RFID tag data processing in manufacturing for track-and-trace anti-counterfeiting

• We address the issues in e-pedigree management for RFID-based track-and-trace anti-counterfeiting.
• We propose an algorithm for RFID tag data processing and synchronization (TDPS) to generate initial e-pedigree for apparel products during production.
• We identify and study tag EPC writing as a major bottleneck of e-pedigree generation.
• We incorporate an integrated method for EPC block writing and verification to optimise the TDPS algorithm for practical implementation in packaging lines.

With advancement in radio frequency identification (RFID), RFID-based track-and-trace anti-counterfeiting has attracted considerable research interests. Track-and-trace anti-counterfeiting demands a trustworthy electronic pedigree (e-pedigree), which records the movements of product items from manufacturers to retailers, to ensure high supply chain visibility and to provide evidence for product authentication. Creation and synchronization of initial e-pedigrees in the manufacturing stage is particularly crucial to the accuracy and trustworthiness of subsequent processing of the e-pedigrees and authentication of product items. This is a critical yet challenging task, as it involves a number of practical issues, such as incomplete tag writing/locking, environment disturbances, and potential data falsification. This paper first presents an innovative track-and-trace anti-counterfeiting system, and then proposes a tag data processing and synchronization (TDPS) algorithm to generate initial e-pedigrees for general, tangible products during production. An RFID-enabled apparel packaging line is established to validate the performance of TDPS and identify the bottleneck of e-pedigree generation. Experiment results show that TDPS can create accurate and secure initial e-pedigrees for fast moving product items, and that tag EPC writing is a major bottleneck of e-pedigree generation. Thus, we optimise TDPS by incorporating a block writing method and an integrated verification step to remove the bottleneck. Further experiments demonstrate the optimised TDPS can be adapted to suit different practical requirements to achieve a good balance between tag writing/locking rate and the moving speed of product items in packaging lines without severing the throughput.