A Cross-Layer Solution to Improve Security and Privacy in RFID Systems

Due to advances in silicon manufacturing technology, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) systems are useful in many applications such as automobile immobilizers, animal tracking, payment systems, automatic toll collection and inventory management. As RFID systems use both radio and wire communication, security issues become a critical concern. However, even if security and privacy solutions have been proposed for the past several years, a important study about transmission error influence on security solutions is still missing. Indeed, all radio communications depend upon error transmission rate, particularly for exchanged security messages. As a result, transmission errors can degrade the reliability and the stability of some security solutions. This paper first discusses some existing security proposals for RFID systems; then, it focuses on the influence of transmission errors on these security proposals. Finally, we suggest a novel cross-layer architecture designed to improve the reliability of security and privacy solutions.