Working of RFID Technology

Discuss about the Radio Frequency Identification Technology for Magnetic Strips.

The purpose of this report is to understand the working of RFID technology. From this report, we can evaluate the use of RFID technology. RFID is an electromagnetic device which uses the radio waves to retrieve the information that is stored on the chips of the device. It can be used in place of the barcodes and magnetic strips. These devices can be determined on the basis of tags or readers. Active and passive are the types of tags used in the RFID technology. RFID is better than the barcodes and QR codes. 

These reports also include the limitations of RFID technology that can be solved depends on the tags and chips used in the technology. There are so many organizations across the globes which have done the implementation of the technology. Further, these reports also include the uses of RFID technology in the areas like banking, healthcare, supply chain management and much more.

RFID is an electromagnetic device which uses the radio waves to retrieve the information that is stored on the chips of the device. It can be used in place of the barcodes and magnetic strips. These devices can be determined on the basis of tags or readers. Active and passive are the types of tags used in the RFID technology. RFID is much better than the barcodes and QR codes (Fenlon and Bonsor, 2016).

Readers and scanners are types of devices used in the RFID. Readers are using the radio waves to identify the data and can be used according to the need of the individual. Scanners are using the antennas to read all the information on the cards and avoid all the security related problems.

TAS is also an important RFID device effective for all the transactions and in time management. It controls all the data and stores all the data at a specific point and protects all the information using a suitable password.

RFID tags are the most important parts of the device which encompasses the complete structure which is basically used to send the data through the antennas and collect the required information. These can be further classified into two parts,

Active RFID tags

Passive RFID tags

Now the above named can be described as follows:

Active tags have the internal power source to acquire the information and have the battery to perform the function effectively. The power supplied in these tags is always continuous. These require very less power to get the effective signals from the readers. These have the individual power supply and information can be accessed from the farthest point in a very easy way.

Types of Devices

Passive tags actually transfer the energy and can be easily gettable through the radio frequency. It can perform the function at any frequency where the information is required to get the data. This does not require the battery source to perform the function. These require the high power to get the effective signals strength to the reader. 

The RFID devices are affected by so many problems like data flooding, global standardization, shielding that can affects the performance of the devices as large. These can be easily compared with the barcodes but cannot be used in place of the barcodes. These always have an edge over the barcodes but cannot be used so frequently due to the high cost of the RFID devices and also multiple data cannot be accessed easily by these devices (Roberti, 2011).

RFID can access the data from very large distance very easily. These do not require follows the same line of path with respect to the scanner. These also read the information very quickly three times much faster than the barcodes. These have the high safety where the data cannot be accessed without knowing the password as all the information is safely protected. These have the ability to carry extreme data regarding the product quality, transportation history and any programmed data. The data stored in these can be reusable and reassessed at any point of time.

RFID devices do not requires the man power to operate and fully automatic to operate. These also do not require the tracking. These can store more information than the QR codes. These are more reliable to use and very efficient. These also do not depend on any orientation (Campbell, 2011).

From the above discussion we get that RFID enables to store the data efficiently and at the very effective rate.

There are various limitations used in the RFID technology. The technology used is not so perfect due to which so many tags are not working very well. The reading accuracy is still not very good and takes so much of time. The components used during the transmission can really malfunctions when used in the warehouses and for any transmission purposes will requires the technicians. As these are operate by the computers so only technicians can handle RFID technology. These will certainly increases the costs for the expenses of the organizations.

The tag data can be secured by using the passwords which can visible only to the owners. Rewriting should not be allowed on the chips as prevents data theft but requires more physical memory to store the data. The frequencies used in the devices should vary on continuous basis so that can’t be easily accessed by the hackers.

Types of RFID

Walmart is the biggest retailer company which is using the RFID technology that improves the company’s supply chain management. It first used in the warehouses to find the pallets which are used in the supply chain. Walmart also used it to tag on the all of the garments. These help Walmart to improve its inventory and also make the packing of items very efficiently. In the same way EZ link card technology used in Singapore is the best example of RFID (Azeem and Aljwaheri, 2012).

It is the smart card technology used in the public transportation to pay the fare. These also provide concession facility to the students, army persons or senior citizens. These are also used in the schools of Singapore to mark the attendance of the students. These also provide the online services to the individual so that they can see their transaction information (Baum, 2013).

There are so many sectors in which the RFID technology is used. In banking, RFID is used in the between the cheques. It also improves the customer services like providing scanned passbooks. It also used in the courier bag which carries the important documents or certificates of the banks to the different branches. It also track the computers used in the banks to avoid any theft of important data. Above these advantages causes RFID technology success in banking sector (Abr, 2016).

In health care sector it is used in the radiology department to tag the x rays and reduce time to evaluate the results. It is also used in control of the infection and alerts the people from the infected person who have come to the hospitals. It also tracks the medicines or drugs that are prescribed by the doctors or physicians. This unique advantage causes RFID success in Health care sector (Baum, 2013).

RFID technology success in supply chain management sector (SCM).In SCM sector it is used in the transportation of the inventories in the warehouses. It is also used in the logistics to perform the operations of the company. It also improves the product quality and manages the assets in the supply chain management. 

Conclusion:

From this report it is concluded that RFID technology is one of the advanced and most innovative technology that can be beneficial for both the business and technical solution. These can be the effective tool to restructure the various business problems. But it cannot be very cost effective as compared to the barcodes and QR codes. The pricing factor is the biggest issue faced by the organizations which are implementing the RFID technology. Further, this report also concludes that RFID technology play an important role in the banking, health care and supply chain management sector. Finally, from this report it can be concluded that RFID is good solution for the security check, automatic processing and for the identification of the products during the inventory transmission.

References 

Abr (2016). RFID Banking Applications. Retrieved from: https://www.abr.com/rfid-banking-applications (Accessed: 08 October 2016)

Aljawaheri, M. and Azeem, S. (2012) Analysis of implementation of RFID technology in Retail Industry. [Online]. Available at: https://mdh.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:571865/FULLTEXT01.pdf (Accessed: 08 October 2016)

Dehkordi, L., Ghorbani, A. and Aliahmadi, A. (2013) Application of RFID Technology in Banking Sector. [Online]. Available at: https://www.irma-international.org/viewtitle/73367/ (Accessed: 08 October 2016) 

Medcitynews (2016). 5 ways the healthcare industry is implementing RFID technology. Retrieved from: https://medcitynews.com/2013/12/5-ways-hospitals-implementing-rfid-tags-emerging-trend-healthcare (Accessed: 08 October 2016)

Rfidarena (2016). Benefits of implementing RFID in Supply Chain Management. Retrieved from: https://rfidarena.com/2013/11/14/benefits-of-implementing-rfid-in-supply-chain-management.aspx (Accessed: 10 October 2016)

Smallbiztrends (2016). QR codes, Barcodes and RFID: What’s the difference? Retrieved from: https://smallbiztrends.com/2011/02/qr-codes-barcodes-rfid-difference.html (Accessed: 10 October 2016)

Tutorial-reports (2016). RFID tags: Advantages and Limitations. Retrieved from: https://www.tutorial-reports.com/wireless/rfid/walmart/tag-advantages.php (Accessed: 12 October 2016)

Usanfraonline (2016). RFID technology boosts Walmart’s Supply Chain Management. Retrieved from:https://www.usanfranonline.com/resources/supply-chain-management/rfid-technology-boosts-walmarts-supply-chain-management/#.V_e0rOV97IU (Accessed: 12 October 2016)