RFID: Radio frequency identification security breach; demo lab
By Control Engineering Staff -- Control Engineering, 7/3/2008
Security of a widely used radio frequency identification chip has been broken by European researchers. Separately, researchers at University of Texas - San Antonio teach about RFID in a $1.2 million manufacturing laboratory there.
RFID security breach: The SANS Institute said researchers at a Dutch university broke the security of the Mifare RFID chip, which is used in the Oyster card, a prepaid smartcard used for travel on UK public transportation. Mifare RFID technology is also used in the UK to access government departments, hospitals and schools, according to the June 24, 2008, edition of SANS NewsBites newsletter.
The research reportedly was presented to the Dutch Parliament, which earlier this year postponed implementation of a prepaid transportation smartcard based on the same technology. The Dutch government is also replacing Mifare cards used to access government buildings, the SANS Institute reported.
RFID application education, research: Meanwhile, training and application-related research continues in at the $1.2 million manufacturing laboratory at the University of Texas at San Antonio's Center for Advanced Manufacturing & Lean Systems (CAMLS), housed in the College of Engineering. UTSA recently partnered with the San Antonio Manufacturers Association to hold a one-day RFID workshop, looking at implementation and integration issues.
"Our center is unique to the country in that we try to look at the big picture and show how systems need to be integrated using a systems engineering perspective," said Can Saygin, associate professor of mechanical engineering. "We look at the methodologies and the kinds of technologies we can bundle together for technology transfer in this industry, which generates $14.6 billion dollars for the San Antonio economy."
UTSA engineering students have developed a supply network that “demonstrates how information can go back and forth using real-time scenarios," says Glenn Thomsen. He is with Omnitrol Networks business development, which benefits from lean manufacturing enabled by automatic identification technologies.
The automation involved and the ability to use RFID are “very cutting-edge and I like to see universities embracing this technology," says Scott Denholm, Motorola senior manager for RFID business development. Denholm says he likes how UTSA is working with the community “in learning how the technologies function in the workplace."
The workshop was cosponsored by the UTSA Center for Advanced Manufacturing & Lean Systems, San Antonio Manufacturers Association, System ID, the Manufacturing Systems and Automation Laboratory, Omnitrol Networks, and Motorola.
UTSA says its College of Engineering is one of its fastest growing among nine colleges, with a 101% increase in student enrollment in the past seven years, and is one of the nation's leading producers of Hispanic engineers. Established in April 2007, CAMLS has received more than $1.2 million in funding from the Department of Defense, National Science Foundation and private industry to support three manufacturing engineering laboratories and 37 employees in the center.
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– Edited by Mark T. Hoske, editor in chief
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