Simply, RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) is similar to bar code technology but uses radio waves to capture data from tags rather than optically scanning the bar codes on a label.

In an RFID card system that uses an electronic product code (EPC) or similar numbering scheme, the following RFID attributes lead to these kinds of savings:

• Serialized data: Every object in the supply chain has a unique identifying number.
• Reduced human intervention: RFID allows tracking automatically without needing people to count or capture data or scan bar codes, which means reduced labour costs and fewer errors.
• Higher throughput supply chains: RFID allows many items to be counted simultaneously.
• Real-time information flow: As soon as an item changes state (off the shelf, out of a truck, sold to a customer), the information can be updated across the supply chain.
• Increased item security: Printing and tagging items allow them to be tracked inside a confined facility or space.

What are some of the benefits?

Asset Tracking, Supply and Chain Management, Inventory Management, Automation, Interactive Advertising, Paperless Ticketing, Retail, Security

Information is sent to and read from RFID tags by a reader using radio waves. In passive systems, which are the most common, an RFID reader transmits an energy field that “wakes up” the tag and provides the power for the tag to respond to the reader. In active systems, a battery in the tag is used to boost the effective operating range of the tag and to support additional features over passive tags, such as temperature sensing. Data collected from tags is then passed through communication interfaces (cable or wireless) to host computer systems in the same manner that data scanned from barcode labels is captured and passed to computer systems for interpretation, storage, and action.