Have you ever thought about toll plazas on the highway which scan vehicles fast tags very quickly and accurately?
Fastags it uses RFID tags which stands for radio frequency identification. RFID is used in many places such As for tracking inventory or collection of tolls on the highway.
Let’s quickly understand this in detail.
Each RFID system has three components: 1st a scanning antenna, second a transceiver, and a transponder. The combination of scanning antenna and transceiver is known as RFID or interrogator.
RFID scanners work on the basis of radio signals. Which transmits electromagnetic waves as a signal. RFID tags are programmed to activate on a specific radio frequency. RFID scanners transmit that same specific frequency which activates the tag.
RFID tags send back the same radio wave to the scanner through which the scanner collects the data and matches with the database.
The read range of RFID tags depends on various factors, such as the type of tag, the type of reader, the frequency of the RFID system, and environmental interference. RFID readers with higher signal strength can read RFID tags from a greater distance, like the scanners used in toll systems.
This technology is also known as AIDC, or “Automatic Identification and Data Capture.” It differs from traditional barcodes and QR code scanning because RFID does not require alignment; it can read tags from a distance.
History
In 1945 a group of boys from the young pioneer organization of the SU Soviet Union presented a hand carved ceremonial seal of the USA to the US ambassador harriman. within the seal the antenna activated by radio signal that was directed at the US embassy by the Soviets. In the 1970s RFID tags were used by the railway management to monitor railway carriages.
Today RFID tags are used by several organization such as NHS and big retail chain across the world, and it is also used to manage stocks in big warehouse however, the technology was not adopted that quickly in retail particularly because RFID technology has been in the market for almost 20 years but with the expense and lack of valuable data provide proving its benefits originally many company didn’t see the value of investing money in it.
Talking about NFC which stands for near field communication uses the frequency of 13.56 MHz which is similar to RFID technology which uses wireless communication technology and makes an interaction between two electronic devices. RFID was originally and officially invented in 1983 by Charles Walton after he filed a patent with the word RFID. NFC started making the headlines in 2002 and continues to develop it. RFID technology is used at operating frequency ranges, which differ country to country, and is controlled by standards set primarily by the European telecommunications standards institute Angel and the FCC federal communication Commission in the United states. The frequency range used in the US is 902-928 megahertz. In Europe this frequency is used for other applications, so RFID is usually limited to using different frequency bands to prevent its having a negative impact on the technology. Several countries have adopted one of these standards, though some have introduced their own guidelines for this.
Harry Stockman invented RFID who was a Swedish scientist in 1948. Add that time radio technology was at a developing stage and it was another few decades before RFID technology became viable which means a reliable source that we can use in the future. Radar which consists of transmitters receiving reflected signals from objects, was developed before it was applied on a smaller scale. After that RFID tags were introduced and took place worldwide.
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Very insightful
Thank you