Can EPCglobal Ratify A UHF Generation 2 Protocol Specification This Year?

Wal-Mart's now-infamous RFID mandate to its top 100 suppliers last June created a tidal wave of activity to integrate RFID technology within the supply chain. Without a single, globally accepted communications protocol, however, that wave cannot be ridden. While early adopters proclaimed "surf's up" and waded in, pragmatists cautioned against being swept out to sea by all the hype. Based on recent developments, however, it appears to me that the tide is turning and the winds are favorable for EPCglobal to ratify a UHF generation 2 (UHFG2) protocol specification by this fall. If this happens, Wal-Mart's tsunami – while still on the horizon – looks rideable to me.

A single, globally accepted communications protocol will form the basis for interoperability across trading partners that deploy RFID tags, readers, and printers from a variety of manufacturers. Both Wal-Mart and the Department of Defense have indicated that they will adopt the UHFG2 standard.

At the end of May, EPCglobal's Hardware Action Group (HAG) reviewed alternative proposals for the UHFG2 communications protocol specification, which governs the way tags and readers communicate. (This is also referred to as the air-interface protocol.) I learned that the four proposals submitted in April had been reconciled down to two (one of them supported by the world's leading manufacturers of RFID chips, tags, readers, printers, handhelds, and software). If the HAG can settle on a unified specification, it will be submitted to EPCglobal's board of governors for ratification, in which case final approval by September 2004 is possible. If a consensus specification cannot be reached, the competing proposals will be benchmarked by the Auto-ID center at MIT to determine which one best satisfies the published user requirements. This would certainly slow things down.

Even if a specification is ratified by this September, it will take about a year for manufacturers of the various RFID technology components to ramp up production. In the meantime, early adopters need to use technology based on one of the existing UHF protocols (class 0, class 1, or ISO 18000) for pilot testing purposes. In those situations, make sure your printer and reader/antenna suppliers provide a painless migration path to support UHFG2. Most reader and printer suppliers claim they will provide this via a firmware upgrade. I would get that in writing! Second, don't invest in building out your entire infrastructure (e.g. printers, readers, antennas, handheld devices) until vendors' UHFG2 based devices are beyond the beta test phase and shipping in quantity.

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