SBIR Phase II: Radio-Frequency-Identification Based Seal & Packaging Methods To Eliminate Counterfeiting And Tampering Of Physical Goods

The broader impact of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will result in a reduction of counterfeit physical goods on a global scale, serving industries including pharmaceutical, defense, and others. The proliferation of counterfeit goods is growing at an alarming rate, estimated at $1.2 trillion in 2017 and expected to reach $1.8 trillion by 2020. Furthermore, approximately 300,000 children die each year from receiving fake medicines to treat aliments such as malaria, pneumonia, and other diseases. The proposed technology will mitigate economic loss incurred from the proliferation of counterfeit goods for organizations, governments, and individuals, and improve the health and safety associated with the risk of counterfeit or tampered goods. This innovation will be inexpensive to manufacture and can be widely applied. Additionally, anyone in the supply chain, even an end-consumer with a common smart phone, can ensure that a product enabled with this innovation is authentic and untampered. The proposed project will continue development of a novel enhancement to Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) that applies the concept of digital encryption to a physical seal or product packaging to detect if the barrier has been compromised. The project will advance the development of this technology by addressing two key development and engineering challenges. First, the project aims to miniaturize its current Printed-Circuit-Board (PCB) architecture into a single Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC). While the PCB architecture is functional, its part count will be reduced by 95%. This will provide an orders-of-magnitude reduction in per-device cost and ensure suitable manufacturing yields. Second, the project will optimize the development of a tamper-sensing method. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.