Now that you have delved into the world of RFID, you have probably heard the main components of an RFID system.  The necessary components are the RFID reader, the antenna and RFID tags. Other components, such as RFID portals, can be used but are not necessary in a functioning RFID system. 

I will explain each of these components in some non-techie language so that you can understand what each component is and what it does.  Today, we will cover the RFID reader.

Unlike bar codes where the reader needs to “see” the barcode in order to recognize it, RFID readers need to only “hear” the tags (we’ll talk about tags next time).  The RFID reader is an integral part of the RFID system.  The reader logs the information from each tag that passes by it and stores the data. 

Think of the scanner at the supermarket as its parallel in the barcode world.  The advantage to RFID, however, is that it can read multiple tags at the same time.  This is unlike a bar code that has to “see’ each bar code before it can register.

Stay tuned for your non-techie tutorial on RFID tags…I know you’ll be waiting anxiously!