, 2005; and various websites

Related stories can be found in the following categories.

• Military Applications
  
  
• Nanotechnology
  
  
• RFID
  
  
• Sensors
  

According to RFID Journal, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department is about to launch a pilot program to track 1,800 inmates using RFID devices. If the test is successful, the technology will be deployed for the 18,000 inmates of the L.A. county jails. With this system, inmates carry a wrist bracelet which issues a signal every two seconds and is caught by RFID readers installed everywhere in the prison. Officers and staff also carry a RFID device attached to their belts. And a central server keeps track in real time of the position of all prisoners and guardians. Besides tracking locations, the system also intends to reduce violence within the jail and to avoid escapes. If this system works as its promoters think, the potential market to equip all federal, state and county jails in the U.S. exceeds $1 billion. Read more…

Tracking prisoners is a great use for RFID tags. If prisons trust RFID technology it’s a wonder why more businesses don’t utilize it. Most still rely on the use of barcode scanners to maintain their inventory records by creating barcodes with barcode software and then printing them out on special barcode printers. One day, the benefits of RFID will most likely overwhelm the use of barcodes in businesses. Until, the debate whether RFID or barcodes is better will continue.

The technology used for this program, the TSI Prism system, is developed and sold by Technology Systems International, Inc. (TSI), a division of Alanco Technologies, Inc.

Now, let’s see briefly what RFID Journal says about the system.

Where the TSI Prism system is in use, every inmate is issued a bracelet when he is processed. Approximately the size of a divers’ watch, the bracelet includes an active RFID tag as well as a bar code if the jail system chooses to use it.

The RFID bracelet sends out a signal every two seconds to RFID readers deployed throughout the facility. The readers send that data to the system’s control center. Officers wear RFID devices similar to the inmates’ bracelets, but have their device attached to their belts. A red button is included with the device for officers to press in an emergency. If that button is pressed, or if an inmate enters a restricted area, an alarm in the control room will alert officers there.

With this system, guards will know if a staff member is in danger, or when an inmate is going off limits. But the program has other goals.

The RFID prison management system is intended to have a three-fold function. It ensures inmates do not escape by issuing an alarm if the bracelet approaches the jail perimeter; it reduces violence by allowing officers to monitor who is congregating with whom; and it allows for administrative functions such as tracking where an inmate is when they are needed.

TSI adds that the system also can reduce costs by eliminating headcounts throughout the day or by reducing insurance costs for prison owners.

For financial information, you can read this Alanco’s press release.

Alanco’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Robert Kauffman, commented, “This LASD contract highlights a related new market for TSI PRISM in addition to the approximately $1 Billion potential U.S. Federal and State prison market. With approximately 700,000 inmates currently incarcerated nationwide, the potential U.S. County Jail market for TSI PRISM is in the range of $500 - $700 million.”

The company doesn’t say if this number represents a yearly market or a total amount.

Sources: Claire Swedberg, RFID Journal, May 16, 2005; and various websites

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• Police
  
  
• Privacy
  
  
• RFID
  
  
• Security
  

In “Wearable Computers You Can Slip Into,” BusinessWeek Online reviews several new unobtrusive wearable devices, such as a handbag with embedded chips. When this bag becomes available for about $150 in two or three years, it will remind you to grab your wallet or to pick an umbrella before going out. And according to research firm IDC, the clunky wearable computers which required users to be wrapped in wires like Christmas gifts are quickly becoming things of the past. The future of wearable computers is already here, especially for some health-care applications, such as a ’smart band’ that collects data on your physical activities and can be used as a weight-loss monitoring tool. But read more…

Let’s start with a bag designed by Gauri Nanda and fellow researchers at the MIT.

Gauri Nanda sees a wearable computer as a… handbag — one that’s built out of four-inch squares and triangles of fabric, with tiny computer chips embedded in it. Assembled together with Velcro that conducts electricity, these pieces form a bag that looks, feels, and weighs like your typical leather purse.

That’s where the similarities end: This bag can wirelessly keep tabs on your belongings and remind you, just as you’re about to leave the house, to take your wallet. It can review the weather report and suggest that you grab an umbrella — or your sunshades. This purse can even upload your favorite songs onto your scarf.

