RFID is technology that uses radio signals or electromagnetic energy to identify objects. Current applications include soccer event ticketing, wristbands for sporting events, patient tracking, child safety in theme parks and contactless payment cards. Today, many people use the technology everyday for keyless entry to cars or for toll tag access.

The UNT group -- comprised of more than 80 faculty and administrative experts and graduate students -- meets once a month to exchange information about ongoing projects and to discuss new ideas for area business and industry leaders. Members represent UNT's College of Business Administration, School of Library and Information Sciences, College of Engineering, School of Community Service, School of Visual Arts, School of Merchandising and Hospitality Management, and UNT Libraries as well as campus areas of transportation and security, healthcare, facilities, and information technology.

In its June session, the group met with Checkpoint Systems, Inc. Access Control and RFID Solutions to discuss "smart" building access systems and RFID privacy issues in organizations.

The UNT group is currently planning a series of seminars that will be co-sponsored by the National RFID Forum for Business and Industry in the North Texas area.

According to Tony Sabetti, director of UHF/Supply Chain, Texas Instruments RFID Systems -- this will be an important and much-needed effort to assist the small to mid-size companies in North Texas with specific questions about how RFID technologies can help their businesses.

"The seminars will provide RFID education that is in great demand," he says.

In addition to the seminars, the Texas Center for Digital Knowledge will be co-sponsoring an RFID Institute with the National Information Standards Organization in October.

It will address standards issues about encoding and privacy concerns in the information industry among publishers, booksellers, corporate knowledge centers and libraries. Institute presenters will include industry leaders from RFID companies, software and hardware giants, the Electronic Freedom Foundation, EPC Global and many others. Registration will be open to the public.

Other projects of the UNT RFID Research Group include web-based services and educational efforts with the Metroplex Technology Business Council, as well as specific projects with RFID suppliers and software producers.

The global importance of the North Texas region's RFID technology was confirmed this year when the Third Annual RFID World -- one of the premier events for the RFID industry -- was held in Dallas in March. Thousands of attendees and hundreds of vendors filled the conference rooms and exhibition halls at the Gaylord Texan Resort in Grapevine. Hundreds of delegates from Asia, including China, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Taiwan and Singapore attended. The RFID World is returning to Dallas for the 2006 event scheduled Feb. 27 through March 1.

Three UNT professors/RFID researchers -- Dr. Chang Koh, associate professor of Information Technology and Decision Sciences, Dr. Stephen Swartz, assistant professor of Marketing and Logistics, and Dr. Hai Deng, assistant professor of Electrical Engineering -- organized the group.

Koh is a respected consultant to companies, industries and individuals seeking a comprehensive and balanced view of RFID; Swartz devotes a considerable portion of his active research efforts to evaluating supply chain efficiencies and optimization of RFID; and Deng is one of the leading RFID researchers in designing sensor-incorporated RFID tags and innovative RFID systems with extremely large operational range.

These experts believe RFID is an important and ever-growing presence in the lives of the citizens of the North Texas region, the state, the nation and the world.

The UNT RFID Research Group is currently producing a primer and basic RFID book as the first in a series of research publications about RFID technologies and applications.

The Technology:

Koh explains, "We've been using radar technology for years to identify very large objects like airplanes and ships, but modern applications for RFID can be used to recognize practically anything," he says.

"Furthermore, the current RFID technology can be used to store and process data. A small label or tag with a processing chip and antenna imprinted can be attached to any object," Koh says.

He says that until recently the use of RFID was regarded as an engineering vision rather than a practical value proposition.

However, that perception changed dramatically with Wal-Mart's 2003 decision to test RFID technology for shipments bound for its Dallas-area distribution center by January 2005.

The result is that now all cases and pallets arriving in the Dallas-area carry RFID tags so that they can be tracked and managed more easily and accurately.

Since the Wal-Mart announcement, numerous RFID vendors have opened or relocated their offices in North Texas and created a hotbed of RFID activity in the area. Major retailers such as Best Buy, Target, and Albertsons also decided to test RFID in the Dallas area.

In addition, the U.S. government has started mandating the use of RFID for various applications. In 2002, the U.S. Department of Defense decreed that all supplies bound for combat areas must be tracked with RFID tags to provide visibility and flexibility. Recently the U.S. Food and Drug Administration made it mandatory for drug manufacturers to put RFID labels on bottles by 2007 to guard against theft and counterfeiting.

The UNT group believes these developments have great potential for bringing economic energy to North Texas and having a lasting impact on the region.

More information including industry links and resources will be available on the group's website at www.txcdk.org/rfid or contact Corrie Marsh, associate director of the Texas Center for Digital Knowledge at cmarsh@unt.edu or (940) 565-4552.