General RFID Information

What is automatic identification?
Automatic identification, or auto ID for short, is the broad term given to a host of technologies that are used to help machines identify objects. Auto identification is often coupled with automatic data capture. That is, companies want to identify items, capture information about them and somehow get the data into a [...]

RFID Technology

How does an RFID system work?
An RFID system consists of a tag made up of a microchip with an antenna, and an interrogator or reader with an antenna. The reader sends out electromagnetic waves. The tag antenna is tuned to receive these waves. A passive RFID tag draws power from the field created by the [...]

RFID Tags

How much information can an RFID tag store?
It depends on the vendor and the application, but typically a tag carries no more than 2KB of data—enough to store some basic information about the item it is on. Companies are now looking at using a simple “license plate” tag that contains only a 96-bit serial number. [...]

RFID Reader

What is an agile reader?
An agile reader is one that can read tags operating at different frequencies or using different methods of communication between the tags and readers.
What are intelligent and dumb readers?
These terms are not precise, but many people use “intelligent reader” to describe one that has the ability not just to run different [...]

RFID Standards

What is the EPCIS standard? EPCIS (the Electronic Product Code Information Service) is a specification for a standard interface for accessing EPC-related information. Electronic Product Codes allow for unique serial numbers for each individual object, enabling companies to track them independently and collect real-time data about each, as well as store and act upon that [...]