What is the difference between an RFID TAg reader and an RFID Tag Transponder? it is a question that has plagued mankinds for centuries. (Or just my friend at work for about a week.)

The question is a bit misplaced considering that transponders are actually part of RFID Tags. A transponder is actually defined as a translator of electronic signals---which is exactly the process that makes RFID tags possible.

The example often used is that the transponder is like a UN Translator--just not as hot as Nicole Kidman---that translates the different languages of rfid tags and the readers that make their information relevant and applicable.

For more rfid tag transponder info check out...

http://rapidttp.com/transponder/

RFID tag readers

I’ve seen a lot of posts about RFID tags but not too much about the readers---perhaps the most important part of the RFID process. It’s important to realize RFID tag technology works on the exchange of information. It is the tag reader that processes and converts the information into something that people can use.

In the case of a passive RFID tag, not only does the reader decode the signal but it actually activates it. An interrogator equipped with a receiver and antennae sends an electronic signal to the tag. This current contains just enough power for the tag to send a signal back to the RFID tag reader. Usually, in a passive tag, this signal contains very limited information like location and possibly spec info like color, product number, etc. It is the reader’s job to turn this into useable information.

With active tags it is a slightly different process but with many similarities. The active RFID tags have an internal power source, and a higher degree of memory, which allows more intricate information to be sent. As much as people believe the real advances of RFID technology will come in the tags, it appears that the real breakthrough areas are likely to come in the RFID tag readers that will allow greater and greater distances for the tag to be read. Another radio frequency identification blog. 2 3.

How the Bomb Helped Us Get RFID Tags

Though RFID tag technology had its genesis in the British ‘friend or foe’ applications of the Second World War, it was actually work in this country with nuclear material precautions that jumpstarted the whole tag industry.

In the 60’s and 70’s somebody figured out it might be a good idea to actually know where our nuclear materials were at any given time. RFID tags were used to track nuclear equipment as well as personnel to make sure no discrepancies occurred such as missing documents…or plutonium.

By 1977 RFID tag technology pioneered at Los Alamos was being shared with the private sector. One of the first uses was to implant tags into livestock so that feeding could be regulated and interal temperature could be measured so as to ensure health.