Examining the Elements of a Basic RFID System

Learning the fundamentals of RFID can be overwhelming. You can avoid feeling overwhelmed — and the sensation of going around and around in circles, and the sensation of going around and around

in circles — by understanding the basics of how data travels in waves and then through a network in an RFID system. This understanding gives you a solid foundation for greater knowledge as you explore the global architecture of RFID.

In a basic RFID system, four fundamental components are required for data to make its grand journey:

• A transponder (more commonly just called a tag) that is programmed with information that uniquely identifies itself, thus the concept of "automatic identification"

• A transceiver (more commonly called a reader) to handle radio communication through the antennas and pass tag information to the outside world

• An antenna attached to the reader to communicate with transponders

• A reader interface layer, or middleware, which compresses thousands of tag signals into a single identification and also acts as a conduit between the RFID hardware elements to the client's application software systems, such as inventory, accounts receivable, shipping, logistics, and so on

Here's an overview of how a passive RFID system works:

1. The tag is activated when it passes through a radio frequency field, which has been generated by an antenna and reader.