RFID: A Relatively New Technology That Could Help Your Business

As technology progresses, gadgets are created which can be advantageous not only to our social lives but in our business practices. Enter Radio-frequency identification (RFID), a somewhat new technology which businesses have been progressively using.

RFID is a type of communication in which radio waves transmit data from an RFID tag to a reader, which then is able to transmit data to RFID computer software. RFID tag usability has only just begun to be explored, meaning the future could hold a use which could significantly benefit your organization. 

Modern Usage

RFID technology has numerous uses today. RFID tags are usually used with merchandise, but they also are used to track vehicles, pets, or even patients with Alzheimer’s. These tags are occasionally referred to as an RFID chip. Most of these tags, or chips, are known as passive. They need the reader to provide power before they are able to be identified. 

These chips are so miniscule that they can be attached to even the smallest of objects. For instance, Budweiser Brazil used the compact design of an RFID chip to install them into what they called a “Buddy Cup”. Once the Buddy Cup was linked to a user’s Facebook account via a QR code, the user could instantaneously “friend” anyone else who had a Buddy Cup simply by “clinking the cups against one another as a toast”. In reality, this close proximity enabled RFID tags to be read, and the reader to run its program. 

Another more pragmatic use comes from St Vincent’s Hospital in Birmingham, Alabama. RFID tags were utilized to check on patients as they returned from lab testing, x-rays, and other procedures. Their precise location is displayed to the nurse’s station, improving the quality of care patients receive. 

These specific cases show the usability and function of RFID technology, when a little ingenuity is applied. Let us know in the comments how you would use RFID to assist in your operations!