Did you know that RFID technology has been serving us longer than inventions such as the credit card, transistor radio or roller blades? 

While fads such as roller-blading have come and gone over the years, RFID use just keeps growing as the technology improves. To appreciate the advancements though, you first need a basic grasp of how this fascinating technology works.  

At the root of how RFID technology works is the exchange of information, via radio waves, between an RFID tag and reader. An active RFID tag, using its battery power, transmits asset data that is received by an antenna attached to an active RFID reader. For passive RFID, on the other hand, the reader transmits radio energy that activates a chip in the passive tag. The passive tag then transmits its ID number, which is received by an antenna attached to the reader. Computer software organizes data collected by RFID readers and presents it to users.

British World War II aviation provides a textbook example of how RFID technology works in the real world. During the war, RFID tags were affixed to British fighter planes. As the planes returned over the English Channel to the UK following missions, radar operators bounced radar waves off of the approaching planes. The character of the returning radio waves told the British whether the approaching planes were friend or foe.

Today’s RFID systems are far more advanced than those that helped the Royal Air Force identify its planes. But the concept remains the same: Harness the power of radio waves to transfer data from a moving asset, to a reader, to a computer system that enables users to make sense of the data.

Tags: RFID

This entry was posted on Monday, March 1st, 2010 at 5:15 am and is filed under Savi Spotlight. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.