Pictures of the Future      Spring 2005

Things that Think

It may one day be possible to equip just about any object—be it a milk carton, a car, or a machine tool—with a chip that stores the item’s own digital memory. Given that billions of things could then exchange information, the number of possible applications is virtually unlimited.

That dress looks great on you," says the friendly voice from the speaker, while the display screen points out that it would "go very well with this blue jacket." Karin M. walks out of the changing room and is guided by her shopping navigator to the clothing rack where the jacket is hanging. She decides to wear her new outfit out of the store. The laser reading device at the cash register records the merchandise she’s purchased without making any physical contact with it—and also prints out her receipt. "Please note," flashes the display at the cash register, "that your dress should be washed in cold water only and should not be put in a dryer."

A utopian dream? Not at all. In fact, the technology described in this scenario already exists. Metro AG’s "Futurestore" in Rheinberg, Germany, already has a computer that knows where each item of clothing in the store is located. It can also inform customers of the various sizes available and what each item costs. Shopping carts are equipped with a navigation system that guides customers through the store, after which they pay at cash registers that read prices without making any physical contact with the merchandise. In Japan, NEC is testing a type of virtual fashion outfitting system. The customer provides his or her size, the computer determines which pieces of clothing are hanging in the changing room, and then suggests a suitable combination of items. Metro Futurestore’s partners for its high-tech system are Siemens Automation and Drives (A&D), which provides components for the radio communications technology, and Siemens Business Services (SBS), which handles system integration.

Online Inventory with RFID. Palettes and containers in logistics and production facilities are already being equipped with electronic memories, and plans call for individual products such as food items and automotive spare parts to be given their own identities over the next few years. The little brains behind this new world of merchandise are so-called RFID transponders (Radio Frequency Identification; see Pictures of the Future, Fall 2003, "Why Transponders are Making Waves"). These tags consist of a tiny chip and an antenna, both of which can be made flat enough to fit in a paper label or a piece of clothing as a waterproof label. "RFID tags link the world of data with the real world," says Dr. Carl Udo Maier, head of Strategic Marketing Automation & Control at Siemens Corporate Technology (CT).

Sun Microsystems predicts that a trillion objects will be equipped with RFID chips by 2012, and market researchers at Frost&Sullivan estimate that companies will be spending $11.7 billion in 2010 to reach that level. These developments are being driven by retail companies such as WalMart and Metro. And with good reason. According to Prof. Matthias Lampe from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, there is currently an average 35-% discrepancy between retailers’ inventory lists and the actual number of items in stock. What’s more, 15 % of the products advertised are already sold out. RFID technology could be a huge help here.

It will take several years before every product can be equipped with a trans­ponder. Passive one-way tags now cost between 30 and 50 euro cents each, which means they’re still too expensive to be used with most supermarket items. High-quality, battery-powered active tags for use in factories can cost more, but they can be used thousands of times and also reduce the time needed for manufacturing products. Holger Schönherr, project manager for Automatic Identification at A&D in Nuremberg, doesn’t believe we’ll be seeing inexpensive polymer tags with printed circuits of conductive plastic until 2008 at the earliest, when the unit price will likely be around one cent. By then, however, the only things these tags would be too expensive for would be gum balls (see Pictures of the Future, Fall 2004, The Chip Printers).

However, not all RFIDs are the same, as Schönherr emphasizes. Different transmission frequencies—from 125 kHz to 13.56 MHz, from the UHF band to 920 MHz, and microwaves of up to 2.45 GHz—are used for different RFID applications. A&D has developed a whole range of RFID systems, which it offers under the name MOBY for diverse industrial applications. For example, there are RFID systems with passive tags that draw their energy from the reading device’s electromagnetic field and can be read from up to a few meters away. This particularly economical method for labeling merchandise is used by large mail-order companies and logistics service firms to optimize their processes. Active tags with a greater range and storage capacity are used for demanding tasks in production automation. In the automotive industry, for example, they transfer manufacturing data to and from a vehicle during every production step. Tags used for this application must be especially robust and heat resistant. The product spectrum is rounded off by systems with a range of several hundred meters that can localize objects or individuals.

Engineers have also come up with a universal RFID language to enable objects to communicate around the world. The Electronic Product Code (EPC) contains information on the manufacturer, product, and serial number. The 96 bits in this standardized code are sufficient to clearly label anything on the planet. Based on the principle that "I know someone who knows a lot," the EPC is used to seek and retrieve information on a particular object from a database that can conceivably be located anywhere in the world and accessed via the Internet. In other words, the code in an RFID chip is merely an address that points out the location in the global database where the information on the corresponding item is stored. This principle is especially useful in connection with information that should be accessible to only a limited number of people. The volume of the data for each item can be as extensive as necessary with this system—unlike less expensive RFID chips, which have limited storage capacity. The latter are sufficient for a few pages of text or washing instructions, but cannot handle photos, instruction manuals, or maintenance documentation.

