RFID Security

Contributed by Joanne C. Kelleher 

It’s official.  SecureRF has been awarded a Phase II SBIR grant from the National Science Foundation to continue our work developing a secure, passive RFID tag that meets EPCglobal protocols.  The development of a secure passive RFID tag will provide the pharmaceutical industry, which handles nearly four billion prescriptions in the U.S. annually, with onboard authentication and data protection features to address the growing number of counterfeit and illicit drug cases and help ensure the safety and integrity of their products.

You can read our official press release at http://www.securerf.com/pdf/SecureRF_Awarded_NSF_Phase_II_Grant.pdf.

For those of you unfamiliar with the SBIR (Small Business Innovation Research) grant program, getting a Phase II award is a big deal.  We submitted an application for this research idea in early 2007 (after a few unsuccessful submissions) and the Phase I grant for this project started January 1, 2008.  We then applied for and received a Phase IB award which matches funding from outside investors.   January 2009 was crunch time with a final report and our Phase II application due.  Once the NSF recommends a Phase II award you then go through an audit process with an outside firm.  So, we were very excited to receive this Phase II grant which has been almost 3 years in the making.

A big thank you to Deb Santy and Merrie London from the State of Connecticut SBIR office.  If you are a CT business they can help you with your SBIR grant application process.   http://www.ctinnovations.com/funding/sbir/sbir.php   Their office just announced they will be hosting the Spring 2010 National SBIR conference.   They did a great job with the Fall 2008 conference and if you want to learn more about how to be successful with the SBIR program and meet many of the program managers from the various Federal agencies then I encourage you to attend.  SecureRF will be there.