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Radio frequency identification or RFID is an old idea that has quietly become a big part of everyone’s life. RFID has been around for at least 90 years and was initially put into practice about 70 years, but not many people realized it. These days, you yourself are most likely scanned every day by an RFID reader and the items you buy are certainly scanned at least once a week.

So what is RFID? Well, you could think of it as the update of the bar code although in fact, it is older than the bar code by 50 or 60 years. Bar codes were invented in order to combine stock control with point of sales processing.

Everyone has witnessed this and is used to it: the sales clerk at the cash register takes the goods from your trolley one at a time, looks for the bar code, flashes a light or a bar code reader over it and the cost of the article is added to your bill.

What you do not see is that the computerized stock records for that article are reduced by one and the sales price is noted along side it. That procedure worked well for 40 years, but now there is a need for more data to be recorded than a bar code can hold and there is requirement for greater stock control and even more speed at the till Nobody has any time any longer.

Enter RFID, an old technology revamped. RFID is the expertise that they used to put in Second World War aircraft in order to distinguish friendly aircraft to the RADAR-controlled anti-aircraft guns. The same equipment, fundamentally, that they still use in aircraft today to identify it to air traffic control. The difference is that until pretty recently, these radio signal emitters or transponders were as big as a suitcase and cost a great deal of money.

These days they are the size of the tiniest coin in your change and cost about five cents. They win over the bar code because they can hold masses of data, such as where and when and by whom an item was made; how much it cost and how much it should be sold for; its colour, weight and description; which shelf and in which shop it should be kept on …. ad infinitum. The shop owner can write anything on that chip using an RFID printer.

And when it comes to the cash register… No more scanning each separate item by hand, because each RFID chip or tag, as they are called in the industry, sends out its own data on its own exclusive radio frequency, so so long as the RFID scanner is within three or four feet of the trolley, it knows what is in there instantaneously. No more unloading, scanning and reloading the basket.

In fact, no more check out clerk. Most shoppers pay with a credit or debit card these days anyway, so as you walk past the scanner with your trolley, you are scanned; you swipe your credit card through another scanner; if you are satisfied with it, you authorize the payment and the barrier lifts for you to carry on to your car. You only need a check out clerk for the people who want to pay with cash. Cheques are being abolished soon anyway.

Owen Jones, the writer of this article writes on quite a few topics, but is currently involved with the RFID asset tracking. If you would like to know more, please go to our website at Active RFID Management.

RFID (radio frequency identification) chips or tags as they are better known are the size of the smallest coin in your purse, but they can hold huge amounts of information that can be manipulated in ways that can do incredible things.

For instance, RFID tags are in the majority of office identity tags and in some passports, enabling the holder to pass through security quickly while keeping the building or the country secure.

They are a modern version of the bar code. Remember before bar codes and bar code readers? When a shop keeper had to type prices into the cash register, correct errors and look up prices that they could not remember? People do not have any time for that anymore.

It is OK at the newsagents, but imagine a teenager typing in your two trolleys of weekly shopping at the supermarket every Saturday. You would still be there on Sunday! Superstores have thousands of articles and dozens of special offers – no-one could remember that lot.

No-one can, but bar codes make it straightforward and so do RFID tags. Bar codes work well, but they have to be seen to be read. RFID tags send out their information on a unique frequency which can be read out of line of sight. In other words, an RFID scanner does not have to be able to see the tag to be able to read it.

The scanner can read what is in your trolley without you having to unload it and as you pass by that scanner and pay for your things, they are deducted from stock immediately so that the warehouse manger can see what people are buying and what nobody wants to buy. So, if one brand of cat food sells better than another, the manager will see that on the computer print-out and buy more of that make, thus keeping more people happy.

This use of RFID in stock control or asset management to give it its more official title, can translate itself into other uses too. An RFID tag can be put under your cat’s fur or in its collar so that you can locate him if he gets lost. The police and the wardens scan stray animals for a tag as part of their routine these days. Consevationists have been doing this with wild elephants, big cats and other endangered animals for years. Now you can have it done with your pets as well.

Company cars, as assets of the firm, often carry RFID tags and you can have one placed in your car to aid recovery if it is stolen. Baggage handlers at airports or bus terminals can (and do) use them to avoid mislaying luggage.

The US government insists that RFID tags be placed on all vehicles carrying ammunition or hazardous substances and have done for nearly ten years. The US military is in fact the principal user of these tags in the world. RFID tags are used to track military assets such as armaments, battle tanks, fuel, containers, artillery, you name it.

Some people worry about RFID technology. Where is the line between their convenience and their personal information? For example, they do not like getting junk emails from people that have been able to trace the purchases they made with their credit cards.

Owen Jones, the writer of this piece writes on several topics, but is now concerned with the RFID asset tracking. If you would like to know more, please go to our website at Active RFID Management.

