Radio frequency identification or RFID uses high-radio-frequency to identify objects. British air force was the first one to use RFID during World War II to identify aircrafts. The use of RFID was made commercial in 1998 by the researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). RFID is used to keep track of objects when moved from one location to another. This is also used to identify and for sorting purposes. The use of frequency range is dependent on the type of application used. It can vary from 125 KHz to 2.45 GHz but in different countries regulation are imposed as they might interfere with other usage of medical equipment, communication, causing interference. The basic principle of RFID is communication between the reader and the RFID tags. The tags can be active (having a power supply of its own) or passive (having an external power supply). Every tag attached to an object is different in its own way having a unique id number.
The RFID tag has a memory of its own which stores information about the particular object like the details of the object, the date of manufacture, the contents of the object etc. when the reader reads the tag it get all the information of the object back stored in the tag. This helps in identifying the object to either store it like in the warehouse management of you reach it to the rightful owner of it like in the luggage handling at airports. Latest development in the RFID tag is to increase its memory to store more information about the objects.
As of now its application is limited to transportation and handling of shipments and luggage but researchers will make tags for every human being containing their personal information for identification. Who knows that one day every human on planet will have a RFID?
