What is RFID?
RFID (Radio Frequency IDentification) is a wireless technology that has been used for decades in applications such as inventory management, asset tracking, supply chain logistics, and healthcare. 1
RFID is a mature technology that is inexpensive, reliable and ubiquitous in the several business sectors. Every time you walk out of a retail store, you walk through an RFID reader device that detects RFID tags attached to clothing or other goods.
- Identification tag:
The RFID tag consists of an antennae and an integrated circuit that contains a limited but useful amount of memory. The memory contains enough information to identify an object and is ISBN number. Some tags used in other industries contain larger memories. Passive RFID tags do not require a power source, the antennae harvests power from the scanner electromagnetic pulse. Active RFID tags, which require a power source, do exist. RF-eye uses passive tags for location and object identification beacons embedded in current infrastructure elements.
- Reader:
Consists of a scanning antenna and a transceiver, which form an RFID reader. RFID readers can be either fixed and mobile. The scanning antenna emits and receives specific radio frequencies: emitted frequencies activate the RFID tags, which in turn transmits its encoded data, and the reader receives the returning signal containing the data.
- Computer database:
Data collected is downloaded to a database on a computer system which tracks the inventory in a retail stores, warehouses, or shipping containers.
RF-eye repurposes RFID technology to create an intelligent infrastructure enabling Advanced Driving Systems.
RFID technology allows for data exchange between devices using radio waves. It enables identifying individual objects without direct line of sight. RF-eye adapts this technology to exchange data from road objects to vehicles that improves situational awareness while driving.
RF-eye provides:
- Highly accurate location data embedded in road markers
- fixed object identification, such as road signs – and the sign’s location
- moving object identification, for road users like bicyclists
- RF-eye uses RFID systems to create an Internet of Road Things, analogous to the Internet of Things (IoT) deployed to transmit sensor data wirelessly.
