Radio Frequency Identification,

RFID, Short for radio frequency identification, is a dedicated short range communication (DSRC) technology. The term RFID is used to describe various technologies that use radio waves to automatically identify people or objects. RFID technology is similar to the barcode identification systems we see in retail stores everyday; however one big difference between RFID and bar code technology is that RFID does not rely on the line-of-sight reading that bar code scanning requires to work.

A Radio-Frequency IDentification system has three parts:
- A scanning antenna
- A transceiver with a decoder to interpret the data
- A transponder - the RFID tag - that has been programmed with information.

The scanning antenna puts out radio-frequency signals in a relatively short range. The RF radiation does two things:
It provides a means of communicating with the transponder (the RFID tag) AND
It provides the RFID tag with the energy to communicate (in the case of passive RFID tags)


An example of a RFID tag

When an RFID tag passes through the field of the scanning antenna, it detects the activation signal from the antenna. That "wakes up" the RFID chip, and it transmits the information on its microchip to be picked up by the scanning antenna.


Common Uses of RFID
- RFID systems are being used in some hospitals to track a patient's location, and to provide real-time tracking of the location of doctors and nurses in the hospital. In addition, the system can be used to track the whereabouts of expensive and critical equipment, and even to control access to drugs, pediatrics, and other areas of the hospital that are considered "restricted access" areas.

- RFID chips for animals are extremely small devices injected via syringe under skin. Under a government initiative to control rabies, all Portuguese dogs must be RFID tagged by 2007. When scanned the tag can provide information relevant to the dog's history and its owner's information.

- RFID in retail stores offer real-time inventory tracking that allows companies to monitor and control inventory supply at all times.




Examples of RFID readers


The Advantages of RFID vs. barcode technology:

No line of sight requirement.
The tag can stand a harsh environment.
Long read range.
Portable database
Multiple tag read/write.
Tracking people, items, and equipment in real time.

Disadvantages of RFID
RFID systems can be easily disrupted
RFID Reader Collision
RFID Tag Collision
Security, privacy and ethics problems with RFID
RFID tags are difficult to remove
RFID tags can be read without your knowledge


The Future of RFID

RFID is said by many in the industry to be the frontrunner technology for automatic identification and data collection. The biggest, as of yet unproven, benefit would ultimately be in the consumer goods supply chain where an RFID tag attached to a consumer product could be tracked from manufacturing to the retail store right to the consumer's home.