What Is Better: Radio Frequency Identification or Barcodes?
There is always an obvious choice at the end. It could to difficult to make though. But for long there have always been discussions which technology is better - RFDI or Barcode. There are many differences and benefits that each of these carry with them. Both bar codes and Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) are a type of automatic identification and data collection (AIDC) technology.
Bar codes still have a dominant share of the auto ID marketplace, and are likely to continue to play a key role in supply chains for many years to come. There are many forms of both technologies and therefore there is not an easy way to differentiate the two.
In RFID there are "passive tags" that require energy from the reader to wake them up and broadcast a signal. That limits the distance from which they can be read. There are also "active tags" that carry their own power source and broadcast their own signals, and which thus can be read at much longer distances. There also exist hybrid tags that falls somewhere in between the active and passive tags.
In bar codes, there are a number of different types of symbologies, including the UPC code, Code 39, Code 128 etc. These are all examples of "linear" bar codes that contain just a single row. There are also "two-dimensional" bar codes that contains stacks of linear codes or some other approach that enables more information to be encoded in each symbol e.g. PRD417, QR Code.
RFID tags have higher data capacity and don't use line of sight communication as compared to the barcodes. Some RFID tags even have the read-write capabilities. RFID can provide increased value as compared to barcodes due to the following factors:
1. No line of sight communication requirement.
2. Unattended identification
3. Red write capabilities
4. Greater System Throughput
5. Higher durability
As they always say that a sword can't replace for a pen, hence it is the organizational requirements that drives the final choice between the two forms of the same technology.
Comments
RFID is primarily a form of radio navigation system as well as Unique identification mechanism. Whileas Barcodes are just unique IDs and can be read with a Reader in very close proximity only......So i think RFIDs are gonna be the winners..
Posted by: Saheem Mir | July 6, 2010 4:52 AM
You are so right. I have a perspective that it is the nature of business and the business needs that drives these decissions. If it is a small or medium enterprise that does not have deep pockets, then RFID may not be the option if it is only about inventory tracking.
Posted by: Amit Sinha
|
July 6, 2010 5:54 PM