RFID – An Interesting Technology to Explore - June 28, 2008 -

Embedded Systems is utilized in so many applications mainly for identification and access purposes. An Embedded Computer is designed to perform specific functions which usually involve real time computing. Industrial Computing is the perfect example for this application which could be broken down into different fields; identification and access being the most important.

RFID technology is probably the most interesting Embedded Computer developed. The utilization of RFIDs is often questioned with regards to the cost to be invested for the software and hardware, especially if the system is to replace the presently existing bar code systems. However, these two systems are just quite similar but one cannot replace the other. Bar codes use one-way serialized periodic data while RFID utilizes two-way parallel and real time data. Both are intended to be used for identification and tracking but RFIDs function at longer distances with frequency usually 2.4 GHz as compared with bar codes.

The main difference between the two is how they process the information. That is optical laser or imaging technology for scanning bar codes and frequency signals for scanning, interrogating and tagging of RFID. These characteristics just prove that RFID have broader applications than bar code systems, just another proof how technologies become more interesting through time.