Intelligent Objects. According to Siemens’ Maier, the technology will develop as follows:
^? The first RFID tags are already being equipped with sensors that could be used to monitor the temperature of food in refrigerators or to transmit data on car tire pressure to drivers. The technology is mature and ready for mass production. Maier refers to the abilities described above as "context aware­ness," meaning that an object knows where it is located at a specific time, and could, for example, also register temperature.
^? RFID measuring sensors will be joined in a few years by systems that directly convert the data into appropriate commands. Siemens will produce water-resistant MOBY transponders that identify laundry in hospitals and senior citizen homes. A sensor sewed into the clothing will measure temperature. If the water is too hot for a particular item, it will automatically send a signal to the washing machine, which will then lower the temperature.
^? In five to ten years, RFID tags will be able to communicate with one another. It will then be possible for a defective component to inform a machine that it has to be replaced, or for a clothes closet to check if it still contains any clean shirts. Such tags could also be thrown around like confetti to create a self-organizing sensor network that monitors the weather or identifies pollutants in soil ( Pictures of the Future, Fall 2004, Buildings that Think and Act and Pictures of the Future, Fall 2004, Sensor Networks). For Elgar Fleisch, professor of Technology Management at the Universities of Zurich and Sankt Gallen, Switzerland, it is clear what this "Internet of things" will lead to: "Billions of sensors and objects that transmit data will form a global nervous system of the real world."

At Siemens Corporate Technology (CT), a team led by Marquart Franz is addressing this concept, which is referred to as pervasive computing ( Pictures of the Future, Fall 2004, Digital Aura) , as well as the subject of distributed intelligence. Franz has analyzed production processes and discovered that they don’t display the kind of flexibility often needed. His vision of manufacturing in the future involves rigid processes being replaced by components, machines, and even transport systems that communicate on a peer-to-peer basis to guarantee optimal productivity in every situation. If, for example, a machine fails, production pieces fitted with RFID tags will search for a new machine and transport themselves to it autonomously. The same process would occur if a new machine were brought into the production system or if manufacturing processes were altered. Franz has built a demonstration unit for this in his lab that consists of a model train and construction set. Toy cars serve as the components that have to be processed at various stations, which represent machine locations in a factory. Communication is via WLAN, although any other transmission system could be used as well. If Franz shuts down a station, the train (i.e. the conveyor belt in a factory) will go to the next suitable station. "We believe our concept offers economic benefits," says Franz. The concept is currently being presented to several Siemens divisions in order to adapt it to production processes and business models.

Talking Machines. The "Internet of things" cannot be created with RFIDs alone. For instance, for a soft drink machine to communicate with a distributor, sophisticated long-range radio communications technologies will be required. Such systems will use standards such as GSM, GPRS and UMTS "to connect a mobile radio module—a board with chips and software—to sensors," says Doris Altwasser from Siemens Communications. The market potential for machine-to-machine (M2M) communication systems is enormous—after all, there are only six billion people but there are more than 50 billion machines. In the future, these machines will be able to communicate with a control center or even with one another (see (Facts and Forecasts).

World Cup Radio Chip. There are plenty of application possibilities. M2M has been used in stationary applications for years—for example in beverage machines that forward information about their contents to a control center, or in machines that send out a distress signal if they break down. More and more mobile application possibilities are also opening up. Railion, a subsidiary of the Deutsche Bahn railroad company, already monitors 13,000 of its 120,000 freight cars using an autonomous telematics terminal manufactured by Munich-based company transportdata AG. The terminals, which look like small fire extinguishers, are welded onto the exterior of train cars and transmit data on their position and condition—as well as the content of the cars—to a control center via GSM networks. The latest modules from Siemens come with a GPS receiver and enable objects to be localized down to a few meters. The stage has thus been set for a perfect division of labor in the future: RFID sensors will monitor individual items in freight cars, and wireless modules will transmit the data along with the cars’ loations.

M2M communications will also eventually find its way into our homes, according to Altwasser. At the Security trade show in Essen, Germany, in October 2004, Siemens Building Technologies presented a system that does not require a fixed-line connection. This "guardian cell phone" with hands-free operation can be hung on a wall. It collects information via radio from sensors that register the breaking of glass or other signs of burglary, and then transmits this information via the mobile communications network to a security office. The same principle can be used in automobiles. Here, alarm systems have been developed that notify the owner and the authorities if a vehicle has been broken into, or send out an emergency call if the driver pushes a special button.

RFID technology will undergo its biggest test during the 2006 Soccer World Cup in Germany. Tickets for the matches will transmit the names of their holders to the turnstiles at the stadiums. Even the ball may be used as a transmitter. Adidas has developed a soccer ball equipped with a radio chip that registers precisely whether it has crossed the goal line.
                                                                                                                        Bernd Müller