Of course, this kind of bag is using new technologies, such as RFID tags embedded in your wallet, or special fabrics, such as the Aracon fiber from DuPont. But the surprising thing is that — no pun intended — it will not break your wallet. Such a bag will cost only about $150.

Now, here is the ’smart band’ from BodyMedia, which is about to be deployed in fitness clubs.

Here, you can see how this works in the above image (Credit: BodyMedia). The unobtrusive ’smart band’ collects data on your physical activity, which is then processed by proprietary algorithms and finally displayed on a variety of devices.

Originally released three years ago as a tool for researchers — auto makers, for example, used it to understand stress in drivers — the band is about to enter the mainstream. Later this month, Apex Fitness Group, which distributes fitness products to 1,200 health clubs such as 24-hour Fitness, will begin promoting the band for consumers as a weight-loss monitoring tool [and under a cute trademarked name -- bodybugg.]

Then, there is a special shirt developed by VivoMetrics to monitor patients at hospitals, and which can also be used to accelerate new treatment trials.

Because of the volume of data it collects, the shirt can significantly reduce the number of participants in trials, as well as the trials’ duration. In the case of one study for a sleep drug, traditional methods like hooking up patients to various machines at a special sleep lab “would have been at least 10 times more expensive and would have taken 10 times longer,” says Steven James, a San Diego consultant to pharmaceutical companies. During this trial, 15 patients simply wore the shirts at home overnight. VivoMetrics sells a set of six shirts and related software and data recorders for $15,000.

Finally, BusinessWeek Online reports about the Nomad head-mounted display from Microvision, Inc. You can find more information about this device in a previous post from December 2004, “New Wearable Armyware.”

Sources: Olga Kharif, BusinessWeek Online, March 8, 2005; and various websites

Related stories can be found in the following categories.

• Fashion
  


• Materials
  


• Medicine
  


• Pervasive Computing
  


• RFID
  


• Wearable
  

It’s not the first time I choose to tell you about wireless sensor-network technology (check below for previous references). But this article from InformationWeek gives me the opportunity to revisit the subject. The story describes several current projects, from the Department of Homeland Security that wants to secure the U.S. borders, to British Petroleum (BP) monitoring its plants and chips. Hewlett-Packard and Intel also are experimenting with wireless networked sensors in some warehouses and factories. As the market is growing, research companies are trying to figure its size. For example, Harbor Research says that the number of wireless sensors in use will grow from 200,000 today to 100 million in three years, adding that this will be a $1 billion market by 2009. I don’t know if these numbers will be reached, but it’s true that wireless sensor-networks, especially mesh networks, are really attractive because of their low costs of deployment. Read more…

As InformationWeek describes various applications, let’s select BP’s experiments.

The potential for cost savings over traditional wired sensors is enormous. BP installed five wireless sensors over Christmas at its Cherry Point refinery in Washington to monitor the temperature inside giant on-site fans. Using the motes will probably cost about $1,000 per measurement point — and maybe $500 within a year or two, says Harry Cassar, technology director in BP’s emerging-tech group. Each connection measured the old way cost $10,000. BP achieved the $500-per-point measurement in a test last summer to measure conditions in the engine room of an oil tanker.

And BP envisions using wireless networks of sensors to monitor industrial plants and ships, remotely adjust lighting and heat in office buildings, test soil for pollutants, and detect whether chemicals are stored properly. “Wireless mote technology has got applications in almost every part of our business,” Cassar says. “We’re not going to be putting in tens of these devices, or even hundreds. Ultimately, it’s going to be thousands.”

Now, let’s look back at the technology itself.

Wireless sensor devices, or “motes,” package together a circuit board with networking and application software; interfaces to sensors that can detect changes in temperature, pressure, moisture, light, sound, or magnetism; and a wireless radio that can report on their findings–all powered by a pair of AA batteries. Enabled by the fusion of small, low-cost chips, low-powered radios, and the spread of wireless networking, motes are a giant leap ahead of traditional sensors that for decades have measured everything from temperature in buildings to factory machines’ vibrations.

