rfidtags
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MIT engineers give RFID tags chemical-sensing capabilities
Engineering specialists from MIT have devised a way to make RFID (radio-frequency identification) tags more reliable and pick up on chemicals in the surrounding environment -- without needing the typical battery.
How RFID tags became trendy
As far as wireless technologies go, radio-frequency identification (RFID) is one of the oldest. Patented in 1983 by the late British inventor Charles Walton, RFID made it possible for new, cutting-edge tech such as near-field communication (NFC) to exist. As with NFC, RFID chips are used to store information digitally, which can then be shared between objects through electromagnetic fields and radio waves. It may not be sexy, but companies see real potential in the technology, no matter how old. It's no surprise, then, that over the past few years RFIDs have become ubiquitous in a wide range of industries, including travel, sports and one you wouldn't expect: fashion.
Doh uses RFID and Arduino to help you remember your wallet, continues search for the 'Any Key'
If you can dream it, Arduino can help you build it -- perhaps with a dash of MakerBot thrown in for good measure. The latest homebrew project to hit the ol' inbox sounds an alarm whenever you leave a room without a registered item. Doh (named in Homer Simpson's honor, we presume), uses a trio of devices to track items that you usually travel with, like your keys or a cellphone. After you've assembled the rather complex contraption, you affix color-coded RFID tags to your gadgets, before registering them with the Arduino-based host. If you leave the room without all of the items that you've registered as a "grouping," a door handle-mounted display will indicate what's missing by flashing its color and sounding an alarm. If you've forgotten multiple items, the display will cycle through the associated colors. There's also a two-way "buzzing tag" that beeps until it's found, if you wish to add that to your collection. It's not a turnkey solution by any means, but unlike Homer, at least you're not being tasked with preventing nuclear meltdown. And if you're looking for a time-proven alternative, a pen and a pad of stickies should do. Jump past the break for a demo video, banjo-equipped soundtrack and all.
IDEO constructs RFID turntable, hearkens back to mixtapes of yore (video)
Once upon a time, you could touch your music -- or at least caress a 7- or 12-inch vinyl disc -- but these days the cool kids stream MP3s (and OGGs, and APEs) off the internet. However, design studio IDEO recently decided to see if they could get back in touch with their audio roots, and -- taking a page right out of the industrial design treatise I Miss My Pencil -- they built the above machine. To put it simply, what you're looking at is a box filled with specially-angled Arduino Pro Mini boards constantly searching for RFID tags on top, and a set of cards each with two RFID tags, with each tag representing one song. When you drop one on the turntable, it begins playing within a second, thanks to the clever array of Arduinos underneath, and you and your High Fidelity soulmate can leave multiple cards on the table to create an impromptu mixtape, or, presumably, flip one of the "cassettes" to play Side B. It's a good thing IDEO isn't selling the device and packs of cards, because we're afraid we'd be compelled to collect them all, and our poor wallet doesn't need any more heartbreak. Don't miss the video below!
Rfiddler zapper kills RFID tags dead, the hard way
Sure, there may be a number of relatively easy ways to destroy or disable an RFID tag (tossing it in the microwave, for instance), but where's the fun in that? There are plenty of good times to be had with this so-called "Rfiddler" built by Codeninja though, which disables tags (and potentially anything else in its sights) by emitting a strong electromagnetic field -- not to mention some sounds that will cause anyone standing in its vicinity to take a few big steps back. Head on past the break for a video, and hit up the link below for the complete parts list if you're interested in building your own.
Researchers say RFID 'fingerprint' could prevent counterfeiting
While it hasn't exactly been a detriment to their widespread adoption, RFID tags have proven to be relatively easy to exploit in a number of cases. Some researchers at the University of Arkansas say they've now found a novel way to change that, however, with a new method that effectively amounts to a "fingerprint" for RFID tags. The short of it is that they discovered that each RFID tag has unique minimum power response at multiple radio frequencies, and that power responses across tags were significantly different, even for tags of the same model. That, along with several other unique, unspecified physical characteristics allowed them to create an electronic fingerprint that's tied to each RFID tag, but doesn't actually depend on any modifications or encryption on the tag itself -- which almost incidentally means it can be implemented with relative ease and at no added cost.
