What is the difference between active, semi-passive and passive tags?
Active tags broadcast under their own power, using an onboard battery. As a result, they can have very long read ranges. They are more expensive than passive tags, so theyre normally used to tag very high-value items. Passive tags are the most economical RFID tags and the most common tag used in supply chain applications. They dont have onboard batteries like active tags, because they get their power from RFID readers. The RFID reader sends electromagnetic waves to the tags antenna. Using energy from these waves, tags broadcast a signal back to the reader. Semi-passive tags are a small and light-weight hybrid of active and passive tags. They generally use a battery to power the electronic logic (like active tags), but can also transmit data using power generated from RFID readers (like passive tags).
