Building the Internet of Things Using Rfid

T he rapid proliferation of passive RFID tags in the past decade has given rise to various concepts that integrate the physical world with the virtual one. One of the most popular is the Internet of Things (IoT), a vision in which the Internet extends into our everyday lives through a wireless network of uniquely identifiable objects. Given numerous predictions that we’ll have hundreds of billions of RFID-tagged objects at approximately five cents per tag by 2015,1 we’re not only approaching such a world, we’re on its doorstep. In this type of RFID system, each physical object is accompanied by a rich, globally accessible virtual object that contains both current and historical information on that object’s physical properties, origin, ownership, and sensory context (for example, the temperature at which a milk carton is being stored). When ubiquitous and available in real time, this information can dramatically streamline how we manufacture, distribute, manage, and recycle our goods. It can also transform the way we perform everyday activities by giving applications current and detailed knowledge about physical events. This “real-life” context can unlock the door to various business, environmental, personal, and social contexts hitherto inaccessible to Internet applications. The incredible amount of information captured by a trillion RFID tags will have a tremendous impact on our lives. However, questions remain if we At the University of Washington, the RFID Ecosystem creates a microcosm