How Does Rfid Work?
RFID uses an integrated microchip and antenna that reads information. The combination of the chip and antenna is called an RFID transponder or tag. There are two types of tags, and therefore two types of systems, active and passive. In a passive system, which is the most common, an RFID reader transmits an energy field that “wakes up” the tag and provides the power for the tag to operate. In active systems, a battery in the tag is used to boost the effective operating range of the tag and to offer additional features over passive tags, such as temperature sensing. The radio waves that are sent back and forth between tag and transmitter contain the data in the tag, and this data is then converted by the reader and transferred into a computer system.
Information is sent to and read from RFID tags by a reader using radio waves. In passive systems, which are the most common, an RFID reader transmits an energy field that “wakes up” the tag and provides the power for the tag to respond to the reader. In active systems, a battery in the tag is used to boost the effective operating range of the tag and to support additional features over passive tags, such as temperature sensing. Data collected from tags is then passed through communication interfaces (cable or wireless) to host computer systems in the same manner that data scanned from bar code labels is captured and passed to computer systems for interpretation, storage, and action.
