If the age of computer technology has helped in one way more than any other, it’s that it has helped increase our ability to track information. There was a time when tracking something meant making mental notes and applying it to a log.  Either that or companies would base their advertising data solely on surveys.  However, the fact is that no one these days does anything strictly off of focus groups. Everywhere you look you are being tracked. From the JCPenny coupon codes, to the places you visit online, to a number of other objects or actions with electronic prints, and even to your pets, a huge number of items are being tracked.  This information is coded, calculated, and used for the benefit of both consumers and companies.

Next time you’re at a search engine, look over to the right side and look at the advertisements. Chances are they will be pretty similar to the types of things you were searching for online. This is no fluke; wherever you search and whatever websites you visit are tracked through something called cookies. These cookies are used so websites can take the places you visit into account and offer you the exact right items when you are next there.

Even your pets are being tracked now. There is a chip you can put in your pet so, if they were to run away, they can traced back to you with the help of technology found at local animal shelters.  The embedded information includes contact information so they can easily get in touch with you. This technology is there for the benefit of everyone involved and it will continue to grow as all technology does.

If you have ever heard of the new law some states are passing, requiring casinos to withhold the winnings of people who owe back child support, you are no doubt familiar with the modern implications of the term “poetic justice” and their technical applications. While not every law makes as much sense as that, it may soon be possible for your spouse to find you at the poker tables, just like the proverbial stray dog you are. Radio Frequency Identification chips (which are also collectively known as RFID) and tags are becoming all the rage, when it comes to making sure that your pets do not just randomly wander off, never to be seen again.

Some people perceive RFID to be nothing more than Big Brother trying to control and monitor everything we do. While it could be considered an invasion of your privacy to be tracked wherever you go, the fact is, there is always a camera not too far away, no matter where you go. If someone wants to find out what sites you go to online, they can do that without going to all that much trouble. Since we don’t live in a totalitarian regime, the dangers of having the ability to track each other down are actually not that great, so long as you live a generally honest life.

If you are the type of person who’s all about freedom instead of security, consider that, in some cases, RFID tags could actually prevent known criminals from committing further crimes. Imagine what would happen if every crook that gets incarcerated were stamped with an RFID tag – it would be all but impossible for them to escape, and their activities would be under constant monitoring. So if they so much as took one step out of line, they could arrested immediately, without having a chance to harm more people.

Entities that have to maintain large inventories have found the RFID assisted inventory management systems extremely useful. For example, the Auto ID labs system which uses the RFID to implement is an extremely useful innovation in the field of inventory management. The RFID device technology helps provide an accurate picture of the state of an inventory at any given point of time. This helps determine flow of goods in and out of the inventory, and gives an accurate idea of time lines in which an inventory should be re-supplied to maintain an adequate quota of goods and products.

Wal Mart has been at the forefront of implementing the RDIF technology in inventory management, as well as in academic study of the effects of this technology. One such study shows how products selling up to 15 units a day had a 30 percent reduction in out of stock situations. Various studies have also demonstrated the way RFID can actually reduce the amount of labor required in a job, thereby reducing cost of labor. RFID also makes business and industrial processes simpler, and accurately portrays mismanagement or inaccuracies in inventories.

One prime example of the reduction in costs effected by RFID technology is in the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, one of the largest man-made objects ever to have flown in the sky. In 2004, it was realized that lack of tracking, coupled with high costs of parts, was costing Boeing thousands of extra dollars a day. Boeing decided to implement RFID to track its inventory, and within six months it was saving thousands of dollars not only in inventory management, but also in associated labor costs as well.

Other areas where implementations similar to inventory management have occurred are in libraries and large book shops. Books and magazines are sourced with a high frequency RFID – also know as a HighFID – so that their shelf life, sale figures etc can be tracked, and the most popular books restocked.

Bar codes were the standard method of tracking consumer items in retail supply chain management systems. They are still widely used in most retail stores. However, RFID has certain advantages over bar code tracking, which is one reason why larger and more sophisticated retailers like Wal Mart use RFID extensively.

RFID is a small microchip device that emits a radio signal to a nearby receiver. This signal contains data about the commodity to which the RFID is attached. The data is processed by the receiver into a central database, and in this way, processing and movement information about millions of goods items are kept organized and up to date.

Bar codes do almost the same thing, but use a different method. Here, a hand held scanner is used to do the data transfer. A human being is generally involved in the scanning. The data is then transferred through wires to a central computer.

