An anti-counterfeit mechanism for the application layer in low-cost RFID devices

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) is an identification technology that is particularly interesting for several kinds of physical objects, either living beings or inanimate items. In this paper we propose to use it to implement an anti-counterfeit mechanism in selected wine production environments. Using a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) with a public/private key mechanism involving both the passive RFID internal memory and the unique RFID identifier it is possible for the reseller and the final user to verify if the bottle is original. A sample bottle is used to simplify the encoding operation even in a low technology environment like a traditional cellar, also reducing the risk of losing the private key. Finally, implementation issues are considered, in order to confirm method feasibility.