Those sensors require wiring to electrical systems, which can cost $200 to $400 per sensor, and are expensive to service. Motes cost about $100 each, and are much cheaper to install. That price could drop to less than $10 in a few years, as mote components follow computing’s march toward higher volumes, better performance, and lower prices.

If this kind of network is attractive, some challenges remain, especially for software. More standards need to be defined to ensure a perfect interoperability between different sensors and “motes.” And software needs to be embedded within these sensors to ensure better reporting. Finally, there are currently no software tools to manage entire wireless networks.

Here are some short quotes from specialists in the field.

“Sensors are just a part of an ecosystem of wireless devices,” says Feng Zhao, a senior researcher at Microsoft who joined the company last year from PARC to head up a new sensor nets research group on Microsoft’s Redmond, Wash., campus. [...] “We need to figure out how to organize these systems and develop interesting applications for them” for real-world use, adds Zhao. “For all these apps, writing software is very challenging. That will probably be a stumbling block between sensors and killer apps.”

“It’s kind of like the beginning of the Arpanet days for this sensor-net technology, where there’s no killer app yet,” says Teresa Lunt, manager of the computer-science lab at PARC.

For more information, you also can read these two interviews of Teresa Lunt and Hans Mulder, associate director, Intel Research.

Sources: Aaron Ricadela, InformationWeek, January 24, 2005; and sidebar stories from InformationWeek

Related stories can be found in the following categories.

• Economy
  
  
• Networking
  
  
• RFID
  
  
• Sensors
  
  
• Wireless
  

A professor in computer science at the Utah State University (USU) is building robots to help people with disabilities, according to the Utah Statesman in this article. The story, which is more focused on the professor than robotics, carries several anecdotes, such as an embarrassing voice recognition system. After a blind man cleared his throat, the robot misinterpreted the sound as a sign that the man wanted to go to the bathroom. Later, every time a man cleared his throat before speaking, the robot changed directions and insisted to guide him to the restrooms. Even if the article is entertaining, this project at USU is far more ambitious. In fact, they want to design RFID-enabled robots mounted on mobile carts which will welcome blind persons at the entrance of a supermarket and guide them through the store. I bet you’ll never find those carts at a Wal-Mart store, but read more…

RFID has been around for almost 50 years and is still helping people. Harness the power of this technology and check out how you can get some RFID tags and RFID readers. The debate between RFID and barcodes continues on and it seems the technology for RFID may be beating out barcodes and the use of barcode scanners and barcode printers is waning. Get in on the RFID wave and see why this new technology appears to be better.

First, let’s look in detail at the failure of the voice recognition system.

Vladimir Kulyukin, assistant professor in the department of computer science, works jointly as a computer science researcher and for the Center for Persons with Disabilities. He said he had an especially embarrassing moment here at the Center for Persons with Disabilities involving a robot and a speech recognition system.

“We figured we could speak to the robot in English, and using the voice recognition system the robot would interpret the commands and obey them. I quickly realized that just wasn’t possible,” he said.

He said a blind man found the glitch in the system when he cleared his throat and the robot misunderstood the sound to mean the man wanted to go to the bathroom.

“Every time the man cleared his throat, the robot would immediately change directions and guide him into the bathroom,” he said. “It was an especially embarrassing moment in my research,” he added.

Of course, this is only a very small part of the project, which will deploy radio frequency identification (RFID) tags for use in robot-assisted indoor navigation for the visually impaired.

“Simply speaking, we are trying to develop a robot for use as a mobile grocery cart used for the blind in supermarkets,” he said. “The robot would meet the blind person at the door and, by the push of a button, would lead the person to different areas of the store.”

Kulyukin said the robot would ideally be mounted on mobile carts, but the level of funding for the technology here at USU is not sufficient for marketing the project.

But they already built prototypes. And below are two pictures showing this RFID-equipped robotic guide (RG) for visually impaired people (Credit: Vladimir Kulyukin)

For more information, here is a link to Vladimir Kulyukin home page — which is not always available. From there, you’ll have access to various pages covering his research interests and his publications.

