Choosing the Right RFID Tag: A Breakdown of Different Types and Their Uses
Introduction to RFID Tags and Their Functionality An RFID tag is composed of two fundamental components: an antenna for transmitting and receiving signals, and an RFID chip (or integrated circuit, IC) that stores the tag's ID and other relevant information. RFID tags use radio waves to transmit data about an item to the antenna/reader combination. These tags typically do not have a battery, unless specified as Active or BAP tags. "They" refers to passive RFID tags , which do not have their own power source. Instead, they receive the energy required to operate from the radio waves generated by the RFID reader . When the tag receives the transmission from the antenna/reader, the energy flows through the internal antenna to the tag’s chip. This energy activates the chip, which then modulates the energy with the desired information and transmits a signal back to the antenna/reader. On each chip, there are four memory banks – EPC, TID, User, and Reserved. Each of these