CASAGRAS and The Internet of Things

Prof Anthony Furness

European Centre of Excellence for AIDC
Summary
CASAGRAS (Coordination And Support
Action for Global RFID-related Activities and
Standardisation ) aim:

To provide an incisive framework of

foundation studies that can assist in
influencing and accommodating international
issues and developments concerning radio
frequency identification (RFID) and the
emerging Internet of Things, particularly with
respect to standards and regulations
CASAGRAS General Objectives:
To provide:
• A platform for international collaboration on all aspects of standards
and regulations relating to RFID and The Internet of Things
• A framework and supporting documentation for incisive and analytical
review of international RFID standards
• Recommendations with respect to international standardisation and
regulatory developments for RFID
• Recommendations with respect to applications methodologies and
positioning
• Recommendations for future research and development and
international collaboration
• Recommendations to encourage participation of SMEs
• An on-going collaborative research platform for RFID
CASAGRAS Work packages:
1. Standards and Procedures for International Standardisation in
relation to RFID, including applications and conformance
standards
2. Regulatory issues in respect of RFID standards
3. Global coding systems in relation to RFID standards
4. RFID in relation to Ubiquitous Computing and Networks
5. Functional, including sensory, developments in RFID and
Associated Standards
6. Areas of Application, existing and future, and associated
Standards
7. Socio-economic components of RFID Usage
CASAGRAS (Coordination And Support
Action for Global RFID-related Activities and
Standardisation ) working with…
 European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI)
 Supply Chain Innovation Centre (Hong Kong, China)
 YRP Ubiquitous Networking Laboratory (Japan)
 Electronics and Telecommunication Research Institute (ETRI,
Korea)
 QED (USA – company specialising in international
standardisation)
 AIM (UK) and European Centre for AIDC

Also collaborating with GRIFS (Global RFID Interoperability Forum

for Standards, EPoSS (European Technology Platform on Smart
Systems Integration and a number of sub-contractors)
CASAGRAS and The Internet of Things-
Interim Report
Justifying the Inclusive Model
• European Union and International Perspective
• Physical Real World Awareness
• Analysing the Concept of Connected Objects
• Influence of Ubiquitous Computing and Networking
• Influence of Mobile and Fixed Communications
• The Internet and the Internet of Things
• Global Inclusion
• The Role of RFID in the Internet of Things
• Standards and Regulations for Spectrum Allocation
CASAGRAS Reference Point Target
The Internet of Things
 ‘The Internet of Things’ is a concept originally
coined and introduced by MIT, Auto-ID Center
and intimately linked to RFID and electronic
product code (EPC)

“… all about physical items talking to each other..”

Like RFID it is a concept that has attracted much

rhetoric, misconception and confusion as to what
it means and its implications in a social context
 The concept of the Internet of Things is now being
influenced strongly by developments in computing and
network ubiquity and developments in the next
generation Internet - and considered at all levels
including United Nations
“We are heading into a new era of ubiquity, where the
users of the Internet will be counted in billions, and
where humans may become the minority as generators
and receivers of traffic. Changes brought about by the
Internet will be dwarfed by those prompted by the
networking of everyday objects “ – UN report
The concept is also central to Commission thinking on
RFID and associated research funding in Europe

“… a new phase of the Information Society – the

Internet of Things in which the web will not only link
computers but potentially every object created by
mankind.” – Viviane Reding – On RFID: The next step to The Internet
of Things – Lisbon Conference 2007

