New Technology Briefing: Radio frequency identification
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ywords: RFID, supply chain, marketing, EPCGlobal, EPC Class 1
Radio frequency identification Andrew Berger Received (in revised form): 15 January 2005
Abstract In every business cycle there are new technologies that promise to change the way in which major businesses operate internally and within their ecosystems. In the 1990s the internet was one of those technologies, but few who saw its early iterations could have predicted the scale of its impact. Most major businesses missed the initial opportunities of the internet because they failed to recognise its relevance and potential. RFID technology has the potential to be an even more disruptive technology than the internet. But it is not yet easy for most business managers to understand the far-reaching implications of RFID solutions. Few could have predicted that, by 2004, there would be over 750 million users of the internet and over 4.3 billion webpages. RFID technology has the potential to add between 100 billion and 1 trillion tags or ‘wireless network computers’ to business networks and the internet during this business cycle. This New Technology Briefing looks at the key implications of RFID for businesses over the next few years. It tries to explain why some of the world’s largest organisations and RFID technology vendors have been pushing ahead aggressively with implementing a massive extension to current internet technologies. It helps to explain why, in a world of billions of things, ultra low cost and high performance are critical.
What is RFID? Why is it important?
Andrew Berger Alien Technology Atlantic House Imperial Way Reading RG2 0TD, UK Tel: +44 (0)1189 036017 E-mail: [email protected]
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Radio frequency identification (RFID) is an old technology with new potential. Invented towards the end of the Second World War, it is a way of using energy from radio waves to receive simple information packets back from either passive or active (battery-powered) RFID tags. Like the fax machine (which was invented in 1922), it is a technology that has been waiting for its time. One of the best ways to think about RFID is to think about a mirror reflecting the sun. The radio (the sun) transmits power, the RFID tag (the mirror) is a passive receiver that use the power of the transmitter to return a signal (a focused beam of information). In the case of passive RFID tags this means that a tag can ‘shout back’ its unique serial number over a distance of about three to five metres. So what? There are three main implications from this simple capability that will make a huge difference over existing bar-code technology: — unique product serial numbers give a capability to count and track,
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Radio frequency identification allowing supply chain visibility and asset tracking — long-range interrogation of tags means that it is possible to monitor tags in more locations and without human involvement — r
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