You might also want to read a paper named “RFID in Robot-Assisted Indoor Navigation for the Visually Impaired,” available as a PDF document (6 pages, 124 KB). Here is the abstract.

We describe how Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) can be used in robot-assisted indoor navigation for the visually impaired. We present a robotic guide for the visually impaired that was deployed and tested both with and without visually impaired participants in two indoor environments. We describe how we modified the standard potential fields algorithms to achieve navigation at moderate walking speeds and to avoid oscillation in narrow spaces. The experiments illustrate that passive RFID tags deployed in the environment can act as reliable stimuli that trigger local navigation behaviors to achieve global navigation objectives.

This paper also exists as a PowerPoint presentation (42 pages, 2.58 MB). The images above come from this presentation.

Sources: Lexie Kite, The Utah Statesman, Utah State University, January 26, 2005; and various websites

Related stories can be found in the following categories.

• Innovation
  
  
• Medicine
  
  
• RFID
  
  
• Robotics
  

You might remember that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved in October 2004 the usage of a computer chip for humans, which can be inserted under our skin (read this Associated Press story to refresh your memory.) Maybe it doesn’t sound like a good idea to you, but some people take their jobs very seriously. John D. Halamka, the CIO of both the Boston’s CareGroup Health System and the Harvard Medical School, decided to take the plunge. Health Data Management reports that he’s now a RFID-Enabled CIO. He was successfully implanted with a VeriChip in the arm in December 2004 during a painless, 15-minute procedure. He said that RFID readers can identify him even if he wears several layers of clothing. He added he wanted to check how the chip could be used in future medical applications, such as retrieving information from a nonresponsive patient or checking if a medication or procedure was given to the correct person. Read more…

Here are some selected excerpts from the Health Data Management article.

John Halamka, M.D., does not have a chip on his shoulder. He has a chip in his shoulder.

Halamka, CIO at Boston’s CareGroup Healthcare System, has become the first volunteer to test an implantable radio frequency identification chip for medical use. The VeriChip, from Delray Beach, Fla.-based Applied Digital, was approved in October by the Food and Drug Administration for medical use in humans. In December, it was classified as a Class II medical device with special controls.

But why did he accept this implantation of a chip inside his body?

After Halamka met with VeriChip officials in November, he volunteered to evaluate the device and share his assessment with the vendor and the health care industry. He was implanted with the grain-sized chip on December 22, in what he called a painless, 15-minute procedure.

“The implantation required local anesthesia to a two-inch area of my arm between my elbow and shoulder,” he said Wednesday in an interview with Mobile Health Data. “The chip was inserted under my skin–between the fascia and the muscle. I can’t feel it.”

This CIO is not the only guinea pig in the U.S., but apparently, he’s the first person to get that this implant for medical purposes.

Nearly 40 people across the United States have been implanted with a VeriChip and are testing the device, said Richard Seelig, M.D., vice president of medical applications at Applied Digital. These volunteers, however, are using the system for identification and security access applications — not health care, he adds.

And just in case you would be tempted by a VeriChip, how much will it cost to get one?

Applied Digital will begin marketing the VeriChip system to clinicians and provider organizations next month, Seelig says. It will be classified as a prescription medical device and require a physician to perform the implantation.

The vendor will sell the chips to patients for $200 and the readers to health care organizations for $650, Seelig adds. The cost of the implantation will be established by a patient’s physician.

For more information about the company behind the Verichip, Applied Digital Solutions, you can check its website — if you enjoy Macromedia Flash sites — or go directly to this plain HTML page. You can even get a a $50 discount by filling this pre-registration form, aptly named Get Chipped™.

Finally, I want to reassure you: this implanted chip will not ruin your life. According to this short article from the South Florida Business Journal, “Halamka has since climbed several mountains, including Mount Washington in sub-freezing temperatures without any restrictions.”

Now I have two questions for you. Do you think such a chip could some day save your life? And if you answer is yes, would you be ready to accept such an implant?

Sources: Health Data Management, January 21, 2005; and various websites

Related stories can be found in the following categories.

