wilamowski-b-m-irwin-j-d-industrial-communication-systems-2011

Radio Frequency Identification 8-7
FIGURE 8.7
Smart card, the Octopus card in Hong Kong.
8.7 Electronic Cash
At 13.56.MHz, most materials encountered in our daily lives are RF lucent [12]. In other words, an
RF wave could pass through the material without excessive attenuation. Simply put, a lady need not
turn her purse inside out to search for her RFID card; instead, she could gain access by placing her
purse on top of a reader. This is not a trivial gain because it protects the bearer from exposing valuable
items in a public area. Extra expediency could be observed by hiding the RF device inside a watch or
a pendant. Probably due to this reason, the HF RFID has been extensively used in mass public transport
systems under various brand names, such as Octopus in Hong Kong (Figure 8.7) and Compass
in San Diego.
Besides gains in efficient passenger entry and better inventory control, the company involved could
use less manpower in retrieving and counting millions of coins collected daily, and therefore the subsequent
saving in bank charge. No wonder Octopus was adopted by convenient stores, super markets,
and fast food outlets as cash payment. It is also used for attendance checks in schools, entry to private
properties, fee payment in public garages, and circulation control in libraries.
An added convenience could be obtained by authorizing one’s bank to transfer a finite sum to the
Octopus account automatically, whenever the latter balance is below a prescribed threshold. In short,
Octopus is treated as electronic cash (known as the electronic purse in Europe). With an Octopus card,
we need not carry any coins, paper bills, staff IDs, garage keys, and other miscellaneous cards on our
way to school, to work, or when shopping, dining, and for other activities.
8.8 Personal Identity
After years of successful operation, even government bureaucrats were convinced. Parking meters were
first modified to accept Octopus, and now it can be used to pay miscellaneous fees, including fines. To
be fair, some governments are very proactive. For example, a smart driver license system was adopted in
Argentina as early as 1995. Commencing in 2001, 22 million Malaysians are now benefited by the extra
features included in MyKad [13], the first smart national identity card in the world. For better authentication,
an electronic signature has been added in the national identity cards in Spain and Belgium in 2009.
As demonstrated in Malaysia, the benefits provided by the RFID-ID card are welcome by the users
and the issuer. Unfortunately, it is only applicable within the national boundary. The prerequisite
for roaming across this man-made demarcation line is an international standard, similar to EAN-14
mentioned previously. After years of endless domestic arguments and international negotiations, the
said standard was finally ready for deployment in 2006 and it is managed by the International Civil
© 2011 by Taylor and Francis Group, LLC