SOFTWARE

RFID Information

Our team of experts can provide a complete comprehensive service from initial site analysis through to the implementation of a full database support system, complete with decision analysis and exception reporting facilities. RFID tags have proved to be an extremely cost effective solution in recent applications developed and implemented across the construction, travel, medical and agriculture sectors.

Our Sister company absolute, in association with a business partner company DSI Gulf, implemented an employee timekeeping and time and attendance system (TimemaX) at the Thermo construction site for the new Terminal 3 at Dubai International Airport.

Technical Information about RFID’s

RFID devices have three primary elements: a chip, an antenna, and a reader. A fourth important part of any RFID system is the database where information about tagged objects is stored.

The chip, usually made of silicon, contains information about the item to which it is attached. Chips used by retailers and manufacturers to identify consumer goods may contain an Electronic Product Code (“EPC”). The EPC is the RFID equivalent of the more familiar bar code, currently imprinted on many products. Bar codes must be optically scanned, and contain only generic product information. By contrast, EPC chips are encrypted with a unique product code that identifies the individual product to which it is attached, and can be read using radio frequency. These codes contain the type of data that product manufacturers and retailers will use to track the authenticity and location of goods throughout the supply chain.

An RFID chip may also contain information other than an EPC, such as biometric data (a digitized image of a fingerprint or photograph, for example). In addition, some chips may not be loaded with information uniquely identifying the tagged object at all; so-called “electronic article surveillance systems” (“EAS”) may utilize radio frequency communication to combat shoplifting, but not to uniquely identify individual items.

The antenna attached to the chip is responsible for transmitting information from the chip to the reader, using radio waves. Generally, the bigger the antenna, the longer the read range. The chip and antenna combination is referred to as a transponder or, more commonly, as a tag.

The reader, or scanning device, also has its own antenna, which it uses to communicate with the tag. Readers vary in size, weight, and power, and may be mobile or stationary. Although anyone with access to the proper reader can scan an RFID tag, RFID systems can employ authentication and encryption to prevent unauthorized reading of data. “Reading” tags refers to the communication between the tag and reader via radio waves operating at a certain frequency. In contrast to bar codes, one of RFID’s principal distinctions is tags and readers can communicate with each other without being in each other’s line-of-sight. Therefore, a reader can scan a tag without physically “seeing” it. Also, RFID readers can process multiple items at one time, resulting in a much-increased (again as compared to UPC codes) “speed of read.”

The database stores information about RFI tagged objects. Access to both a reader and its corresponding database are necessary before information stored on an RFID tag can be obtained and understood. In order to interpret such data, RFID readers must be able to communicate with a database or other computer program.

Although all RFID systems have these essential components, other variables affect the use or set of applications for which a particular tag is appropriate. As discussed further below, key factors include whether the tag used is “active” or “passive”; what radio frequency is used; the size of the antennas attached to the chip and to the reader; what and how much information can be stored on a tag; and whether the tag is “read/write” or “read-only.” These factors affect the read ranges of the systems as well as the kind of object that can usefully be tagged. They also impact the cost, which is an especially important commercial consideration when tagging a large volume of items.

Passive and Active Tags

There are three types of RFID tags, differentiated by how they communicate and how that communication is initiated:

Read/Write Capacity

Finally, another important feature of RFID tags is their “read/write” capacity, or “readonly” status. These terms refer to a tag’s ability to have data added to it during its lifetime. The information stored on a “read-only” tag cannot be altered, but a writeable tag (with read/write capacity) can receive and store additional information. Read/write applications are most prevalent when tags are re-used. They are usually more sophisticated and costly than read-only applications.
In addition, read/write applications have shorter read ranges. Read only tags are well-suited to applications like item-level tagging of retail goods, since they are less expensive and, as part of a networked system, can provide a great deal of information by directing the reader to the associated database(s) where information about the tagged item is maintained.