I get quite a few emails asking about RFID as you can imagine. More times then most it is from a new employee that is trying to save the new company money so they come out looking like a shining star to their new boss.

Most of the time the employee has just graduated college and was put into a job in the supply chain division and they have no clue as to how to proceed. I feel sorry for them, they didn’t study this in college and now they are placed in an awkward position of learning on the fly.

I usually send them to our RFID Articles page and let them read up a bit. After a few days they come back and ask much better questions about how RFID works and how they can implement it into their new company. I am always glad to help out but the questions I get from the outset are quite funny. I love answering them once they get a quick learning about RFID and how it works. It makes the lessons so much less painful for me.

There is no easy way to explain RFID but this is the easiest way I can think of in easy to understand for the common person that has no clue what RFID is.

RFID technology is used frequently today, but not many people know about, or even know what it is never mind understand it. RFID stands for Radio Frequency Identification and is used to store and retrieve information. This information is stored and retrieved using RFID tags or transponders. These tags are small and can be incorporated into many products. The tags have antennas that allow them to receive and respond to radio-frequency queries from an RFID transceiver.

The RFID industry is currently undergoing speedy growth and orgasmic changes. Market research firms forecast the market for products and services will intensity to the $7 billion range by 2008. With mandates from both distinguished retailers and government entities, many more companies are ready to infuse on the RFID technology journey.

How Does It Work

RFID works off of a system that relies on tags, tag readers, tag programming stations, sorting equipment, circulation readers, and tag inventory wands. RFID is generally used in security, because security gates are programmed to read the RFID tags and then either open or close accordingly. The system helps the information be easily transmitted via an RFID device. Systems have evolved over the years along with Generation 2 chips. The hope is that it will one day be available to everyone (meaning consumers) because it will be more efficient and cost effective to implement RFID processes.

There are two types of RFID tags:

*Passive tags do not have their own power supply, but rather receive their power from a tiny electrical current present in the antenna that is induced by an incoming radio frequency scan. These tags are good for a short distance tracking solution.

*Active RFID tags have a power source and therefore are much stronger and can be used over larger distances and are therefore more highly effective. Active tags also have the ability to store more information than their passive counterparts. Some active tags have a battery life of up to ten years.

Where is RFID Used?

RFID can be found almost everywhere. It can even be found in your local Wal-Mart or other big brand retailers. The little alarm that sounds if an item has not been scanned is made possible by a chip. These chips are also found on car alarms,and even animal tags. One other use of this solution is to track and detect motion. This could be very useful in the coming years in terms of prisons. This technology will be employed in many states in the coming years.

Who knew that this technology was so simple to learn.