2006-08-28 Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) on the advance
Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) allows an automatically identification and localisation of objects. The development, which was slowly but continuously developed in the past decades, is in the meantime so advanced, that an use can be applicable also for large companies.
A RFID-system includes transponders, readers and the integration with server, services and other systems as for example cash-systems or enterprise-resource-planning-systems. Transponders at or in objects save data, which can be read contact-free and without intervisibility – depending on type (passive / active), used wave-band, transmitting-power and environmental influences on distances between few centimeters and more than one kilometer. The data-transfer between transponders and readers occures by means of electromagnetic waves.
Growth
In 2005 600 millions RFID-tags were sold worldwide. The estimate for 2006 is a sale of 1.3 billions RFID-tags.
Operational-areas
The RFID-market is at presently pushed from the requirments of large retailer as well as the US-american Ministry of Defence, to optimate company-spanning and internal process-chains. The use of the RFID-technology is almost unlimited imaginable, so that the following list can cover only some, important areas.
Identification of banknotes: according unconfirmed messages the European Central Bank (EZB) considers to clip RFID-chips on bank-notes. The target is here an increased protection for falsifications.
Animal-identification: since the seventies the RFID-transponders are used also with animals. Among the identification of farm-animals with nackbands, earmarks and boli the implants are used in particular with pets (EU-domestic-animals-pass, ISO 11784 and 11785).
Automobile immobilizer: as a component of car-keys the transponders are the core of the electronical immobilizer. In the inserted condition the transponder is thereby read-out over a read-spool in the starter-lock and represents with the saved code the real key-element of the car-key. For this purpose are usually inserted crypto-transponder.
Non-contacting chip-cards: Among them someone understands for example non-contacted and rechargeable tickets, which are very popular in Asia but in the meantime they are already introduced in London (Oyster-card), too. With the FIFA soccer-world-championchip 2006 in Germany the RFID technology was used in the tickets. It is the wish to reduce the ticket black-market by obligation of the ticket to the buyer. The German sports-club VfL Wolfsburg uses this technology already during the matches in the German-Football-Leaugue.
Goods- and inventory management: In libraries of each size and type the RFID is used for the booking and security of the different media. The famous installations are in the public-library of Munich, Vienna and Stuttgart, the library of the university of Graz and Karlsruhe. The RFID-readers are able to read special RFID-transponder batch and contactless. This performance-characteristica means group-reading. That means by the lending and return that the media hasn’t separately published and scanned. Only for this purpose there are developed RFID-return-machines which allow a return outside of the opening-time. At the doors and stairways are readers which look like security-barriers in shopping-stores. They control the correct lending. With specially RFID-readers the inventory of the stock and the locating of missed media are noticeable easier and faster.
Position-identification: In the industrial-use are transporting-systems without driver (AGV). This systems can determin the position by means of integrated transponder.
Time-recording: transponder in the shoe of a runner or in a bike can be used as starting-numbers in sport-competitions.
Source: Wikipedia
