Radio frequency identification (RFID) systems have been deployed in limited numbers for years. Two of the most predominant have been in the form of toll road collection transponders and security badges. Toll road authorities around the country have equipped drivers with a transponder that is connected to their credit card. This allows them to pay their tolls at 40 miles-per-hour rather than stopping to throw quarters into a basket and slow the flow of traffic. Security badges have been equipped with RFID chips to allow centralized control of access to facilities and specific rooms within buildings. These can also be used to track the locations of people in a facility by identifying the door they last passed through.

This is a summary of some of the important technical issues. The references for this paper indicate that passive RFID is ready for deployment in wide public environment, but that active RFID systems present a number of issues that may prevent its public commercial deployment for some time.

Reprinted with permission from www.CTOnet.org