- RFID is a generic term for technologies that use radio waves to automatically
identify people, objects or products. The most common method is to store
a serial number and other information on a microchip attached to an
antenna that is called an RFID transponder or tag.
- An RFID system consists of a tag and an interrogator or reader with
an antenna. The reader sends out electromagnetic waves that the tag
antenna is tuned to receive. A passive RFID tag draws power from the
reader’s field and uses it to power the microchip’s circuits
to modulate the waves and send them back to the reader.
- The most common application is to track goods in the supply chain—pallets,
reusable containers, high value tools and parts moving through a manufacturing
production line.
- Unlike RFID tags, bar codes are line-of-sight technology; the scanner
has to ‘see’ a bar code to read it, which necessitates physical
proximity.
- Companies offering RFID include IBM, HP, Escorts, Memory Systems,
Sun Microsystems, Texas Instruments, SAP, Applied Wireless Identification
(AWID) and SAMSys.
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