1. History of RFID Technology Development
The development of RFID technology can be traced back to World War II, when it was used for friend-or-foe identification in aerial combat operations. Historically, RFID technology development can be roughly divided into several stages every 10 years (see Table 1). Therefore, RFID is not a brand new technology. In terms of classification, after years of development, RFID technology below 13.56MHz has become relatively mature, and currently the industry is most focused on medium and high frequency RFID technology, especially the long-range RFID technology in the 860MHz~960MHz (UHF band) developing fastest; while the 2.45GHz and 5.8GHz frequency bands have crowded products, are susceptible to interference, and the technology is relatively complex, so related research and applications are still in the exploratory stage.
2. Global RFID Industry Development Analysis
From a global perspective, the U.S. government is an active promoter of RFID applications, and under its promotion, the United States leads the world in establishing RFID standards, developing related software and hardware technologies, and application fields. European RFID standards follow the U.S.-led EPCglobal standard. In terms of closed system applications, Europe and the United States are basically at the same stage. Although Japan has proposed the UID standard, it has mainly received support from domestic manufacturers, and there is still a long way to go if it wants to become an international standard. The importance of RFID in South Korea has been strengthened, and the government has given high priority to it, but so far South Korea's RFID standards are still unclear. Currently, the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Sweden, Switzerland, Japan, South Africa and other countries all have relatively mature and advanced RFID products.
From the perspective of the global industrial landscape, currently the RFID industry is mainly concentrated in the European and American markets where RFID technology application is relatively mature. Semiconductor manufacturers such as Philips, Siemens, ST, and TI basically dominate the RFID chip market; international giants such as IBM, HP, Microsoft, SAP, Sybase, and Sun have seized favorable positions in RFID middleware and system integration research; companies such as Alien, Intermec, Symbol, Transcore, Matrics, and Impinj provide RFID tags, antennas, readers and other products and equipment.
United States
In terms of industry, U.S. integrated circuit manufacturers such as TI and Intel are currently investing heavily in chip development in the RFID field. Companies like Symbol have developed scanners that can read both barcodes and RFID simultaneously. IBM, Microsoft, and HP are also actively developing corresponding software and systems to support RFID applications. Currently, the United States has begun to gradually apply RFID technology in areas such as transportation, vehicle management, identity recognition, production line automation control, warehouse management, and material tracking. In terms of logistics, more than 100 companies in the United States have committed to supporting RFID applications, including: retailer Walmart; manufacturers Gillette, Johnson & Johnson, Procter & Gamble; logistics company United Parcel Service; and the Department of Defense's logistics applications.
Additionally, it is worth noting that the U.S. government is an active promoter of RFID applications. According to U.S. Department of Defense contract provisions, all military supplies must use RFID tags after October 1, 2004 or January 1, 2005; the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recommends that pharmaceutical companies use RFID to track the most commonly counterfeited drugs from 2006; the U.S. Social Security Administration (SSA) officially began using RFID technology to track various SSA forms and manuals in early 2005.
Europe
In terms of industry, European companies Philips and STMicroelectronics are actively developing low-cost RFID chips; Checkpoint is developing a multi-system RFID identification system supporting multiple systems; Nokia is developing an RFID-based mobile phone shopping system; and SAP is actively developing enterprise application management software supporting RFID. In terms of applications, Europe is basically at the same stage as the United States in terms of closed systems such as transportation, identity recognition, production line automation control, and material tracking. Currently, many large European companies are conducting RFID application experiments. For example, British retail company Tesco concluded its first phase trial in September 2003. The trial was conducted between the company's logistics center and two stores in the UK, tracking the flow path of cartons and pallets between the logistics center and the two stores, using the 915MHz frequency band.
Japan
Japan is a manufacturing powerhouse that started early in the electronic tag research field, and the government also regards RFID as a key technology to develop. MPHPT released the "Final Research Draft Report on Advanced RFID Technology Application in the Sensor Network Era" in March 2004, stating that MPHPT will continue to support testing passive and active electronic tag technology in the UHF frequency band, and further discuss regulatory issues based on this; In July 2004, Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) selected seven major industries for RFID application experiments, including consumer electronics, books, clothing, music CDs, construction machinery, pharmaceuticals, and logistics. Looking at recent developments in Japan's RFID field, RFID technology-based products and solutions combined with industry applications have begun to emerge intensively, laying a solid foundation for RFID application promotion in Japan in 2005, especially in non-manufacturing areas such as logistics.
South Korea
South Korea mainly promotes RFID development through national development plans combined with corporate strength, primarily driven by the Ministry of Industry and Resources and the Ministry of Information and Communications. It is particularly worth noting that since South Korea proposed the IT839 plan in March 2004, the importance of RFID has been further strengthened. Although South Korea currently has little to show in RFID development and application, it is worth paying attention to the fact that under the high priority given by the Korean government, RFID technology development and application experiments in South Korea are accelerating. Similar to Japan, South Korea has also seen a trend of introducing RFID into open systems. In March 2005, the South Korean government will invest 784 million USD to build a new technology center in Incheon, mainly engaged in electronic tag technology including RFID R&D and production, to help Korean enterprises quickly establish a mainstream position in the global RFID market. The center's construction will be completed before 2007, and RFID tags and sensors will be shipped in bulk in 2008.
3. Development of China's RFID Industry
Compared with developed countries or regions in Europe and America, China's RFID industry development is still relatively lagging. Although the total number of RFID enterprises in China exceeds 100, there is a lack of key core technologies, especially in UHF RFID. From hardware products including chips, antennas, tags and readers, low and high frequency RFID technology has low barriers to entry, China developed earlier, the technology is relatively mature, and products are widely used, currently in a state of complete competition; UHF RFID technology has high barriers to entry, China developed later, technology is relatively lacking, very few enterprises are engaged in UHF RFID product production, and there is a lack of innovative enterprises with independent intellectual property rights.
From the industry chain perspective, the RFID industry chain mainly consists of chip design, tag encapsulation, reader device design and manufacturing, system integration, middleware, and application software. Currently, China has not yet formed a mature RFID industry chain, and the core technologies of products are basically in the hands of foreign companies, especially in chips, middleware and other aspects. Medium, low, and high frequency tag encapsulation technology has basically matured in China, but only very few enterprises have UHF reader design and manufacturing capabilities. Domestic enterprises basically have RFID antenna design and R&D capabilities, but do not yet have the capability to design reliable RFID tag antennas for metal materials and liquid environments.