What's the difference between ISO18000-6B and ISO18000-6C (EPC C1G2) in the RFID standard

In terms of wireless Radio Frequency Identification, the typical working frequencies include 125KHZ, 13.56MHz, 869.5MHz, 915.3MHZ, 2.45GHz etc, corresponding to: low frequency (LF), high frequency (HF), ultra high frequency (UHF), microwave (MW) . Each frequency band tag has a corresponding protocol: for example, 13.56MHZ has ISO15693, 14443 protocol, and ultra-high frequency (UHF) has two protocol standards to choose. One is ISO18000-6B, and the other is the EPC C1G2 standard that has been accepted by ISO as ISO18000-6C.

ISO18000-6B standard

The main features of the standard include: mature standard, stable product, and wide application; ID number is unique in the world; read ID number first, then read data area; large capacity of 1024bits or 2048bits; large user data area of ​​98Bytes or 216Bytes; multiple tags at the same time Read, up to dozens of tags can be read at the same time; the data reading speed is 40kbps.

According to the characteristics of the ISO18000-6B standard, in terms of reading speed and number of labels, the labels applying the ISO18000-6B standard can basically meet the needs in applications with a small number of labels requirement such as bayonet and dock operations. Electronic labels that comply with the ISO18000-6B standard are mainly suitable for closed-loop control management, such as asset management, domestically developed electronic labels for container identification, electronic license plate labels, and electronic driver's licenses (driver cards), etc.

The shortcomings of the ISO18000-6B standard are: the development has been stagnant in recent years, and has been replaced by EPC C1G2 in most applications; the software curing technology of user data is not mature, but in this case, user data can be embedded and solved by chip manufacturers and.

ISO18000-6C (EPC C1G2) standard

 The agreement includes the fusion of Class1 Gen2 launched by the Global Product Code Center (EPC Global) and ISO/IEC18000-6 launched by ISO/IEC. The characteristics of this standard are: fast speed, data rate can reach 40kbps ~ 640kbps; the number of tags that can be read at the same time is large, theoretically more than 1000 tags can be read; first read the EPC number, the ID number of the tag needs to be read with the data Mode reading; strong function, multiple write protection methods, strong security; many areas, divided into EPC area (96bits or 256bits, can be extended to 512bits), ID area (64bit or 8Bytes), user area (512bit or 28Bytes) ), password area (32bits or 64bits), powerful functions, multiple encryption methods, and strong security; however, the labels provided by some manufacturers do not have user data areas, such as Impinj labels.

Because the EPC C1G2 standard has many advantages such as strong versatility, compliance with EPC rules, low product price, and good compatibility. It is mainly suitable for the identification of a large number of items in the field of logistics and is in continuous development. It is currently the mainstream standard for UHF RFID applications, and is widely used in books, clothing, new retail and other industries.

These two standards have their own advantages. When doing an integration project, you must compare them according to your own application method to choose the appropriate standard.