RFID saves a lot of money for retailers. Since rfids word automatically, it takes a much shorter time than bar codes. On average, scanning 50 containers takes only about 5 seconds with RFIDs, but using hand held bar code scanning can take over 5 minutes for the same number of containers. That means that RFIDs work about 60 times faster than bar code scanning. When you are working with a million containers or product items, it is easy to see how much time rfids save a retailer.

This converts to saving money in 2 ways. First, a lower amount of costly manual labor needs to be employed, since most of the work is done by computers and radio signals. This also means less chance of human errors, lower numbers of missing items etc.

Secondly, the waiting time for products on shelf or in warehouses before they are scanned is also much less, so there is less chance of a product going bad or expired. This literally saves a retailer millions of dollars, so they can afford to spend a few million on rfid devices and still save money overall.

The RFID has had a long history of development. The first IFF transponders were developed in UK in 1915, and were widely used to identify friendly aircraft from enemy aircraft. This is still used in modern aircraft. The next development came in the Soviet Union around 1945, when a passive signaling device much like a passive RFID was used as an espionage tool. Literature produced in 1948 by Harry Stockman indicated the future development of the device.

In 1973, the first real RFID device was developed by Mario Cardullo as a forerunner of the passive RFID device; this device also had a 16 bit memory where data could actually be stored and transmitted as required. It was thought to be useful in various business and tracking situations, like transportation, security, medical identification and banking. In that same year, scientists at the Los Alamos National Laboratory showed demonstrated research on the reflected power of the RFID device.

Finally, around 1983, the first patent with the word RFID was awarded by the US Patent Office to Charles Walton. In the same decade, the Wal Mart retail giant started extensive use of the RFID device to track and systematize its supply chain management system. The use of RFID has now spread to many other commercial enterprises.

However, it is still a fact that the military uses the largest amount of RFID device. The use of RFID implanted military equipment is standard around the world, and major militaries use these to track equipment, imports and exports, and the like. The US military is the largest sole user of active RIFD devices, which it uses to track and itemize its over 1 million shipments of containers with military equipments outside the US. The Defense Logistics Agency also uses millions of passive RFID device to track supplies across its 72 facilities around the country.

As the use of RFID grows, it is conceivable that more use of this versatile device will be made in the commercial and private sector enterprises.

An RFID or radio frequency identification device is often tagged to a product and used to read details about it from a receiver computer system from a few meters away, often around an obstacle etc that blocks the line of sight of the receiver from the RFID device. This device is the latest technology to be used in retail stores in their supply chain management systems. Its greatest benefit is automatic identification and tracking that does not require manual control and therefore can be done very quickly and efficiently.

The RFID technology was developed out of the military necessity to identify aircrafts as friendly or not, and to identify military shipments quickly without unpacking. The technology was developed for many years, starting from seminal work done as early as 1915, and has only in the last two decades become useful outside the military, especially after the granting of RFID related patents in 1983.

There are generally three types of RFIDs according to the way they transmit signals. The first kind, and the one that has been most widely used, is the active RFID. This device contains a battery that is used to power up the device and let it transmit radio frequency signals by itself. The second kind is a passive RFID device. This device does not come with an in built power source like a battery,and stays inactive until it is provoked from outside to transmit signals. Lastly, there is the battery assisted passive type of radio frequency device. This has an internal battery, but it does not automatically transmit signal by itself. An external source is required to start transmission, but once it starts transmitting, the battery takes over and controls the process. This results in a passive RFID device with the ability to transmit signals at a much longer range.

One of the earliest use of the RFID was as a passive device, and it was used both by the Soviets and the Americans during the Cold War as an espionage device.

Since 2009, a new technology with far reaching implications has been developed using RFIDs. A Texas based technology company has been developing a microSD card that can fit into mobile phones and act as an RFID reader. The device also acts as a passive RFID tag which can be triggered to perform payment activities. At the back end lies a bank account (yours) that is connected to your mobile phone using the microSD. This enables you to point your mobile device at some goods in a store and pay for it without needing to do anything else.

A joint venture between Vivotech and Dairy Queen has produced a technology where an optional RFID can be placed on customers’ mobile phones. This enables the mobile phone to receive coupons and promotions from Dairy Queen, which can read and redeemed using Vivotech’s RFID reading devices.

Mastercard and 7-Eleven are promoting a technology whereby RFID chips are embedded in special mobile phones available from them. This device can be used to pay at 7-eleven checkouts without any further effort besides pointing your mobile device to a product and punching codes.

