RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) radio frequency identification technology is a type of non-contact automatic identification technology. Unlike traditional barcodes that rely on the photoelectric effect, RFID tags do not require manual operation. Under the induction of readers, they can automatically send product information to readers, thereby automating product information processing.

Although RFID is an earlier technology, it has only shown a large-scale development in recent years. At the end of April 2003, Metro, the world's third-largest supermarket giant, launched the world’s first RFID technology concept store “The Future Store” in Germany’s Reinburgh, followed by retail giant Wal-Mart. ) Requested that its largest 100 suppliers must install RFID tags on all containers and trays before the New Year's Day 2005; the US Food and Drug Administration FDA also joined the RFID camp in early 2004, and declared that all imported medicines are Electronic tags must be attached to ensure the supervision and management of drugs. All sorts of signs indicate that RFID is accelerating the commercialization process and becoming the mainstream technology trend of retailing and logistics industry. Forrester, a market consulting company, ranks RFID as one of the four major trends in the IT industry in 2004.

A series of market research conducted on RFID shows that the market value of RFID is very considerable. According to the statistics of the research organization's business intelligence company, about 5000 RFID systems have been installed in the world. The actual annual sales are about 964 million U.S. dollars. By 2008, the market value of RFID tags will reach 3.1 billion U.S. dollars. RFID can play the biggest advantage in the retail industry, so its market share will also be the largest in the retail industry. According to market research firm IDC, retail-only RFID software, hardware and services will increase from $8.5 million in 2002 to nearly $1.3 billion in 2008.

RFID is no less focused than any emerging technology. In the long list of RFID camps, we can find that the forces from all parties strongly promote RFID.

In terms of market demand, the world's top retail giants Wal-Mart, Tesco and Metro require that their suppliers provide RFID tags; in intermediate software development, there are Microsoft, Oracle, Oracle, Sun and other IT giants announced their entry into RFID software development. In hardware equipment supply, Alien, Philips, IBM, etc. announced a strategic alliance for the increasingly mature RFID smart card market; in terms of technical standards, the headquarters is located at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (USA). MIT's Auto-ID Center and Japan's Ubiquitous ID Center also successively proposed independent and applicable RFID technology standards.

Compared with barcodes, RFID is based on wireless radio frequency technology and can automatically read the contents of tags. High degree of data integration can record more information about products; powerful, RFID-enabled read/write capabilities make it possible to It is more powerful in circulation.

Traditional bar code technology utilizes the photoelectric effect and uses a bar code reader to convert the optical signal into an electric signal, and then read out the information “stored” by the bar code. The traditional bar code is a "myopia". It can be recognized only when it is close enough to the bar code reader. However, the RFID tag is different. It can continuously and actively transmit radio waves as long as it is in RFID. Within the receiving range of the reader, it can be “sensed” and correctly identified. The reader's sending and receiving distance can be long or short. According to its own output power and frequency of use, it is not several centimeters to several tens of meters. Wait. Because radio waves have a strong penetrating power, we scan the goods inside a box or other containers across a distance, without having to unpack the goods; in addition, RFID scanning speed is also traditional barcode technology can not In parallel, RFID readers can read product-related data from RF tags every 250 milliseconds. At the same time, RFID supports batch processing, barcode tags need to be identified one by one, and RFID readers can handle more than 200 tags at the same time. In terms of processing data, the advantages of RFID are obvious.

RFID tags have a capacity advantage that is incomparable with existing bar code tags. Regarding the "magnanimity" of RFID, Wang Shujun, Deputy Secretary-General of the China Standardization Association Epc, has such an analogy. "The capacity of RFID is enough to pay a yard for each grain of the world. It can accommodate 2 96th codes, or 26.8 billion. code". The current one-dimensional EAN/UPC bar code has a capacity of only a few tens of characters, while the largest two-dimensional bar code (PDF417) can only store up to 2725 digits, and the capacity is limited, which determines that the bar code can only serve as a kind of marking data. , but can not describe the product directly, if we want to know the relevant information of the product, we must set up a database with the code represented by the barcode as the index field in advance, and then enter the database by reading the barcode. If you use RFID tags, we do not have to spend such a large setbacks.