RFID (radio frequency identification) chips or tags as they are better known are the size of the smallest coin in your purse, but they can hold huge amounts of information that can be manipulated in methods that can do fantastic things.

For instance, RFID tags are in the majority of office identity tags and in a few passports, enabling the holder to pass through security quickly while keeping the building or the country secure.

They are a modern version of the bar code. Remember before bar codes and bar code readers? When a shop keeper had to type prices into the cash register, correct mistakes and look up prices that they could not remember? People do not have any time for that anymore.

It is OK at the newsagents, but picture a teenager typing in your two trolleys of weekly shopping at the supermarket every Saturday. You would still be there on Sunday! Superstores have thousands of articles and dozens of special offers – no-one could remember that lot.

No-one could, but bar codes make it straightforward and so do RFID tags. Bar codes work well, but they have to be seen to be read. RFID tags send out their information on a unique frequency which can be read out of line of sight. In other words, an RFID scanner does not need to be able to see the tag to read it.

The scanner can see what is in your trolley without you having to unload it and as you pass by that scanner and pay for your goods, they are subtracted from stock immediately so that the store manger can see what people are buying and what nobody wishes to buy. So, if one brand of cat food is selling better than another, the manager will see that on the computer print-out and buy more of that brand, thus keeping more people happy.

This use of RFID in stock control or asset management to give it its more formal title, can translate itself into other uses too. An RFID tag can be put under your cat’s fur or in its collar so that you can locate him if he gets lost. The police and the wardens scan stray animals for a tag as part of their routine these days. Zoologists have been doing this with wild elephants, big cats and other endangered animals for years. Now you can have it done with your pets as well.

Company vehicles, as assets of the firm, often have RFID tags and you can have one placed in your car to aid recovery if it is stolen. Baggage handlers at airports or bus terminals can (and do) use them to avoid lost luggage.

The US government insists that RFID tags be placed on all vehicles carrying ammunition or hazardous substances and have done for nearly ten years. The US military is in fact the principal user of these tags in the world. RFID tags are used to track military assets such as armaments, battle tanks, fuel, containers, artillery, you name it.

Some people worry about RFID technology. Where is the line between their convenience and their personal information? For example, they do not like getting junk emails from people that have been able to track the purchases they made with their credit cards.

Owen Jones, the author of this article writes on quite a few topics, but is currently concerned with the RFID asset tracking. If you would like to know more, please go to our website at Active RFID Management.

Wal-Mart will shortly be adding Radio Frequency IDentity tags to some of its clothing. RFID tags can hold more data than bar codes and so are better for stock control. An item carrying an RFID tag does not have to be removed from the trolley to be scanned because the tag radios its information back to the reader on its own unique radio frequency. These tags can be placed under labels or sewn into garments because they can be very, very small.

Wal-Mart plans to start using removable tags. This is important, because these tags broadcast their data to any machine that asks for it and there are literally thousands of RFID readers in every city.

For example, the tag in your Wal-Mart shirt might be saying: ‘I am a sleeveless shirt, colour yellow, size 12. I cost 9.95. I was bought at Wal-Mart Superstore number 00067 in New Jersey, USA. I am number 500 of 20,000 bought on June 15, 2010 I was made by Satis in Thailand in June 2010′.

This and more information, programmed on the RFID tag is very useful for stock control. RFID tags are an advanced form of bar code. Bar codes are alright, but the scanner has to see them to read them, whereas RFID tags echo back their data when they get the power to do so from an RFID reader.

These readers can be hand-held or stationary and can often read the tags from about a metre away without needing to see it. Therefore, the reader could be under, over or along side the shopping trolley and as you walk by it will read all the contents of your trolley without you having to unload them.

This saves time, which can mean fewer human mistakes and even fewer employees. If the reader is connected to a central computer, stock levels are adjusted automatically, and the fastest moving items and the most and least profitable items in the store can be read off a list that is correct up to the second.

Link the stores to head office and the CEO knows what is going on everywhere in his empire live. Link the computer to the central distribution warehouse and items can be ordered automatically when stock drops to a predetermined level.

However, there are some privacy issues. Wal-Mart plans to use removable tags, but consumer societies say that criminals could scan garbage bins to see what a family has purchased recently. More of a problem would be if the tags were sewn into hems or linings, because they are ‘always on’.

RFID is used in a lot of credit cards and security passes, so it is hypothetically possible that the readers will scan those as well. If the details hidden on passes, credit cards, driving licenses and passports is connected together, then the store will know a whole lot about you, as well as your shopping predilections as soon as you walk through the door.

It could be a very smart move for Wal-Mart to start using smart tags. An experiment at American Apparel Inc. in 2007 showed that shops using smart RFID tags made 14.3% more sales that stores that did not use them. It is also easier to discover employee theft of goods from the stock room if RFID tags are utilized.

Owen Jones, the author of this article writes on quite a few topics, but is currently involved with the best RFID printer. If you would like to know more, please go to our website at Active RFID Management.