RFID Readers

A reader is basically a radio frequency (RF) transmitter and receiver, controlled by a microprocessor or digital signal processor. The reader, using an attached antenna, captures data from tags then passes the data to a computer for processing. As with tags, readers come in a wide range of sizes and offer different features. Readers can be affixed in a stationary position (for example, beside a conveyor belt in a factory or dock doors in a warehouse), portable (integrated into a mobile computer that also might be used for scanning bar codes), or even embedded in electronic equipment such as print-on-demand label printers. RFID Readers (called interrogators) are deployed in an area where device tracking is desired.

The RFID Readers are powerful tool for obtaining information emitted by RFID tags. RFID tags are placed inside, or on, a variety of items depending on the system's purpose. The tags contain information; the amount and complexity varies depending on the type of tag. RFID Readers or scanners are able to retrieve the tag's information, and change it if capable. RFID solutions are used by different industries, and for variant purposes. Digital RFID readers can pick up the signal from several feet away, so workers don’t have to manipulate the items to read them.

RFID Readers use Time Division Multiple Access, or TDMA, meaning they read tags at different times to avoid interfering with one another. RFID Readers have already been experimentally embedded into floor tiles, woven into carpeting and floor mats, hidden in doorways, and seamlessly incorporated into retail shelving and counters, making it virtually impossible for a consumer to know when or if he or she was being "scanned."

Typical transceivers (transmitter/receivers), or RFID Readers, consist of a radio frequency module, a control unit, and a coupling element to interrogate electronic tags via radio frequency communication. In addition, many RFID Readers are fitted with an interface that enables them to communicate their received data to a data processing subsystem, e.g., a database running on a personal computer. The use of radio frequencies for communication with transponders allows RFID Readers to read passive RFID tags at small to medium distances and active RFID tags at small to large distances even when the tags are located in a hostile environment and are obscured from view.

RFID transponders are inexpensive and extremely small. They could be included in everyday objects and citizens can hardly detect their presence. RFID Readers create a magnetic field that can activate the RFID transponders remotely without the consent of their owner. However, RFID is not inherently harmful: tiny wireless memory storage can have a useful purpose. RFID Readers are strategically positioned to identify tags that pass through their field of radiation and can detect tags at distances of up to 10 meters. The readers feature a robust anti-collision protocol, which means that a reader can detect many tags without RF collision canceling out the reading. RFID Readers are capable of capturing tag identification codes at a rate of up to 1,000 tags per second.