RFID is not a new term to the world, now that it has been used for years for various purposes. Bringing a revolution to the tracking and tracing operations worldwide, RFID is par excellence when compared to barcodes, so much so that the future of bar codes is at stake.
Passive RFID has always been the traditional modeof tracking assets by using radio frequency waves. However, with the advent of ultra-modern, high-tech active RFID technology and solutions such as RTLS and sensor-based active RFID, the industry has started questioning the performance of passive RFID in terms of range, accuracy, memory, speed, and effectiveness. Despite certain short comings, passive RFID has been sustainable and proven to be beneficial; it is likely to be effective in a majority of operations and applications.
The biggest driver for passive RFID is the EPCglobal standards that make it acceptable worldwide, and it is no more a proprietary technology. The second-wave UHF Gen 2 hasachieved even better performance in terms of range, therebydriving growth. The UHF Gen 2 is the new SMART Passive RFID. The UHF Gen 2 tags have successfully achieved a range of 10-12 meters; in some cases, the tags are powerful enough to have a range as high as 35-40 meters. Additionally, the UHF Gen 2 tags also perform well in the presence of metals, concrete, liquids, or in difficult environmental conditions; for example, humidity . Thus, the UHF Gen 2 tags are really effective inbuilding asset tracking applications and other office applications.
