Rfid

Position Paper Two

RFID: Efficient or Intrusive

Patrick McMenimen

BUA 542 – Operations and Logistics Management

Professor Kooyoomjian

March 4, 2013

Introduction:

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) is a term that is used for wireless non-contact use of radio frequency electromagnetic fields that transfer data for the purposes of automatically identifying and tracking tags that are attached to certain objects (Heizer & Render, 2012). This technology technique is a new trend in many different industries. RFID chips are placed on products, humans, or animals and it allows them to be tracked. Some of the chips can hold certain amounts of information. The concept is great and has many benefits that are associated with high risks.

Types of RFID Tags:

There are three types or RFID tags and they are all different. The first one is a passive reader active tag (PRAT). This type of tag has a reader in it that on receives radio signals from active tags because they are battery operated. The second type of reader is an active reader passive tag (ARPT) and this type carries an active reader, which transmits interrogator signals. It also receives authentication replies from passive tags. The third and final tag is an active reader active tag (ARAT) and this is a system of active tags that are awoken with an interrogator signal from an active reader. Each one is different and is used for different things (Technovelgy LLC).

Uses of RFID:

RFID is used in many different ways. The first popular way is to manage inventory. Take a retail store for example. If all of the products have a chip on it then the store will know how many of that certain product is in the store. Once the product has left the store then the tag readers will know to minus one from the total. These chips will also carry certain information like the size and color of the product. This is the fastest and most efficient way for a store to know what exact product to...