Now we know how successful digital signage is no matter if it is deployed indoors or outdoors, we have send them and probably used them. We will also have come across RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) technology especially when the UPS man or woman makes a delivery, he scans the label and you sign, that is RFID. Now there is talk of RFID and digital signage integration, so read on and learn how it will help us all.

So let us look at RFID and its history.

RFID began in the 1960′s, as it was used in electronic article surveillance anti-theft equipment. RFID joins radio broadcast and radar technology as demonstrated by Ernest F.W. Alexanderson in 1906 and was developed in the 1950s for the long range transponder systems that identified friend of foe aircraft, pioneered by the British in World War II.

In the 1970s, a massive push was made for RFID by Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory, North Western University and the Microwave Institute Foundation.

Then in the 1980s, the marriage of radar and radio began to bear fruit, as units were installed on toll roads throughout Europe, however in the USA the emphasis was more on transportation and personnel acces.

In the 90s, Radio Frequency Identification was rolled out across the USA for electronic toll collections.

Now in 2009 we see the identification labels every where, from sports stores to food manufacturers who create a unique label for each product they manufacturer, so that it can go directly to their customers shelves without the customer having to re-label them.

How Does It Work?

There are only 4 components in the system, they comprise a host computer, a reader, an antenna and the transponder or tag as they are sometimes called.

The host computer initiates the chain of events by calling a query, causing the reader to “interrogate” its field by the antenna which broadcasts electromagnetic waves over a given range. A tag passing in this range detects the readers signal, the reader reads the data encoded in the tag and sends the information to the host computer for processing.

The tags can either be passive or active. Passive tags are powered by the reader and have no internal battery. These are lighter, cost less and have an unlimited life span, used for merchandise check-out and an anti-theft measure.

Active tags are powered by an on board battery power source, these are very bulky and used on palletised merchandise rather than individual retail items.

5 areas were RFID technology is being used.
Product Safety – the tags can ensure the products are not counterfeit, have not been tampered with and are not out of date. Key areas were this technology is used is in the food, drink and pharmaceutical manufacturing industry. Improved shopping experience – RFID is already at work on “smart carts”, these identify items as soon as they are placed in the cart, offer selling tips and provide a running total of all the merchandise in the cart. Merchandising and marketing – these tags can carry a wealth of information and can be integrated into other devices in a store. For example a reader can view the tag of a wine bottle and give a description as well as food tips that would good well with that particular wine. Product functionality – A good example is a pharmacist places a tag under the label of a prescription drug, when any visually impaired person passes the bottle under a reader, the dosage instructions are read out loud. Monitoring habits of customers – this is used in the casino environment were the tags are built into the chips themselves, this prevents any counterfeit chips as well as the casino being able to follow the betting habits of the casino patrons.

Will we see more reader in the near future in our favourite stores? This could be the next big thing in the digital signage industry.

Holographic Memory Cards

I have been talking to my friends about RFID a lot lately and a number of them have told me exactly this:

“Yeah, RFID! I know what it is. The thing which works wirelessly.” Once they said this I noticed the little confusion in their face and that said it all! How does RFID actually work? Well, I am here to explain what components form the RFID infrastructure and how it really works.

RFID stands for Radio Frequency Identification (as you would have realized). The components involved:

1. RFID Tag

2. RFID Reader

3. Software to track and analyze data

The RFID tag is attached/embedded into the asset you want to track. The RFID tag consists of a microchip containing pre-loaded data. The tags can take any shape and do not require a power source. Well, then how does it work? The answer is the scanning antenna contained in the RFID reader. The RFID readers can be attached to specific areas to scan any tag passing through that area or even take the form of a handheld device. The scanning antenna gives signal bursts regularly and the tags are activated when they come in contact with those radio signals thus “waking” up the chip in the RFID tag and the data is transmitted to the reader which decodes the data. Isn’t it amazing how such a sophisticated sounding technology can seem so simple to understand and implement? Can you think of any other technology which has the potential to have as big an impact as RFID?

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