Which RFID Technology is Best for Your Traceability Application?

There are a lot of articles on using RFID for traceability, but it’s hard to know where to begin. Examples of traceability include locating an important asset like a specific mold that is required to run a machine or verifying a specific bin of material required to run production. Spending time looking for these important assets leads to lost time and production delays. RFID can help but understanding the different RFID capabilities will narrow down the type of RFID that is required.

Not all RFID technology is the same. Each RFID technology operates differently and is categorized by the frequency band of the radio spectrum, such as low frequency, high frequency and ultra-high frequency. In low and high frequency RFID, the read range between RFID tag and reader antenna is measured in millimeters and inches. The read range on ultra-high frequency (UHF) RFID technology can range from one meter to 100 meters. Typically, inventory traceability is done using ultra-high frequency band of the radio frequency spectrum, due to the need to read the asset at a further distance so it does not interfere with the production flow. Also, there are cases where there needs to be a reading of multiple tags in an area at the same time to determine where an asset is located. UHF RFID technology allows for simultaneous reading of multiple RFID tags from a single antenna reader.

There are two types of UHF RFID, passive and active.  Passive UHF RFID means that the RFID tags themselves have no additional power source. The UHF reader antenna sends out an electromagnetic wave field, and the RFID tags within the electromagnetic field have an internal antenna that receives the energy which activates the integrated circuit inside the tag to reflect the signals back to start communicating. The read distance between the passive RFID tag and antenna reader is determined by several factors, such as the size of the electromagnetic wave field generated out of the reader antenna and the size of the receiver antenna on the RFID tag. Typical read ranges on passive UHF systems can be anywhere from one to 12 meters, where the larger the power and RFID tag, the longer the range.

Active UHF RFID systems do not require the tag to reflect signals back to communicate because the active RFID tag has its own transmitter and internal battery source. Because of this, with active UFH RFID you can get read ranges of up to 100 meters. There are active tags which wake up and communicate when they receive a radio signal from a reader antenna, while others are beacons which emit a signal at a pre-set interval. Beacon active tags can locate in real time the location of the asset that the RFID tag is attached to. However, a downfall to active RFID tags is the battery life on the tag. If the battery is dead, then the asset will no longer be visible.

Once the strengths and weaknesses of each type of UHF RFID system is known, it’s easier to work with the constraints of the system. For example, the application in Figure 1 shows a reader antenna for reading bins of material placed a few feet away so that its’ not in the way of production. A passive UHF RFID system will work in this case, due to the distance between the antenna and the RFID tag on the bin a few feet away. There is no need to worry about battery life on the passive RFID tag.

If the exact location of a production mold is required in a large facility, then using an active UHF RFID system is likely a better fit. Incorporating an active RFID tag that sends out a beacon at a fixed interval to a data center ensures the location of all assets are always known. With this setup, the exact location of the mold can be found at any time in the facility.

Examining the different types of RFID technology can help determine the correct one to use in a traceability application. This includes analyzing the pros and cons of each technology and seeing which one is the best fit for the application.