The capacity of RFID tags can be expanded to a maximum of several tens of K according to the needs of users, and it is fully capable of incorporating a product with several thousand words. The user can not only know the key information such as the price of the product, the place of manufacture, the manufacturer, and the product notice, but also can read some anecdotes about the product. Of course, the premise is that this information should be written by the manufacturer.

RFID supports read-write functionality. The information in the traditional barcode is read-only. If you want to change the content inside, add new information, you can only reprint a barcode, the old barcode is obsolete; while the RFID tag supports information writing, you can After the tag is manufactured, you can write the information you want to add at any time via RFID's read/write system. This point is particularly useful for node tracking and cargo tracking in logistics. From the manufacturer to the retailer, the specific time and specific person in charge of the target transportation, such as the starting point, the transit point, the termination point, and the target object, can be written into the RFID tag. In this way, on the one hand, the relationship between rights and responsibilities in the circulation of goods is clarified and the efficiency of logistics is improved. On the other hand, the number of links that a product passes from the factory to the consumer can be clearly understood by the user. It will help improve the transparency of commodity transactions so that consumers can rest assured that they can purchase goods. Once you have purchased an RFID-tagged item, you can also put your own information on it so that when you lose the item, or when the item needs repair, you do not need to carry an invoice or the like. The information on the label can confirm you. Ownership of goods.

In addition, RFID also has the advantages of long service life, high security, and low environmental requirements. The lifespan of RFID tags can reach a maximum of 10 years, and they have waterproof, antimagnetic, and high-temperature resistant properties that are not available in bar codes. In the face of snow, fog, ice, various stains, and other harsh working environments, The traditional barcode's optical identification technology will fail, and RFID can still work normally.

There are also many problems in the large-scale application of RFID. The high cost is the biggest obstacle for RFID to realize large-scale application; the lack of certain verification mechanisms in technology brings the concern of privacy leakage; the technical standards dispute is also an important reason for the obstruction of RFID marketization.

Price is the biggest obstacle to the application of RFID to large-scale markets. The cost of RFID tags has remained high, and the price of an RFID tag is currently around 25 to 30 cents. This is of course nothing if it is for bulk cargo such as containers or cars and refrigerators; but if it is relative to small commodities, this price will inevitably be challenged by cost. Although Alien claims that the price of labels will gradually decrease with the increase of orders and production processes. As long as the annual production volume is more than 10 billion, the cost of a single label can be reduced to 10 cents or less. But for most companies, the unit cost needs to be reduced to 3 cents or less to be able to apply the tag to a single package of consumer goods; on the other hand, to arrange other RFID related equipment, such as RF signal transmitters and signal receivers. , programmers, antennas, etc. also require a huge investment.

RFID also has certain technical defects. This is manifested in the fact that RFID tags cannot authenticate the reader. Once the RFID tag is close to the RF scanner, it will automatically send a signal unconditionally, and it is impossible to tell if the scanner is legal. This means that if someone brings an RF scanner onto the street, then things on the pedestrian shopping bag will be “over the top”, which will bring a great deal of personal privacy protection. However, this concern has been resolved with the addition of many software giants. It has been reported that Japan Printing, NTT, and Sun have successfully developed a wireless IC tag system with privacy protection. The principle is to embed an encrypted ID in the tag. Even if someone reads the ID, it will not know what it is. commodity.

In addition, it is the concern raised by uniform technical standards. Currently, there are two technical standards camps for RFID. MITAuto-IDCenter and Japan's Ubiquitous ID Center propose different basic protocols. In these two camps, there are different vendor support. What kind of standards will be adopted will inevitably affect the market share of various manufacturers, and thus affect the positive interaction and cooperation of the industrial chain. In the scale application of RFID, how to harmonize the interests of various vendors, how to incorporate the "different princes" of split into unified technical specifications, this is probably much more complicated than solving the problem of simple technical specifications.

The future is bright and the road is tortuous. RFID has a long way to go to assume the important task of changing the global supply and sales of goods.