• Medicine
  
  
• Pervasive Computing
  
  
• Privacy
  
  
• RFID
  

When your newspapers write something about RFID tags, it’s almost always about Wal-Mart or how these tags are threatening our privacy. But they often miss the important innovations brought by this technology. For example, in Florida, RFID drives highway traffic reports on more than 200 miles of toll roads. Or take DHL, which is tracking fashion with RFID tags on more than 70 million garments in its French distribution center. Elsewhere, in Texas, 28,000 students test an e-tagging system which promises better security for them. And what about RFID tags which could prevent surgical errors and have just been approved in the U.S last week? So, what do you think? Are these innovations promising a better future for us or not? Read more…

Let’s start with a tag which promises to reduce the number of surgery errors — which apparently kills several thousands people every year.

Here is what the Associated Press writes about the device.

A radio frequency tag that patients can affix like a bandage to ensure doctors perform the right surgery on the right person won government approval Friday.

The tag, manufactured by SurgiChip Inc. of Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., aims to prevent wrongful surgeries that records show kill thousands of patients a year.

But don’t be afraid: even if the tags are scanned during several times before actual surgery, you always have to confirm if the information is correct — except if you’re unconscious.

Tracking garments is obviously less important for your life than avoiding a surgery error, but here is what DHL is doing in France.

DHL Solutions Fashion, a global logistics service provider for clothing manufacturers and retailers, is offering the French fashion industry a way to test item-level RFID tagging of garments in order to help speed the delivery of their products as well as enable shipments to be tracked through the supply chain.

During the summer, DHL worked alongside NBG-ID, RFID specialist based in Cavaillon, France, to deploy an RFID network in a 500-square-meter room at DHL’s Paris distribution center. In July, DHL ran a trial of its new RFID capabilities with one of its customers. Now, the company says it is looking to offer its RFID services to other customers looking to incorporate RFID into their operations.

And don’t think it’s a small experiment.

DHL Solutions Fashion’s Paris distribution center serves as a hub between a number of different fashion clothing suppliers, mostly in France, as well as boutique operators, also mostly in France. Each year, 70 million garments pass through the center on their way to wholesale suppliers.

And what about controlling car traffic — which has been already done elsewhere?

With an eye to improving traffic management and information access, the Orlando/Orange County Expressway Authority (OOCEA) is deploying an RFID-based traffic-monitoring system in central Florida. The system will use roadside RFID readers to collect signals from transponders already installed in about 1 million E-Pass and SunPass customer vehicles. E-Pass (used on roads operated by the expressway authority) and SunPass (used on the Florida’s Turnpike system) are both automatic toll payment methods used in central Florida.

Like the DHL deployment, it’s also a very significant one.

The trial phase of this system will last about two years, but after that time the system could be expanded to additional state roads in central Florida and other reader sites along roads used during the trial. The OOCEA is deploying 128 RFID readers for the initial phase of the testing. The first readers were installed mid-2004 by the FDOT, with project completion by May 1, 2005. Altogether, the system will cover about 228 miles of toll roads and nontoll state highways.

Finally, let’s look at how RFID technology could prevent kidnapping in Texas — and elsewhere.

Hoping to prevent the loss of a child through kidnapping or more innocent circumstances, a few schools have begun monitoring student arrivals and departures using technology similar to that used to track livestock and pallets of retail shipments.

Here in a growing middle- and working-class suburb just north of Houston, the effort is undergoing its most ambitious test. The Spring Independent School District is equipping 28,000 students with ID badges containing computer chips that are read when the students get on and off school buses. The information is fed automatically by wireless phone to the police and school administrators.

Now that I’ve described several examples of how RFID tags could improve our lives, what do you think? Are you convinced that this technology will be used for a better or a worst future? Please post your comments below.

Sources: Catherine Ilic, RFID Journal, November 15, 2004; Claire Swedberg, RFID Journal, November 17, 2004; Matt Richtel, The New York Times, via CNET News.com, November 17, 2004; Associated Press, via Mercury News, November 20, 2004

Related stories can be found in the following categories.

• Innovation
  


• Medicine
  


• Privacy
  


• RFID
  


• Transportation
  


• Wearable Technology