RFID Glossary

An active transponder has a backup battery that supplies the chip on the transponder with energy. This allows a longer range between transponder and reader (up to 15m) 

Method for ( semi ) simultaneous reading of several tags. An anti-collision algorithm is used to prevent the different data in the reader from colliding with one another and thus being unreadable when several transponders are read simultaneously. (see also: Bulk acquisition)

Chip cards are all plastic cards that contain an electronic chip. The chip can be a simple logic circuit with memory, but also a microprocessor. Chip cards can be read and written by contact (e.g. with money cards) or contactless (e.g. by RFID). 

Closed-coupled transponders work over distances of 0.1-1cm. (see also: Proximity)

EAN (European Article Number) is an international organization for the standardization of worldwide uniform article numbers for products and services. Over 90 national EAN offices are authorized to assign the numbers. As of 2005, ""EAN"" will be renamed ""GS1""."

FeliCa is the name for an RFID card system and a brand of the company Sony

see: EAN

Hands-free applications are applications in which the user has no free hand to initiate certain actions, such as opening a door, and therefore uses RFID solutions

HITAG is the name for an RFID card system and a brand of Philips

see: Reader

LEGIC is the name for an RFID card system and a brand of the company Legic Identsystems

The reader reads the content of one or more RFID tags and transmits the data to a higher-level computer. See also: Read/write device

Long-range is the term used to describe RFID systems that operate over a greater distance (1-15m). Long-Range solutions are based on active transponders.

MIFARE is the name for an RFID card system and a brand of the company Philips

Miro (also EM4102) is the name for a simple RFID card system on 125kHz technology.

NFC (Near Field Communication) enables convenient communication between electronic devices such as mobile phones/smart phones, ticket machines or special intelligent posters. The devices are simply held together and exchange data via RFID. NFC was developed by Philips and Sony and is compatible with ISO 14443 A, which is also used in Philips' MIFARE technology and with Sony's FeliCa cards.

A passive transponder has no power supply of its own. The chip on the transponder is inductively generated by the reader via the antenna on the transponder.

Proximity refers to the use of transponders over short distances from the reader (approx. 0.1-1cm)

Simultaneous detection of several transponders (up to 200) in one reading field. Prerequisite for bulk detection is a transponder that supports anti-collision.

Remote coupled refers to transponders that operate over distances of 0.1-1m (see also: Vivinity)

RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) is a technology for the contactless identification of products or persons via a transponder. The data on the transponder can be read automatically by a reader via radio waves. RFID is an alternative to contactless optical (barcode) or biometric (face recognition) identification methods.

see: transponder

Device for reading and writing data to a transponder.

A smart label is the combination of barcode label with RFID transponder.

see: transponder

The transponder (transceive-responde) has a microchip with the stored information and an antenna. Depending on the technology used (with/without battery), transponders come in a wide variety of forms: from the chip card, encapsulated in a plastic or glass capsule, as a wristband to housings the size of a cigar box for active transponders in logistics.

Vicinity means the use of transponders over medium distances (approx. 0.1-1m). See also: Proximity