RFID is an area of automatic
identification that has quietly been gaining momentum in recent years
and is now being seen as a radical means of enhancing data handling
processes, complimentary in many ways to other data capture
technologies such as barcoding. The object of any RFID system is to
carry data in suitable transponders, generally known as tags, and to
retrieve data, by machine-readable means, at a suitable time and place.
Data within a tag may provide identification for an item in
manufacture, goods in transit, a location, the identity of a vehicle,
an animal or individual. RFID technology yields larger memory
capacities, wider reading ranges, and faster processing.


An RFID system has the following components:

1. RFID DEVICE (tag or transponder) that contains data about an item.

2. RF TRANSCEIVER that generates RF signals.

3. An ANTENNA used to transmit RF signals between RFID DEVICE and READER.

4. READER that receives RF transmissions from an RFID DEVICE and passes the data to a host system for processing.