One concern that people have about payment enabled mobile devices is the issue of security. Phones are easily stolen; even if they are not, radio signals sent through them may be intercepted and read – what stops a smart hacker to do just that and steal credit card data from thousands of people? If an RFID card reader can read your mobile phone embedded RFID tag, whats to stop another reader in the hand of a criminal to do the same and steal credit card or bank account data?

The answer to this lies in the added levels of security used in these mobile payment devices. Firstly, a high level of encryption is used, so that even if the data is intercepted, it cannot be read. Secondly, against the possibility of theft of your mobile, there is the security of passcodes and PINs which you must enter to complete a purchase.

RFID has become useful in a great way in the transportation and logistics sector. The major implementations are in toll collections, ticketing, tracking etc. In each of these, scores of countries around the world, led by technologically advanced countries like Japan and Germany, have developed considerable infrastructure and made RFID inspired technology commonplace.

Take toll collection, for instance: in countries like Japan, Italy, Canada, Turkey, Singapore, and the United States, toll collections using RFID devices has become well known. RFID tags are read as a vehicle passes through a toll booth, reducing waiting time, toll bypasses and a host of other issues. Toll barriers are not required, because whether a vehicle speeds away or does not stop, the RFID tag can still be read by tag readers installed at the booths. Moreover, manual manning of toll booths are not necessary any longer, which saves the taxpayer hundreds of thousands of dollars in salaries.

In various parts of the Eurozone and other countries around the world, RFID devices are used to pay for public transport. You can purchase tickets easily using these devices; there is no waiting in lines, no hassles. In some countries like Sweden, this system has been operational for 15 or more years. Although many developing nations are yet to see this technology, it is assured that in a few more years, RFID transportation assistance devices will be a global phenomenon.

One more use of this device is in the area of carpooling. Here, RFID devices are used to identify legitimate carpoolers and the devices are even used to open car doors and start the ignitions.

Finally, logistics is one area where the RFID has found a natural niche. It is being used to track locomotives with shipments, and the Hong Kong airport actually uses RFID devices to track baggage.

RFID devices have been used extensively in animal tracking. They can be attached to moving animals and insects to track their movements and habits; since the devices can be made extremely small, they can be used even with very small animals and insects.

Both the tracking and the miniaturization ability of the RFID was demonstrated in a study by University of Bristol researchers recently. In the study, the scientists implemented very small, less than 3mm RFIDs to the backs of rock ants in order to study their nest choosing habits. They created a host of ants nests with the well built nests about twenty times farther away than the poorly built nests, and then started a crowd of rock ants on a journey towards the nests, with a tracking device attached to their backs.

The RFID devices were useful in identifying the number of ants, their movements to the nest, their selection, and also how many ants moved from the nearby poorly built nest to the faraway but well built one. The tiny nature of the device did not impede any movement on the part of the ant. Moreover, the ability of the RFID to automatically transfer and accumulate signal came in handy here, because without that, it would have been impossible to manage hundreds of minute ants. Just imagine stamping a bar code on the ants and trying to get them to walk under a hand held laser device in order to track them!

RFID devices have other implementations in the animal world. They can be used to track large animals in reserve forests, especially when it is not a good idea to go near the animal. They can also be used to track the movement of migratory birds, much like the tracking of aircraft by IFF transponders, a technology that is as old as the first World War.

The RFID chip is used in some areas as an alternative to using the standard bar coding system. The RFID chip can be made extremely small – a microchip – using nanotechnology. One of the smallest RFID chip was designed by Hitachi.

Called the µ-chip, the Hitachi RFID chip was developed using 2.45 GHZ frequency. It comes with a standard 128 bit memory for storing data, but it has no write read capability. The chip comes with unique ID numbers that can help you locate and uniquely identify objects to the number of a trillion, with total absence of duplicates in a gigantic lot. The size of the chip is so small, less than .4mmx.4mm, that it can be embedded in objects small and large, without detection. For example, it can be embedded in paper, in a straight line made of an external antenna, which can provide longer outreach for the chip’s signal capacity and completely avoid ordinary detection.

There is also a database that stores information about the events tracked by the chip. This database can be accessed through a special network. This access can be used to develop tracking systems on top of the chip hardware. For example, a retail network can track product movements, especially for small product items like envelopes or books, in which a chip like this can be innocuously embedded and tracked.

The development of RFID chips as small as this shows just how advanced modern day micro engineering technology has become. Miniature chips help them become useful for performing a variety of tasks that were not thought possible before; they can be implanted anywhere and everywhere, and data from them can be used for marketing purposes as well as for lifestyle altering technology developments. Using such small chips, researchers can study every aspect of the habit and lifestyle of a subject, using the information gained to provide better facilities to a class of consumers.