The Inside Story
RFID TECHNOLOGY is based on the simple idea that an electronic circuit in an unpowered, or “passive,” tag—which requires no batteries or maintenance—can be intermittently powered from a distance by a reader device that broadcasts energy to it. So powered, the tag exchanges information with the reader. Tags essentially consist of a plain antenna bonded to a silicon chip and encapsulated inside a glass or plastic module.
Tags operate differently depending on several factors, especially the frequency at which they function. Initially RFID tags worked only at frequency bands of 13.56 megahertz or lower. Such tags, which are still the most widely used, typically need to be less than a meter away from a reader and offer poor discrimination (a reader cannot quickly interpret a multitude of individual tags grouped closely together).
More sophisticated, higher-frequency tags now enable a reader to quickly identify many individual tags grouped together, even haphazardly—although they are not yet able to distinguish perfectly among all the items in a loaded grocery cart. (The ability to swiftly and reliably scan a shopping cart full of jumbled, closely spaced RFID-tagged items is a major aim of this technology. Once perfected, such RFID scanning should streamline inventory and checkout procedures and save millions of dollars for retailers.)
The higher-frequency tags can potentially be read from much greater distances than their lower-frequency counterparts, although so far their range has been extended only to a few meters (largely because of tag electronics that operate at very low power derived from the reader’s signal, improved antennas and inexpensive high-sensitivity receivers). The updated tags can also hold significantly more information than earlier models, which allows manufacturers to incorporate useful data beyond a mere ID code. The tags can, for instance, use the energy they capture to power an onboard sensor. Tags with sensors that assess tire pressure and temperature while a vehicle is in motion are already in some cars, and Michelin, Philips Semiconductor and BMW are developing prototypes for the mass market.
RFID Now
RFID DEVICES are beginning to replace magnetic-stripe security cards for unlocking doors and granting access to secured areas—especially at facilities with special security needs, such as military installations. The most visible use of RFID, though, is probably the automatic tollpayment systems that rely on readers at toll plazas to scan tags attached to the windshields of passing cars. The reader records the tag’s ID and then deducts money from a prepaid account. These systems are designed to allow cars to zip through toll plazas ideally without stopping or even slowing down very much.
Known as E-ZPass in New York, New Jersey, Delaware and other states, as FasTrak in California, and by different names elsewhere, RFID-based automatic toll systems have been operating for several years. FasTrak, in place on the San Francisco Bay Bridge and on Interstate Highway 15 near San Diego, has been quite successful, but the East Coast E-ZPass system had some early teething problems related to administrative and political issues, not to the technology itself. The San Francisco Bay Bridge system requires drivers to slow to 25 miles per hour while passing the reader, but only for safety reasons, because the tollbooths are narrow. The FasTrak system on I-15, however, operates at freeway speeds and, further, is being used to monitor traffic.
RFID systems are also in the early stages of replacing those familiar Universal Product Code (UPC) bar codes, which are read optically at very short distances to identify products, track inventory and semiautomatize the checkout process at stores. RFID tags, unlike bar codes, can be molded into a product’s casing and can use encryption and other strategies to make them difficult to forge. In addition, some RFID tags permit readers to write new data to their onboard memories for later retrieval. For example, each transaction between reader and tag can record the time, date and identity of whoever accessed the tag. This capability should be useful for creating an audit trail in a tag attached to, say, a car, to indicate where it was manufactured and to record each time it was sold, its previous owners, its service history and its accidents.
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3 Comments
Add CommentI guess I am not understanding what the problem is...if you are not doing anything wrong, what's the concern? Shield the RFID that has personally identifiable material so it's not usable without our consent. How hard can it be? Remember how careful we have to be with the magnetic strips on credit cards?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisLike a previous post stated- if you don't want to be identified, better not have ANY kind of a telephone. No credit cards, no computers. No SS Number. If you are using electricity, then it's already too late. "They" know who you are, and if you are THAT paranoid, I feel very sorry for you. Move to Montana, live like a Mountain Man and enjoy your very uncomfortable life. I am not doing anything that would be of any interest to anyone, so why on earth would anyone want to know what I do, what I eat, etc. So what? Let "them". If they want to waste their time trying to sell stuff to me when I am strong enough to just say "no"?
I think it's silly to waste time on something so trivial, something that can do so much GOOD, and actually lower costs of goods?
Stay with me here...How about a time when you never have to wait at a check out line again? Sound like heaven? That's what RFID can do. You register once, give them a credit/debit card and your personal data is kept secure. RFID tags should be in every product you purchase and when you remove the sheath that is covering your RFID store card you simply exit the store it's all instantly tallied and paid for. I bet this would cut at least 30 minutes off a weekly shopping trip, not to mention the aggravation.
Lighten up people, it's not going to be that bad. Change is hard, but you will get over it.
Keep dreaming. If you discover that a human being is more than just a node on a network diagram to be shuffled and tracked by human network administrators with unlimited and unaccountable powers- who, by the way, will be the architects of your digital wanderings in a world surrendered in the name of petty convenience... Well then- chances are- you'll have your chip turned off. Life will be so convenient, automatic and 'super-awesome' for every other half-wit still plugged in, that no one will care to hear your thoughts contrary to what is prescribed for the digital herd to consume until its too late for any legitimate challenge.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisYou would be a fool to deny the potential evil of a currency issued by the few that is tracked, controlled and manipulated from which the people are ignorant. We already have such a system, and it has built itself many industrial complexes which must be fed through perpetual wars, exploitation, incarceration, and the stagnation of intellectual development concerning individuals inside the system. You talk about a Social Security Number as if it is a matter of choice, but its not. Its an artificial womb created to transform the American household into an economic factory. And what you are advocating is its grand perfection.
Before you tell me that Im paranoid and fearful of shadows. I will tell you that I have no fear of these misanthropic men devoid of humanity; and I know what I am talking about.
The reason that I have left you a reply in such a tone is that& This is not a joke, and this isnt to be taken lightly.
You don't get to tell ME or ANYONE ELSE to go live in the mountains simply because we dont want to get chipped, so that YOU can to chop off 30 minutes of the ridiculously stupid American consumption/shopping adventure. This country was founded by great men, with greater ideals for humanity. We can turn this nonsense around if people begin to take responsibility for themselves. But you, Miss, are grossly deluded when you praise your strength to say No , which is actually a freedom given to you by those aforementioned great men with a vision& All while wishing it away the next.
We started checking out the RFID options for the small manufacturing company where I work, but in the end decided to go with a simpler <a href="http://www.kzsoftware.com/products/asset-management-software/">Fixed Asset Register system</a>. I hope we see the day when this can be integrated with RFID, but for now, this simple system works well for us.
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