Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
ing market research and advisory firm, the RFID
market is expected to increase to 26.88 billion
US dollars in 2017 (Sheng, Li & Zeadally, 2008,
p.21). However, to explore its full potential, ad-
vancements need to be made in other areas as well
such as the development of applications software;
supporting infrastructure to design, install and
maintain RFID systems; careful development of
privacy policies; consideration of legal aspects
and other such activities; since now RFID has
truly entered the mainstream.
technology, more advantages of this system are
being recognized.
Applications
Over the last few years, RFID technology has
moved rapidly from a limited number of appli-
cations to many new application areas. Several
industries are becoming familiar with its concept
and using it to their benefits. Despite the fact that
RFID applications appear to be virtually limitless,
the most common areas of this technology is re-
stricted to supply chain management, transporta-
tion, healthcare and security and access control.
Current and proposed uses of RFID span a wide
spectrum of application areas as shown in Figure 2.
Advantages
RFID is one of numerous technologies grouped
under the term Automatic Identification (Auto
ID) such as barcode, magnetic links, optical
character recognition, touch memory, smart cards,
biometrics, etc. It has become indispensible for
a wide range of automated data collection and
identification applications due to the distinct
advantages that it offers over other auto id tech-
nologies. The principle advantages of RFID are
non-contact and non-line-of sight characteristics,
which make it much more flexible and useful
than the rest. RFID tags used in this technology
can be placed in any orientation and anywhere
on the object as no LOS is required. These tags
are even less sensitive to adverse surroundings
and can be read through a variety of visually and
environmentally challenging conditions such as
snow, ice, fog, paint, grime, inside containers and
vehicles and while in storage as well. RFID tags
have read/write memory capability and a longer
reading range than most other auto id technolo-
gies like barcodes. Tags can even be coupled with
sensors to provide vital information on the state
of the goods. RFID readers have a response time
of less than 100 ms and can read many (several
hundred) tags simultaneously. The RFID system
reduces time lags and inaccuracies in an inventory
and reduces inventory control and provisional
costs. Amid the timely advancement of the RFID
Business Applications
Following are a few business based applications
for which the RFID has been put to use for:
•
Asset tracking is one of the most common
uses of RFID. Companies place the RFID
tags on assets that are either lost or stolen
often, or that are underutilized or hard to lo-
cate when needed. Air Canada for instance
has saved millions of dollars by tracking
food carts used at airports around the world
with RFID. Libraries and video stores
also use RFID devices to check the rent-
als and to detect stolen or misplaced items
(Anonymous, 2005, p.1). Hospitals and
pharmaceuticals make use of RFID tags to
track surgical instruments and equipment;
to detect products that are fake, tampered
with, adulterated or substituted or unac-
ceptable (i.e. expired, discarded, returned,
recalled, etc.).
•
Manufacturing plants use RFID to track
parts and work processes, thereby reduc-
ing the costs, mistakes, defects and time
in locating parts and products; eliminat-
ing bottlenecks; increasing throughput and
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