RFID: When you don’t even know it’s there

RFID (Radio Frequency ID) enables wireless data capture and transaction processing. Our last column discussed proximity applications, used primarily for access control. This time, we’ll take a look at what are broadly defined as vicinity, or long-range applications, used for product tracking, inventory control, product authentication, etc.

One of my favorite applications is in libraries. Instead of the traditional librarian checking out a book – older readers will remember the card slipped into a pocket inside the cover, on which you could read previous borrowers’ names hand-written along with the check-out and return dates – or the bar-code system that replaced the cards a generation ago, RFID technology allows libraries to lend and return books and other media automatically. The authorized borrower – anyone with a library card – can take a book, video, or CD and check it out without taking the librarian’s time (or your own, which in my youth was wasted standing on line every Saturday morning waiting to return last week’s book and check out this week’s choice). When you return it, it’s automatically checked back in.

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