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Benefits of RFID Technology

RFID technology is used for a variety of appliations in business and industry. Thin tags are inserted into packaging for retail products for theft prevention. Detectors at store exits can sense an RFID tag even if a theif has an item hidden from the view of employees. Special deactivators are installed at registers to ensure that consumers who pay for their items will not get stopped at the door. Devices used for these purposes are fairly simple since no real data is being transferred, only the presence of a tag need be detected.

RFID systems for other applications are not so trivial. In large cities with
toll roads, special tags attached to drivers' keychains make driving through
toll collection booths more convenient by sending an identification number
via RFID so the driver does not have to stop to pay. These toll tags tie the
driver to his/her credit card or bank account which can be debited
immediately. Similar tags are also used by gas companies to bill customers
for gas.

Transponder tags are also used in shipping to track packages in shipping companies like the US Postal Servie, FedEx and UPS. Rather than scanning thousands of barcodes as boxes leave a distribution center, detectors at the doors collect tracking numbers from RFID tags, ensuring that the location of every package can be easily determined.

RFID tags the size of a grain of rice are being implanted in domesticated
animals to keep track of strays. Sixteen-digit hex numbers are assigned to
an animal's tag and the owner's name, address, and phone number are
correlated to the pet's identificiation number in a nation-wide database.
When a stray is caught, a transceiver wand can be run over the animal
and its identification number retrieved from its tag. Since the tags are
passive and made of durable plastic (they last far longer than the lifetime
of most animals), their identification number is permanent and there is no
risk of harm to the animal. These tags are even used to track the sale and
transfer of farm animals. A few companies are even pushing to make devices
like these available for parents to track their children!

As you can see, RFID tags allow people (and animals) to be quicklyly and reliably identified in a multitude of applications. RFID tags run on low or no power at all, so there is little need to change batteries or worry about contamination to the user. Some reprogrammable tags can even be reused if necessary. RFID technology is essentially universally adaptable and customizable--one needs only a method by which to read a tag (at the right frequency and power level), and perhaps an encryption algorithm for protected information.