Posts Tagged ‘RFID’
RFID Tags In General
All RFID tags are used to store and ultimately send data. They can best be thought of as the replacement for the bar code. However, they have significant advantages over bar codes. For instance: RFID tags can hold much more data than bar codes; they can be scanned from further away and they can in point of fact send data, not only store data.
There are three kinds of RFID tags: passive, active and hybrid. Passive RFID tags are the least expensive, because they are less complex. They have to be asked to disclose their information by taking power from an RFID reader. When the reader’s radio waves hit them, they echo back their information. This is the sort of tag used in goods in a retail outlet or on crates in a warehouse.
On the other hand, active RFID tags have a battery, a transmitter and an antenna so that they are always sending. These units are clearly a lot more expensive and so are used only on more expensive items such as a container, a battle tank, an aircraft, on criminals ankle bands or on an animal of an endangered species.
The hybrid RFID tag is capable of transmitting, but it needs to be told to transmit; it has to be turned on by a signal. This signal could be a satellite passing over head. These hybrid RFID tags are also costly, but the battery lasts longer because they are not ‘always on’. These tags have the same applications as the active tags, but are appropriate for use where it is not critical to know where something is every minute of the day: for instance cattle in a field or goats on a mountain.
Passive tags can be attached permanently by sewing them into linings or placing them under skin because they do not have their own power source and do not wear out. This is a cause of anxiety to some people who worry about an invasion of their privacy or the erosion of their human rights.
Active and hybrid tags are most often clearly visible so that the batteries can be replaced as and when necessary. If this is going to unlikely to happen, as in the case of wild animals, the tag can have a biodegradable clasp which will break sometime after the probable life of the battery.
Some uses for RFID tags are on season tickets so that the holder can pass through the style more quickly than a customer paying by cash. It has uses in security; most of the ID badges you see pinned to jackets have RFID built into them so that security guards do not have to stop and question everybody.
They can be put into trucks that repeatedly cross frontiers so that they do not have to stop for identification. They can be placed on windscreens so that, as you drive through a motorway toll post, either your credit card is debited or the charge is added to your company’s monthly account.
Hospitals use them on patients so that they do not lose anyone or mis-identify them. RFID tags are useful in our daily lives but people are worried about criminals being able to read all this information too easily as well.
Owen Jones, the writer of this article writes on quite a few 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.
Why Should My Pet Carry An ID Tag?
If your pet is prone to venture far from home then you should think about putting an identity tag on it. The ID tag can be as basic as you like, but the most advanced way is to use ‘radio frequency identification’ or an RFID tag.
If you have a very young cat of dog, there is perhaps no necessity to tag it yet, but as the animal gets older, ID tags can become critical. If your pet gets lost, anyone finding it can then return it. If you have a cat or a dog, then a straightforward collar might be sufficient.
Some collars have a metal tag affixed to them so that you can have your contact details or phone number etched on it, others have a ring, so that you can affix a small canister with your details inside it. Some just write their address on the inside of the collar with a felt tipped pen or a marker pen. This is more risky though because you may not notice if it rubs off.
It is necessary to think about water damage if you are ID tagging a dog. Cats try to keep out of water, rain and snow, but most dogs love playing in it. If your dog’s tag is not waterproof, it will soon become impossible to read. On the other hand, cats frequently lose their collars.
If your pet is a horse, then it is simpler to have it branded and the brand registered, so that anyone finding your lost horse can reference the brand and discover your contact details. If your pet is a tortoise, then you can write your phone number around the edge of its shell in a non-toxic fluid like nail varnish, but keep it small or you may poison the creature. Birds can have leg bands fitted. These leg rings have a unique number which can be looked up like a brand.
These are the conventional ways of ID tagging your pets, but the most modern method is to RFID tags them. These RFID tags can be affixed in several different ways. The simplest way is to have a plastic passive RFID tag made up and hang it from your pet’s collar. This works well, until your pet loses its collar or unless someone removes it in order to steal your pet.
Another technique of affixing an RFID tag, is to have your details imprinted on a chip and have the chip installed under your pet’s skin by a vet. Some people are disgusted by this idea others do not mind. However, it does not hurt, is not uncomfortable and cannot be lost.
When the police or the pound officials are handed a stray, they scan it for a chip as part of their routine these days. Even people have them inserted so that they can move across international borders more rapidly.
The RFID tag is read by a scanner and can be read from distances of several feet to several hundred yards, which makes locating a lost pet a much simpler job if it has an RFID tag fitted.
