Applications of RFID

The RFID technology is not a recent technological development. The World War II witnessed the use of RFID technology to detect the enemy aircrafts. The development in the radio frequency identification (RFID) is due to the need to decrease cost and apply the technology in different possible ways. RFID, nowadays, has a wide variety of applications from animal husbandry to the access controls at workplaces.

RFID Technology
The RFID system consists of three basic components, viz. RFID tag, RFID reader and the software and hardware necessary for communication. RFID tag consists of a chip and an antenna. The RFID tags are placed with the object to be identified. The RFID reader can be mobile or stationary and is used to scan the information on the RFID tag. The software and the hardware is necessary for the database management of the RFID tags.

Applications of RFID are as follows:

Animal Husbandry
The RFID technology in animal husbandry is used for animal tagging and tracking. Traditionally, the animal tagging was done with the help of physical plastic tags mounted in piercings made in their ears. The plastic bag system was adopted only for the cattle and other commercial animals and not for pet animals. The RFID technology has rapidly replaced the plastic bag technology. The RFID tags were initially mounted in the same fashion as the traditional plastic tags. The RFID tags used initially, were only numbers which had a corresponding database stored in a computer. Injectable tags are nowadays available and they are injected into the animal using a special syringe. This has made it possible to tag pet animals as well. These RFID tags usually include the age of the animal, medical records including vaccinations and distinguishing features of that animal. The RFID tagging in the animals is advantageous as the RFID tag is visible to the RFID reader only.

Asset Management
Initially, when the assets of a company were to be counted and verified during an audit, steel tags were used. The steel plates wore out after some years while the plant equipment remained intact for years. Thus, steel plates were not suitable for equipment management. Sometimes, there was duplication of these steel tags and asset mis-identification was common. Thus, asset management was difficult. RFID tagging provided a solution to this problem. The RFID tags can be placed at places in the plant equipment, from where they are not visible to the human eye. RFID reduces the duplication and forgery in asset management. The RFID tags are available with safety certifications so that they are not damaged if placed in hazardous areas. RFID tags can also be attached to metal surfaces without any difficulty. Different types of tags are used for different assets, depending on the physical nature of the asset.

Security Systems
Many security systems include a CCTV camera or security guards. This technology is used in grocery shops as well as jewelry shops. However, small items, like diamond rings, are sometimes stolen, even when the CCTV cameras and security guards were used as an anti-theft system. A decade ago, the RFID tags, used as a part of an anti-theft system came into picture. Today, the RFID tags are widely used for safety and security of the merchandise in many stores and boutiques. Using the RFID tagging merchandise, thefts have been reduced to a great extent. The RFID tags in security systems are placed or attached with every item and the RFID reader is placed at the checkout counter.

The other areas where RFID is used are: baggage handling at the airports, medication dosages, blood banks and car manufacturing. RFID technology has some pros and cons. The research in the RFID development is aimed at reducing the limitations of this technology like the high installation cost of an RFID system. The RFID technology is a fast developing automatic identification and tracking system.