RFID is the recognized acronym for Radio Frequency IDentification. The basis of RFID technology is that every RFID chip or tag is capable of sending a radio signal on a frequency wholly unique to itself.
Therefore, every RFID tag must have its own identifying frequency and the RFID tag readers have be sensitive enough to be able to distinguish between frequencies that are only a very minute bit different from its neighbouring tags. The disparity can be infinitesimal.
Therefore, the technology has to be sensitive and discriminating, but not fragile, because the equipment has to be used on the shop floor and by people who are often in a hurry and in weather that may be inclement.
In order for RFID to have the desired result, you have to have a tag, which is an upmarket kind of bar code and a radio receiver, often called a (tag) reader. However, whereas a bar code can only hold a small quantity of information and the bar code reader has to be pointed at it, an RFID tag can hold much more information and can be read from a hundred yards or more - even out of line of sight.
Passive tags will only reveal their details when asked to by a reader, whereas an active tag is constantly relaying its contents. Clearly, active RFID tags are more costly than passive tags, because they require a long life battery.
These tags can be used to track goods from the moment they leave the manufacturer of the items they describe to the in-bay of the retailer. The tags can then be up-dated or renewed and put in the warehouse. Once there, RFID readers can keep management up to date about what goods are where and if the sell-by-date is impending.
This has ramifications for the levels of stock that a business needs to hold, the amount of goods sold cheap because the sell-by-date is too near and for theft, all of which should boost company profits more than funding the cost of the tags, the readers, the printers and the programmes.
At the click of a mouse, managers will be able to see how much stock they have in real time and if this is all linked to the checkout cash registers, which are the most and least profitable items. This makes reordering simple . Easy to the point of computerization. For instance, when supplies of the top ten percent of the best selling items falls below 1,000 order 10,000 more. Automatically, no questions asked.
RFID has many other applications too. The ideas mentioned above can be applied to farm animals, a call centre's IT hardware, a fleet of commercial vehicles, an record of household items, your pets, your car and even your garden furniture. Some people who work over a border are even having them put under their skin so that they do not have to wait at customs.
And do not forget that criminals on early release are also tagged. It is the same technology.
Therefore, every RFID tag must have its own identifying frequency and the RFID tag readers have be sensitive enough to be able to distinguish between frequencies that are only a very minute bit different from its neighbouring tags. The disparity can be infinitesimal.
Therefore, the technology has to be sensitive and discriminating, but not fragile, because the equipment has to be used on the shop floor and by people who are often in a hurry and in weather that may be inclement.
In order for RFID to have the desired result, you have to have a tag, which is an upmarket kind of bar code and a radio receiver, often called a (tag) reader. However, whereas a bar code can only hold a small quantity of information and the bar code reader has to be pointed at it, an RFID tag can hold much more information and can be read from a hundred yards or more - even out of line of sight.
Passive tags will only reveal their details when asked to by a reader, whereas an active tag is constantly relaying its contents. Clearly, active RFID tags are more costly than passive tags, because they require a long life battery.
These tags can be used to track goods from the moment they leave the manufacturer of the items they describe to the in-bay of the retailer. The tags can then be up-dated or renewed and put in the warehouse. Once there, RFID readers can keep management up to date about what goods are where and if the sell-by-date is impending.
This has ramifications for the levels of stock that a business needs to hold, the amount of goods sold cheap because the sell-by-date is too near and for theft, all of which should boost company profits more than funding the cost of the tags, the readers, the printers and the programmes.
At the click of a mouse, managers will be able to see how much stock they have in real time and if this is all linked to the checkout cash registers, which are the most and least profitable items. This makes reordering simple . Easy to the point of computerization. For instance, when supplies of the top ten percent of the best selling items falls below 1,000 order 10,000 more. Automatically, no questions asked.
RFID has many other applications too. The ideas mentioned above can be applied to farm animals, a call centre's IT hardware, a fleet of commercial vehicles, an record of household items, your pets, your car and even your garden furniture. Some people who work over a border are even having them put under their skin so that they do not have to wait at customs.
And do not forget that criminals on early release are also tagged. It is the same technology.
About the Author:
Owen Jones, the writer of this article writes on quite a few topics, but is currently involved with the RFID asset management. If you would like to know more, please go to our website at Active RFID Management.
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