Radio Frequency Identification – RFID – Applications

There are popular beliefs that RFID is best suited to supply-chain management or consumer packaged goods industries, the range of current RFID applications goes far beyond these areas. In fact, a variety of established RFID applications have already been deployed successfully in real-world environments. An application consists of several different application members that share the same characteristics of the usages.

The full potential offered by RFID does not stop at the prevalent application types. RFID is an emerging technology, and as such, tremendous potential lies ahead to apply it to areas that can utilize the benefits of the technology. Currently, some of these areas are in the prototyping or planning stage, some have just started to be explored, and others are not yet getting sufficient attention from the industry or from vendors. In short, these application types need to mature to a point of validation (both technological and relating to business processes) before being rolled out into production.

Whereas a whole application type can be emerging, some members of a particular prevalent application type can be emerging, too. When RFID begins to be used in various types of applications, a whole new suite of yet undiscovered applications might unfold. An application at a prototype stage today might very well be rolled out as a business application in the near future. Therefore, the application types and members belonging to prevalent and emerging types will vary over time based on technological advances and the willingness of the business community to apply the technology to solve new problems.