1. Use Of RFID In Operations Management Operations Management 3
INTRODUCTION
Radio frequency identification is the use of an object (typically referred to as an RFID tag) applied to
or incorporated into a product, animal, or person for the purpose of identification and tracking
using radio waves. This means that an RFID device is physically attached to the object that we wish
to identify (at a later time). This is known as tagging and the object is said to be tagged. In case of
objects this tagging may be an RFID device that is glued on it, in case of animals it may be an
injectable tag that is injected through a special syringe into the animal’s body while in case of a
human, and it may take the form of a wrist band that a person wears. The wrist band contains an
RFID device.
With RFID, the electromagnetic or electrostatic coupling in the RF portion of the electromagnetic
spectrum is used to transmit signals.
Most RFID tags contain at least two parts. One is an integrated circuit for storing and processing
information, modulating and demodulating a radio-frequency (RF) signal, and other specialized
functions. The second is an antenna for receiving and transmitting the signal.
Some tags can be read from several meters away and beyond the line of sight of the reader.
RFID is also called dedicated short range communication (DSRC).
IS THIS THE ONLY IDENTIFICATION TECHNOLOGY?
No, this is not the only identification technology. The most ubiquitous identification technology is
Barcode. This is the funny set of thick and thin lines that we see on all items e.g. computer parts or
shampoo bottles. They help identify what the item is, who made it and such kind of information. At
the supermarket, the checkout clerk has a barcode scanner who read this information and uses it to
generate the bill.
This also makes faster to take inventory, when a shop assistant moves with a handheld barcode
reader and checks the items present on the shelves. There is no need to write an items name,
brand, description and other information. This all information is stored as a number (represented
by a bar-code). The bar code scanner reads off this bar code and hence the number. This number
acts as a pointer to particular information. A database correlates this number with all necessary
information like manufacturer, item, description etc.

2. Use Of RFID In Operations Management Operations Management 4 So, the
main thing that differentiates the RFID from Barcode reader is that barcode reader can read the
barcode one at a time, this means that however faster barcode readers you have, however
sophisticated barcode software you have, you will always be physically constrained by one at a time
rule, while RFID reader can identify hundreds of tags in its range within fraction of second.
HISTORY
Today RFID technology is one of the hottest technologies around the world but it is not a so new
technology. The earliest development of an RFID technology was in the 1940s for aircraft
recognition systems. In 1946 Leon Theremin invented a tool for the Soviet Union which
retransmitted incident radio waves with audio information. Even though this device was not an
identification tag, it is considered to be a predecessor of RFID technology. Similar technology, such
as the IFF transponder invented in the United Kingdom in 1939, was routinely used by the allies in
World War II to identify aircraft as friend or foe. Transponders are still used by most powered
aircrafts to this day.
The first true ancestor of modern RFID is a passive radio transponder with memory The original
business plan presented to investors in 1969 showed its uses in transportation (automotive vehicle
identification, automatic toll system, electronic license plate, electronic manifest, vehicle routing,
vehicle performance monitoring), banking (electronic check book, electronic credit card), security
(personnel identification, automatic gates, surveillance) and medical (identification, patient history).
Animal tracking was one of the earliest large scale uses of this technology yet the first RFID
implementation for operations management was at General Motors in 1984.
After its first time implementation in 1984, RFID has been used in hundreds of operations and
hence enhanced the performance of the companies, using this technology. The thing that has made
this technology popular is the absence of line of site and its working ability in tough conditions.

3. TYPES OF RFID
The RFID tags comes in two major types which are as follows
1. Passive RFID tags
2. Active RFID tags
1. PASSIVE RFID TAGS
Passive RFID tags have no internal power supply. So they generate power to activate the circuit
from the incoming radio frequency signal from the reader and transmit an extremely weak signal
back to the reader using the back scattering principle Tag contains an antenna, and a small chip that
stores a small amount of data. Tag is powered by the high power electromagnetic field generated
by the antennas – usually in doorways. It has a longer life and limited range.
2. ACTIVE RFID TAGS
Unlike passive RFID tags, active RFID tags have their own internal power source (which is normally a
battery); it is used to power the circuits and to broadcast the response signal to the reader. Because
of the battery the active tags are larger in size, and more expensive to manufacture. Active tags has
a smaller life (may be a decade) and longer range than the passive tags. Active RFID tags are used
for higher value items e.g
a. Shipping containers
b. Electronic assets

4. Use Of RFID In Operations Passive RFID
Management Operations Management 6
Active RFID
Tag Power Source Internal to tag Energy transferred using RF
from reader
Tag Battery Yes No
Availability of power Continuous Only in field of reader
Required signal strength to Very Low Very High
tag
Range Up to 100m Up to 3-5m, usually less
Multi-tag reading 1000’s of tags recognized – up Few hundred within 3m of
to 100mph Reader
Data Storage Up to 128Kb or read/write 128 bytes of read/write
with sophisticated search and
access

5. HOW RFID WORKS
A Radio-Frequency Identification system has three parts:
a. A scanning antenna
b. A transceiver with a decoder to interpret the data
c. A transponder - the RFID tag - that has been programmed with information.
In tracking of some object, the whole tracking process starts with the enquiry signal from the
scanning antenna or the receiver. It sends the radio signal to the object with the RFID tag. As the tag
comes in contact with the radio signals it transmits data, which is burned into its memory, back to
the receiver or reader device. The reader, then forward the data to the computer system, for
database checking and processing purpose.