Even in concept some thought has to be given to the implications of

such statements in respect of population-partitioning of identifiable
objects and connectivity dynamics – Analysis of the Concept!
 The Internet of Things* (2007 Commission view):
The Internet of Things viewed as a network for communicating
devices and based upon four degrees of sophistication, involving:
• Purely passive devices (RFID) that yield fixed data output when
queried
• Devices with moderate processing power to format carrier
messages, with the capability to vary content with respect to
time and place
• Sensing devices that are capable of generating and
communicating information about environment or item status
when queried
• Devices with enhanced processing capability that facilitate
decisions to communicate between devices without human
intervention – introducing a degree of intelligence into
networked systems
* European Commission (2007) From RFID to the Internet of Things – Pervasive networked systems
The EPCglobal dimension
• The EPCglobal Network Architecture draws further attention to these
needs, and to additional requirements for achieving an Internet of Things
including:
• Readers and Reader Protocol Interface – to deliver raw tag data from
readers to supporting middleware
• Middleware – to accumulate and filter raw tag data reads
• Application Layer Events (ALE) Interface – to deliver consolidated, filtered
tag read data from middleware to a local application.
• EPC Capturing Application – to recognise the occurrence of EPC-related
business events, and deliver them as EPC Information Service (EPCIS) data.
• EPCIS Capture interface – to provide a path for communicating EPC events
• EPCIS Repository – to record EPCIS-level events
• EPCIS Query Interface – to provide a means whereby an EPCIS accessing
application can request EPCIS data from an EPCIS repository or an EPCIS
capturing application and the means whereby the result is returned.
The EPCglobal dimension
• EPCIS-Accessing Application – software to facilitate overall enterprise business
processes, such as warehouse management, shipping, and receiving and so forth
aided by EPC-related data.
• Local ONS – to fulfil ONS lookup requests for EPCs within the control of the
enterprise that operates the local ONS, ie EPCs for which the enterprise is the EPC
manager.
• EPCIS Accessing Application – an EPCIS-enabled application of a trading partner.
• Tag Data Translation Schema – to provide a machine-readable file that defines how
to translate between EPC encodings defined by the EPC Tag Data Specification.
• Manager Number Assignment – to ensure global uniqueness of EPCs by
maintaining uniqueness of EPC Manager Numbers assigned to EPCglobal
Subscribers.
• Object Name Service Root – a service that, given an EPC, can return a list of
network accessible service endpoints that relate to the EPC concerned.
• EPC Discovery Service(s) – a search engine for EPC related data.
• Subscriber Authentication – to be determined.
• The EPC Namespace adds further dimension to this and the prospect of
accommodating other numbering systems and the identification of other types of data
carrier than RFID.
Mega Trends in Information & Communications
Technology (ICT)
– SAP Research International Research Forum 2006 – 27 academics,
technologists, policymakers, entrepreneurs and associated intellectuals – to
question, discuss, debate and frame the future of information and
communication technologies (ICT) – Outcome:
• Megatrend 1: Web 2.0 and the semantic web
• Megatrend 2: IT Security
• Megatrend 3: Real World Awareness (RWA) – “great promise of RWA agreed
to be automation – systems will be able to collect data without human intervention
or errors and use it to react to events more quickly and effectively”
• Megatrend 4:IT as a Tool for Growth and Development
– Relevant to the “Internet of Things” – Architecture must
accommodate the connectivity of the Internet and next
generation developments (addressing in the process the
inherent limitations)
 The Internet and the Internet of Things
The BLED Declaration1 and other supporting statements,
assert that the Internet of Things is expected to be an
integral part of the next or future generation Internet

Service-oriented architecture (SOE), exploiting

integration with Internet and interfacing with wide
ranging edge technologies and associated networks
is a key objective.

1. Revision 1.1 of the BLED Future Internet Manifesto (08-02-2008)

Principal challenges:
1. Disconnect between logical and physical worlds
2. Lack of interoperability – structural and semantic
heterogeneity

Limitations of Enterprise application integration (EAI) for enterprise-

wide and inter-enterprise integration
Developments in information integration – schema integration,
semantic mediation and ontology merging – more intelligent search
engines
 CASAGRAS (Coordination And Support Action
for Global RFID-related Activities and
Standardisation ) adopting a fully inclusive model
for the Internet of Things:
 Embracing a fully inclusive range of ‘edge’ technologies,
including RFID for interfacing with the physical world
 Exploiting evolving object-connected data capture technologies
and networking capabilities – sensory, location, local
communication and security
 Exploiting existing and evolving communications and mobility
structures
 Integration with the evolving Internet
 Animate Environment
Influenced or
Inanimate May be Entity attended by Application

Location Representation of Associated ID

Identity Factors

Associated Attributes
Consideration of based on State
State Characteristic
Characteristic
Ontology for Acceptable stable Uneconomic or
no stable feature
feature set
Identification set

Primary Natural Secondary Data

Feature Carrier Identifier Attributes
Identifier

Derivation of Self Assigned Assigned or

electronic ‘Digital registered
Signature’ Registered Captured

When derived: When asserted: Authenticators or

Reference Authentication credentials
Self-issued Authority-
issued

Certificate or
token
Optional Optional
Link to associated
Bindings Bindings
data and Numeric or Alpha-
application Optional Associated data
numeric strings Bindings
information
 Actuators
Internet of Things - at its most
basic level…
Interrogator / Host
Gate way Information Wider area
device Management communications
System and Networks

Passive RFID data

carriers and UID Actuators

Interrogator / Host
Gate way Information
device Management
System

Physical Internet +
Application commands
interface zone
and responses
 Internet of Things – including
Actuators RFID carrier variants
ID + Additional Interrogator / Host Information
Item-attendant Gate way Management Wider area
data device System communications
and Networks
Sensory data
carriers* Actuators

