Project aimed at cheaper, more secure RFID technology

Wayne Burleson, Dennis Goeckel and Robert Jackson of Electrical and Computer Engineering have received a $200,000 National Science Foundation Cyber Trust grant to develop more secure and less expensive radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology.

According to Burleson, “The tags are found in everything from driver’s licenses and toll passes to inventoried commercial products and military supplies. System breaches can lead to financial loss, identity theft and other privacy compromises.” At present, RFID security relies on scrambling or encoding information digitally in the tag before it goes to the reader, a relatively energy-intense process. To maintain security and improve efficiency, the researchers are exploring a data encryption method that would use ultra-wideband (UWB) radio waves. Using this method, the tag would send simpler, low-power coded pulses “buried in everyday background noise,” according to Goeckel, letting the reader do the work of identifying meaningful signals using de-encryption software. “The code is in the pulses you send, not in the data,” he says.

A UWB-based RFID system would not only be as secure while using less energy, it would save money and add convenience by extending tag battery life. An RFID tag with a 20-year lifespan is a distinct advantage over one that lasts only five, for example – think of tracking goods in a warehouse that may sit for a long time between inventories, or changing batteries less often in implanted medical devices.

The engineering and computer science research team members, in collaboration with RSA Labs, the security division of EMC of Bedford, hope the current project will lead naturally to a second phase, in which they would develop a more complete prototype of a UWB RFID tag and begin to address challenges such as interference and jamming.

October 29, 2008.