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Programming Wireless Networking Hardware Technology

Open Source RFID Project 21

Posted by michael from the rfidstumbler dept.
Anonymous Coward writes "With all the press RFID is getting, I was looking for an open source solution to Wal-Mart's RFID compliancy mandate. I stumbled open the RadioActive project. I think these guys have the right idea. Eventually, RFID will be everywhere. Could an open source project like this bring rapid deployment of RFID like Apache did to the net?"
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Open Source RFID Project More

Open Source RFID Project

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  • I don't see how... (Score:1, Insightful)

    by dhakbar ( 783117 )
    I'm not sure what the point of an open source RFID project would really be.

    Shortly put, I don't think the situation is at all analogous to Apache's.
    • There are lots of details about RFID that most people don't see.

      The way in which Walmart, DOD and the EPC wants to deploy RFID is very similar to the internet. In a sense, each item will have its own IP address (unique id) and data can be resolved from that ip (information about the package).

      The standards set are full of specific software and services that companies need to have to deploy a EPC compliant system.

      Just like how Apache uses standards to communicate with browsers, the RFID world is
    • I'm not sure what the point of an open source RFID project would really be.
      This is easy, to help support the new standards that are being set by EPC Global. Also to fuel faster development and deployment to help move the technology quicker. I read a lot of posts about gonig to the grocery store, and walking out with all of your products and have it billed to your credit card. The reality of the situation is that this is a long way off, Wal-Mart is only now beginning to tag only pallets and cases - a
  • but isn't a situation where RFID is as ubiquitous as apache one of the things we slashdotters truly fear and hate?

    Why would we want to contribute to such a project?
    • 2 reasons, both predicated on the idea that it will happen with or without us.

      1) If Open Source is a major player in the software for such things, we all have a better understanding of it.

      For instance, do you really trust proprietary software to say "yes, I fried your tag, you may leave in peace" and actually do it, or do you wonder if it said that, but really just threw a "be silent when this guy walks out the door" to the tracking station that goes off if you leave without paying?

      2) If Open Source is a

      • do you really trust proprietary software to say "yes, I fried your tag, you may leave in peace" and actually do it, or do you wonder if it said that, but really just threw a "be silent when this guy walks out the door" to the tracking station that goes off if you leave without paying?

        Actually, the latter is exactly how it's going to work. We've had posts to earlier stories with links to experts claiming their RFID chips cannot be "fried."

        RFID is simply a radio readable (proximity, contactless) serial numb

  • Same technology as proximity cards... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by stienman ( 51024 ) <adavis&ubasics,com> on Tuesday August 03, 2004 @02:01PM (#9870749) Homepage Journal
    RFID is ther same technology as proximity cards used to access many buildings.

    And here [cryolite.ath.cx] - also cached at [google.com] - is a proximity/rfid copier and spoofer. It can read cards passively (while another reader interrogates them) or actively, and can later pretend it's the card when interrogated.

    Of course, this can be defeated by a challenge/response system, which is available, but lower costs will probably dictate the cheaper ID only rfid.

    I've known it can be done, and have had a desire to do it, but this guy already did. Now if this becomes common enough then the manufacturers will be forced to use more secure RFID mechanisms.

    -Adam

    • RFID is the same technology as proximity cards used to access many buildings.

      Not really, because there isn't one technology used for these things, except at the most abstract level of "small devices that use radio to communicate".

      Some prox cards have no intelligence at all. They're essentially just a coil with a "tuned" resistor. When you hit them with a signal, they reflect that back, somewhat shifted due to the presence of the resistor in the circuit. Other prox cards are more sophisticated and mo

      • You seem to have placed heavy focus on my mis-statement, where I should have written,"Many prox card systems are simple RFID." and then pointed out that a huge variety of generic RFID read only or read/write systems could be read and spoofed by this simple system.

        RFID is not just a general concept, but a relatively narrow field of wireless communications. I would take issue with your claim that a cell phone and GPS unit could be considered RFID, though I'm sure many companies will purposefully mis state
  • Other than the hardware invloved (readers and the tags themselves), I was under the impression that RFIDs were just like bar codes. Don't they just store a serial number and require a more advanced system to look up any data involved? If so, what would this middleware do?

  • Apache anf RFID? (Score:1, Offtopic)

    by Chasuk ( 62477 )
    Could an open source project like this bring rapid deployment of RFID like Apache did to the net?

    Apache brought the rapid deployment of RFID to the net?

    Really? This must be a development I missed...
  • You are making one huge assumption here - that the blind masses don't mind your "enthusiastic" deployment of RFID. Long live the Big Brother spirit! The people and companies who have a vested interest in deploying RFID *will* do it sooner or later. But why help them make money? Unless YOU are the one who wants to benefit from the *open-source* efforts of others.

  • Re:Um correct me if I'm wrong (Score:0)
    by Anonymous Coward on Tue Aug 03, '04 03:05 PM (#9870771)
    Coming soon: an open-source project dedicated to developing a trojan horse that scans the user's hard drive for pirated songs and movies and transmits this information directly to the RIAA and MPAA!

    I would like to address this measly coward's point, since I think this thought process comes up often. We should not object to an open-source project that scans for pirated software. Nor should we object to an

  • This would be really neat... (Score:3, Informative)

    by Ayanami Rei ( 621112 ) * <rayanami@nOSPaM.gmail.com> on Tuesday August 03, 2004 @04:35PM (#9872357) Journal
    except that RadioActive seems to be mostly dead, and all the links to the involved standards are broken.

    Not a good start!

    Frankly there isn't very much to an RFID system. You have your reader, which is just some XYZ device with a serial interface (or USB-serial interface) that spits out data like a barcode reader. You don't have to think about things like modulation schemes or frequency unless you're building your own reader, otherwise you're buying a kit with reader and tags.

    So then you just have to map those serial numbers into an index in a SQL table, and uh, go from there...
    SQL, application servers, USB-serial device drivers, all that's done already.

    Maybe what they're saying is there isn't any good open-source inventory/point-of-sale packages that sit on top of an inventory database for the user (besides some kind of thrown-together PHP deal and web interface), or that are used to feed is present at location/is not present into said database in real time.

    • Thats not true at all, RadioActive is very much alive. Please check the links again, EPC has recently taken them down and i have placed them on the website. RFID middleware, or what used to be called a "Savant" is far from an easy database system. It has to deal with sychronization, data cleansing and scheduling.

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