Interrogator / Host Information

Gate way Management
device System

Networked data
carriers Actuators

Interrogator / Host Information Internet +

Gate way Management
device System

Physical
interface zone
Internet of Things – including other edge technologies
Further layers of Data Capture Technology
Actuators

ID + Additional Interrogator / Host

Item-attendant Gate way Information Wider area
data device Management communications
System and Networks
Sensory data Actuators
carriers
Interrogator / Host
Gate way Information
device Management
System
Networked data
carriers Actuators

Interrogator / Host Internet +

Gate way Information
device Management
System
Physical
interface zone
CASAGRAS (Coordination And Support Action
for Global RFID-related Activities and
Standardisation ) adopting a fully inclusive model
for the Internet of Things, embracing:
 Exploiting Web service and Grid service concepts
 Exploiting the Service Oriented Architecture (SOE)
 Exploiting Unique Item Identifier (UII) concepts and
namespace resolver to accommodate legacy coding
schemes for identification (incl. EPC, URL..)
 Viewing the needs for governance, quality of services,
security, privacy and other socio-economic issues
Identification and Namespace resolvers

Object Space Web

Identifiers Domain

URL EPC
Unique
Item Namespace Discovery
Identifier Resolver Services
(UII)
OID

Data carrier ID + data payload and cost

considerations
Understanding the Concept New Internet of Things
Infrastructure?

Wired and
wireless
communications

Data Carrier and

other identification Item
Item
and edge
Item
technologies? Data
Data Carrier
Carrier Data - State, Location and The Physical World
Carrier time
Network – Internet of Things – defining the layers
supported services
Fixed and mobile communication protocols

Applications layer

Middleware layer

Internet layer

Access Networks Access Gateway layer

Edge Technology layer

Edge-technology data
capture and Networks
CASAGRAS considerations of layered structure
and need for associated standards:

 Object space analysis, network structures and applications

 Identification and ‘edge’ technologies for automatic data capture
and UDAP – hardware bus
 Emerging web services model and SOE in respect of the Internet
of Things – software bus
 Discovery Services model based upon universal description,
discovery and integration (UDDI) registry model
 Grid service open architecture for collaborative computing and
one-to-many services model
Time - line Data Carrier Principles – Object-attendant ICT
Nodal Information
Management System and
Database

Nodal Data Capture

Appliance – Host h1
Inter-nodal data
communication, t - x

Rh1 (dc1; id + ; t)

Item Item-attendant Data Carrier

dc1

x time units
CASAGRAS considerations of layered structure
and need for associated standards:

 RFID and ‘communications-based’ RFID standards and

regulations
 Fixed and mobile network standards and regulations
 RFID Sensory and sensor network standards

 Integration standards
Global identification coding and
namespace considerations to
accommodate legacy systems are key,
as are governance and data exchange
structures, security, privacy and
associated standards

Wherein RFID?
European Commission and RFID Expectations
• RFID seen as a precursor to the “Internet of Things”
• RFID seen as a potential platform for linking “world of
production with the “world of service”
• RFID seen a means of making items “smart”, capable of being
networked together and able to communicate with their
environment – far reaching and requiring qualification
• RFID seen as a vehicle for creating opportunities for new
business models that will take advantage of a global network in
which any object can be linked to any context
• RFID seen as a vehicle for a wide range of applications
 Data Transfer and Communications
Internet & Internet of
Item-attendant Things
Data Carrier Data Information Communications
Capture Management Network
Interrogation Appliance System (MIS)
– Business
zone – Enterprise
Interchange of
Software
Data

Data
transfer
from Data
Carrier Data transfer Data Expanding
from Capture transfer Domain for
Appliance from MIS xML
Solutions
ISO/IEC Standards developments
– courtesy Praxis Consultants
Realising the Internet of Things at its most engaging
level is clearly a complex and challenging goal but
with the prospect of offering a substantial platform
for applications, innovation and wealth creation –
Providing the concept is better defined

CASAGRAS in collaboration with GRIFS is helping to

define the structure and standards for a truly
international network

CERP can have a significant input into the standards

considerations
CASAGRAS Work packages:
1. Standards and Procedures for International Standardisation in
relation to RFID, including applications and conformance
standards
2. Regulatory issues in respect of RFID standards
3. Global coding systems in relation to RFID standards
4. RFID in relation to Ubiquitous Computing and Networks
5. Functional, including sensory, developments in RFID and
Associated Standards
6. Areas of Application, existing and future, and associated
Standards
7. Socio-economic components of RFID Usage
Discussion