Inside RFID

By Shamshad Ansari

June 13, 2005

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The concept of "pervasive computing" or "ubiquitous computing" predicts that tiny computers will be embedded in everyday objects all around us and will respond to our presence, desires and needs without being actively manipulated. These small computers will do their work, in coordination with many other computers, and we would not even feel their presence. Mark Weiser, chief technologist at Xerox PARC, called this system a "calm technology" because it will enable us to focus on our work rather than interacting with computers to get the work done.

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) claims to do what Mark Weiser dreamed of. Stores can be stocked with thousands of items, each of them carrying a mobile database distributed all over the store. These databases, embedded in electronic chips, are manipulated as the items are moved—from the manufacturing plant, to the stockroom receiving dock, to the sales floor, to the customer's refrigerator, and finally to the dumpsters. With a similar system installed in your house you could conceivably receive a message on your cell phone that the milk in the refrigerator is expired and that you need to pick up more cough medicine. It's a scenario that's been trotted out by futurists for years, but RFID makes it realistic.

An RFID system consists of an antenna and a transceiver, which read data transmitted by a transponder using radio frequency. The transceiver and antenna combined together are called an RFID reader. The transponder, which is an integrated circuit containing RF circuitry, transmits data when it comes in the electric or magnetic field of the antenna. The antenna transmits data to a processing unit where data is manipulated according to the business need.

RFID can be used in almost every industry where a unique identification is required. The most common application of RFID today is in supply chains, where RFID tags are attached to items to track them through out the supply chain. As compared to its simpler, older brother—bar codes—RFID is an approach to automating data collection which has the potential to significantly alter how a corporation operates.

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