The use of RFID is expected to grow, thanks to novel applications for the technology.
The potential for RFID is only now beginning to be realized. At first, the accepted view was that it would replace barcodes, but the early adopters are not throwing money at replacing a well-functioning technology with a more expensive solution for exactly the same purpose – that does not make sense. RFID will hit the mass adoption phase of the market lifecycle when RFID chips will be so cheap that widespread replacement of barcodes might make sense.
However, before it gets to that phase, the early adopters need to show how to exploit RFID in new and clever ways that will make its mass adoption compelling – and, with new and cheaper devices entering the market, this is happening.
The novel applications for RFID encompass both passive and active modes: the former relies on external readers to interrogate the RFID chips, whereas in the latter mode a transmitter embedded in the chip sends out signals to a control receiver.
Active RFID applications encompass location, sensing, and tracking. For example, G2 Microsystems has produced a system on a chip for under $30 that for high-value consignments provides valuable shipping information. One use of this could be a refrigerated container with perishable food valued at many thousands of dollars having a chip embedded that will signal if the temperature is rising above a threshold that will spoil the goods.
The growth in RFID, which uses Wi-Fi to connect chips with receivers, is due to new opportunities being realized for improving business applications, and fuels a new round of IT investment in complementary technologies. A number of sectors, including retail, health, and defense, can leverage RFID with service-oriented architecture, business process management, and possibly complex event processing generating efficiencies through increased automation that will drive costs down.
The use of RFID in consumer scenarios – such as payment by RFID embedded in cell phones – has rightly caused some concern over privacy. However, as long as data protection laws enforce privacy of such transactions, consumers’ fears can be allayed.
Source: OpinionWire by Butler Group (www.butlergroup.com)
