Blog: Richard Hackathorn

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A Whole New (Global) World for RFID

An article in eWeek caught my eye on Bartending-RFID Style. I am not sure whether the Bartending part or the RFID part was the attention getter. Or, was it the combination?

In global supply chains, RFID is a technology that will play a critical role. RFID will enable the global management of millions of products from raw materials to manufacturing to distribution to consumption to retirement - all of which exchange hands with thousands of companies and millions of consumers. This is mind-boggling!

I have thought of RFID as a static or passive identification of a specific item. Ping it, and you get its unique identification. However, this article paints a different picture of 'active-tag' RFID. This technology not only monitors the presence of each bottle, but it also monitors each time the bottle is poured, the tilt of the bottle, the duration of the pour, and over time figures out the bartender's pouring style to calculate the amount that is leaving the bottle.

WOW! Now that's tracking... And, think of the applications in the global supply chain! Not only do you know whether an item is presence, but you know its condition. For expensive or perishable merchandise, active-tag RFID could be critical in reducing spoilage.

Gentag is one of the company involved with this technology. An application that they have identified is the 'smart skin patch' that will monitor glucose, cardiac, UV, etc. Through a nearby cell phone, the readings can be managed centrally.

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