Radio Frequency Identification (RFID): Definitions

A microchip attached to an antenna that is packaged in a way that it can be applied to an object.

The tag picks up signals from and sends signals to a reader. The tag contains a unique serial number, but may have other information; such as, a customers' account number.

Tags come in many forms, such smart labels that can have a barcode printed on it, or the tag can simply be mounted inside a carton or embedded in plastic. RFID tags can be active, passive or semi-passive.

Middleware created by the Auto-ID Center to filter data from EPC readers and pass it on to enterprise systems.

It was envisioned that "Savants" would reside on servers across the EPC Network and pass data to one another and act as a kind of nervous system for the network.

The term is being phased out by EPC Global and many of the functions of Savants are being incorporated in commercial middleware products.

1. An electronic device that can send and receive radio waves. 2. The part of a reader that can send and receive radio waves. It is also called an "antenna".

Similar to active tags, but the battery is used to run the microchip's circuitry but not to broadcast a signal to the reader.

Some semi-passive tags sleep until they are woken up by a signal from the reader, which conserves battery life.

Semi-passive tags can cost a dollar or more. These tags are sometimes called battery-assisted tags.

1. A tool that responds to a physical stimulus and produces an electronic signal. 2. A device that responds to a stimulus and produces an electronic signal.

The weakening of RF energy from an RFID tag or reader.

Water absorbs UHF energy, causing signal attenuation.

This term covers all business solutions enabled by tagging, tracking, sensing and other technologies, including RFID, which make everyday objects intelligent and interactive.

When combined with continuous and pervasive internet connectivity, they form a new infrastructure that enables companies to collect data and deliver services without human interaction.

A means by which an RFID reader identifies a tag with a specific serial number from a number of tags in its field.

There are different methods of singulation, but the most common is "tree walking", which involves asking all tags with a serial number that starts with either a "1" or "0" to respond.

If more than one responds, the reader might ask for all tags with a serial number that starts with "01" to respond, and then "010". It keeps doing this until it finds the tag it is looking for.

In the context of library RFID systems, a patron card that has an RFID chip in it.

A generic term that usually refers to a barcode label that contains an RFID transponder.

It's considered "smart" because it can store information; such as, a unique serial number and it can communicate with a reader.

A technology used for automatic identification in which low power microwave radio frequency signals are converted to ultrasonic acoustic signals by a piezoelectric crystalline material in the transponder.

Variations in the reflected signal can be used to provide a unique identity.

Timing readers or reader antennas near one another so that they don't interfere with each another.

The transponder or electronic label that contains the information identifying an object.

A means by which a reader in a passive UHF system identifies tags in the field.

When tags enter the reader's field, they immediately communicate their presence by reflecting back a signal.

This is useful when you want to know everything that is passing a reader; such as, when items are moving quickly on a conveyor.

In other cases, the reader wants to simply find specific tags in a field, in which case it wants to broadcast a signal and have only certain tags respond.

A term that encompasses magnetic strips, RF tags, and RFID tags.