IAS Gyan

Daily News Analysis

2D tags

5th January, 2021 Science and Technology

Context: A new anti-counterfeiting technique uses two dimensional (2D)-material tags along with artificial intelligence (AI)-driven authentication software, and promises to deliver faster, more accurate results even under extreme conditions.

DeepKey

  • The new method called ‘DeepKey’ was developed by an international team of researchers, led by the National University of Singapore (NUS).
  • The team detailed their work in a study titled ‘Multigenerational Crumpling of 2D Materials for Anti-counterfeiting Patterns with Deep Learning Authentication’, published in the scientific journal Matter.
  • The 2D-material secure tags have randomly generated ‘Physically Unclonable Function’(PUF) patterns, which can be categorised and validated by a deep learning model.
  • The authentication process takes under 3.5 minutes to complete, and involves scanning the tags under an electronic microscope to obtain the PUF pattern, which is sent to the AI-driven software for validation.
  • 2D-material PUF tags are environmentally stable, easy to read, simple and inexpensive to make.
  • In particular, the adoption of deep learning accelerated the overall authentication significantly, pushing our invention one step further to practical application.
  • The new technology can be used with valuable products such as jewellery, and electronics as it “reaches nearly 100% validation precision.”
  • Also, the tags can be applied on COVID-19 vaccines for authentication, including the ones that are stored at very low temperatures.
  • PUF key-based technologies generally offer high encoding capabilities as they can be used to produce numerous dissimilar patterns.
  • Although, it makes the pattern authentication process longer, when performed within a large database.
  • The deep learning model is used to pre-categorise the PUF patterns into subgroups, and so the search-and-compare algorithm is conducted in a much smaller database, which shortens the overall authentication time.

https://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/technology/new-2d-tags-ai-authentication-may-spot-counterfeit-products-more-accurately/article33491344.ece?homepage=true