Owen Jones, the author of this piece writes on many subjects, but is currently concerned with researching What to do if your dog eats chocolate. If you would like to know more, please go to our website at http://whattodoifyourdogeatschocolate.com.
What Are Asset Management Techniques?
How does one go about taking care of one’s property – one’s worldly possessions? Well, the majority of people put their money in the bank, put the jewellery in a safe and insure the rest. But insurance is not really taking care of your possessions, is it? It is taking care of yourself so that you do not have renew them with your own money.
In the old days, and even now, I presume in some places, you would employ a boy to watch over your sheep or cattle or bring them in at night for fear of big cats, wolves or rustlers. These were an early kind of security guard and indeed wealthy people had and often still do have private body guards.
What if you had a large office with a hundred laptop computers – laptops because employees had to do field work too? How would you keep track on all those? A car is another good case in point and construction site plant is being stolen all the time even from under the watchful gaze of (or with the help of) private security firms.
So what can you do? Get dogs? That works sometimes, but they can be poisoned. Get video cameras and passive infra-red movement sensors linked to a control centre? That works and many firms and private houses have it, but it is very expensive.
As a cheap alternative, the police were giving out free pens in the UK, which wrote in invisible ink. The idea was to write your postcode and house number. This ink became visible under a special kind of light. That is fine if you have a suspect or found property.
Bar codes are not practical, the pen is better. It all comes back to insurance or surveillance.
However, there is another way that is becoming reasonably priced. The idea has been around for approximately 85 years, but it was too pricey to use on anything smaller than an airplane or a battle tank.
I am talking about radio frequency identification or RFID for short. The idea is the same one that aircraft have been using since during the Second World War – a transponder emits precoded information in answer to a demand from an RF reader.
Details regarding ownership and details of what the item is can be written to an RFID chip also known as a tag and the tag can then be taped inside the item that it is to safeguard.
There are two varieties of tag: the passive and the active. Passive tags will only respond if information is requested by a reader, whereas an active tag is always broadcasting.
Many entrepreneurs use RFID tagging to keep track of their assets. In the instance of livestock, most cattle are tagged these days. Most big offices have their IT devices tagged as well and we all know that clothing stores have been tagging garments for years, although maybe you did not know what that button was that they were taking off at the checkout.
People are already tagging their dogs, cats and cars and it will not be long before these asset management techniques will be used extensively at home too. Insurance companies may demand on it.
Owen Jones, the writer of this article writes on quite a few topics, but is now concerned with the RFID asset management. If you would like to know more, please go to our website at Active RFID Management.
An Understanding Of Radio Frequency Id Systems
Radiofrequency Identification is not a new technology. The application has been around for decades and it has never stopped broadening its application ever since the 1940s. Radio Frequency Identification or RFID can be described as multi-component solution. Equipment include micro transponders, readers, as well as present day computer applications that set off a steady feed of data.
An internal circuit and antenna happen to be crucial in each and every RFID transponder. The IC is coded with an electronic product code (EPC) making it distinct among the remaining tagged objects everywhere. When the label is inside range of an RFID scanner, information concerning the tagged piece is sent out through the antenna to the scanner, providing information to a processing system.
RFID technology was first applied for military purposes in World War 2. Subsequently, it has been utilized in various areas. The application became a real help in travel. automotive, shipping, security, not to mention trade businesses.
Although it is dubbed as “wireless bar coding”, RFID are better than simple bar code readers. Through of RFID technology, scanning can be completed regardless of whether the tagged item is in the scanner’s line of sight or not. Other strengths feature its capacity to read tags within 90 feet radius.
RFID is really a self-reliant tracking method. This identification method functions free of human involvement. Moreover, it can certainly read plenty of tags all together while preserving high degree accuracy in analyzing each item.
Typically, RFID systems are categorized in two ways. The first group comes from its storage and recovery benefits: Read-only or Read-write and Passive or Active land sources. The following is dependant on the frequency it utilizes: Low Frequency, High Frequency, or Ultra-high Frequency.
Read-only labels can only attain stored data such as a product information and stuff like that. These systems can simplify fabrication and distribution schemes. Read-write tags on the other hand are purposefully designed to both interpret and input data.
Passively, a RFID reader provides energy for the tag to become functional. Without a scanning device in close proximity, the ID couldn’t provide any data. In essence, a passive scheme is inferior when compared with an active system.
A dynamic system has battery power implanted in tags to aid in the transmittal of data between tag and scanner. Dynamic systems tend to be more sophisticated than passive systems and scans bigger ranges. Also, they are equipped with extra features like infrared scanners and consequently have a longer life span.
More info about Automatic Identification Systems at RFID transponder