What is Radio Frequency Identification(RFID)?

RFID

RFID is Radio Frequency Identification, something similar to what would be the technology that identifies the codes of bars that we can find in any supermarket but with some differences.

Here we will call the Radio Frequency Identification as “RFID” for short.

What is RFID?

 RFID is a technology that uses chips smaller than a grain of sand in order to track or identify objects at a distance.

 These chips contain a small antenna and have the same function as the bar codes or magnetic strips that can be found in any product of a supermarket as we have mentioned providing a unique identifier for that product or object.

 The advantage of RFID technology with respect to bar codes or magnetic strips is that they can be identified at a greater distance.

 Many times we have been in trouble at the cashiers or ATMs of our supermarkets trying to identify the barcodes or we tried to put our credit cards in the cashiers so that they read them well. Well, RFID devices do not present these problems but can also be perfectly identified up to a distance of 20 meters.

HOW DO RFID DEVICES WORK?

 The devices are composed of a tiny chip and an antenna in which there is an electromagnetic energy that has a certain information that is stored in a software or database.

 The reader or reader device (something like a scanner) is responsible for collecting this information by receiving a unique identification number for each product or object. So we can identify any item at a distance.

 The reading device emits a series of radio frequency waves to the chip and the chip captures these waves through its antenna and transmits the data that is stored to the reader.

  It is as if the reader asks the chip what its information is and the chip responds by sending its unique identification number.

 The following image on the left shows how the RFID technology used in a warehouse at a distance from the object works. What we see in the person's hand is the reader device and what we see in the image below is an RFID card (or RIFD tag) or RFID device that is the one that contains those chips with the information to read and that are in the articles.

WHAT DO WE USE RFID TECHNOLOGY for?

 RFID technology can be used for virtually anything. We can find it in many products such as food, clothing ... etc. which is what we call identification of materials but is used for many more things such as controlling the quality of a product, how it is manufactured, its expiration date ... etc.

 It is also used to identify and locate lost animals. Dogs can carry this chip inserted that allows it to be found.

  With RFID technology we can also detect fake objects, fake cards, ... etc.

 The latest ID or identity cards in Spain and Germany also use this technology for the identification of people. They have a rfid card incorporated.

  The applications that this technology has are many and varied in all industrial sectors.

WHAT ADVANTAGES PRESENTS THE RFID TECHNOLOGY?

  The advantages are many compared to other identification systems, such as traditional bar codes. Let's put a practical example to understand it well:

  We go to a supermarket and buy many products that we put in our shopping cart. Upon arrival at the cashier, the cashier or the cashier would have to pass the items one by one through the barcode reader if the barcode were involved. On the contrary, if we used RFID technology in these articles we would not even need to take them out of the bags. The RFID reader could count them and identify them all together inside the bags and also from a greater distance without having to bring them closer to the scanner and without the need for eye contact.

  Bar codes are designed to identify one type of item and, however, RFID cards identify each product uniquely and individually since almost infinite amount of information about that product can be stored on these devices.

  RFID technology is faster and more accurate than other identification technologies and last much longer which helps many companies save a lot of time in the manufacture and control of their products which also saves a lot of money, since they can detect defective items , broken, stolen..etc in no time.

  Apart from these advantages, there are many others that make RFID technology the promise of the present and the future and the most used by most manufacturers.

WHAT DISADVANTAGES PRESENTS THE RFID TECHNOLOGY?

  The main drawback of this technology is the price, but due to its great advantages the initial price compensates in the long run for its effectiveness.

  There is also another disadvantage with these devices and it is that sometimes the reading of data is defective when they are inserted in liquid materials and / or metals.

  Another drawback they present is that if we use 2 readers at the same time for the same RFID card, it will not be able to give correct information since the reader devices will cross their waves and the card is not able to answer 2 simultaneous queries.

WHAT TYPES OF RFID DEVICES OR CARDS ARE THERE?

  For this technology we can find 2 types of RFID Cards, passive cards or active cards that we will define below:

Passive Rfid Cards : Passive cards are characterized because they depend on an external power source that is only activated by reflecting the waves of the reading device or scanner They are the cheapest and the distance at which your information can be read is less. In addition they can also be disposable.

Active Rfid Cards: Active cards do not require an external power source but instead have a built-in battery that supplies them. Unlike passive ones, they are more expensive but also have a greater reading range and data storage capacity. Apart from this, they are better designed to operate at temperature, light, humidity sensors ... etc.

  We have seen the wide variety of applications that RFID technology has that completely de-identifies the identification technology we are familiar with as the barcode For this reason, and because it can be applied in many other fields, its potential and future evolution are great.

 You are already hearing about the Internet Of The Things , which is nothing more than the RFID technology associated with Internet of Objects , connecting people or appliances to computers through RFID devices. This would mean having people and objects connected to each other online! It seems crazy but not to be surprised if in the coming years we detect that our refrigerator is "passing" information to our usual store because we need to buy lemons