RFID Intro

RFID (Radio Frequency IDentification) is one of the coolest technologies in the horizon. RFID tags are tiny microchip and antenna units that store and transmit information. The concept is really quite simple.

• You put an RFID tag on an object
• When this object passes by an RFID reader, the waves from the reader activate the tag.
• The activated tag sends the reader a message saying - "This is who I am and this is where I am"

This enables unique identification of the tagged entity throughout the supply chain.

The tag is tiny !

There is often talk that RFID tags will replace bar codes. But that isnt completely accurate as the two are fundamentally different.

• With bar codes, you have to orient the bar code reader to the actual bar code to ensure that it is read. With RFID, orientation of the object does not matter.
• With bar codes, each product class gets one code. For example, each can of diet coke would have the same code. On the other hand, with RFID technology, each can of diet coke would have an unique code.

RFID is not a recent innovation. It has been around since the 1940's. However, it is only recently that RFID tags have become cheap enough for mass use.

Some of the past/current applications of RFID are:

• First used by Great Britain during World War II to identify friendly aircraft.
• Compaq was the first to use RFID in a non-military setting.
• Mobil Speed Pass
• Smart Bank Cards
• Ohio Department of Corrections: Prisoner tracking
• Animal Identification / Pet tracking
• Airlines: Baggage tracking

The Wal*Mart Effect

In 2003, Wal*Mart announced that each of their top 100 suppliers would have to RFID-tag each of the cases and pallets dispatched to Wal*Mart. This created a frenzy of action in the RFID arena. Nobody really understood the technology and it was unclear whether there was financial benefit in RFID. However, what Wal*Mart asks for, Wal*Mart usually gets ! And so in January 2005, 130 suppliers started shipping RFID-tagged product to Wal*Mart distribution centers in Texas.

Target, Albertsons, the US Department of Defence, Tesco (UK) and Metro (Germany) followed suit, and demanded that their suppliers start providing them with RFID-tagged product.

So we are going to have billions of RFID enabled product moving around the world at the same time.

This can have a profound impact on the way we lead our lives ... I'll explain tomorrow.