
Where do I place the tag? Once you’ve chosen the right tag, the challenge becomes selecting the ideal location to place the tag on the targeted item.
#Passive rfid tags professional#
It is highly advised that you consult an RFID professional to ensure that you select the right tag for your application. There are near-field antennas that provide short-read ranges versus full-field, long-read range antennas, depending on your requirements. Antennas will have different designs if the inlay is being applied to metal or glass versus cardboard, and different yet again for materials with a high liquid content. The antennas on individual inlays are designed and tuned to specific materials. This process depends on the physical properties of the product to which you want to apply an passive RFID tag. Your business’s data requirements will determine the kind of chip you need because the chip’s capacity must provide the proper amount of data in the proper format. So how do you figure out what kind of tag you need? The selection process starts with the RFID chip.
#Passive rfid tags how to#
How to choose the proper passive RFID tag Selecting the proper RFID tag can be difficult because there are literally thousands on the market today. These types of carriers are often referred to as “hard tags.” Sometimes carriers are made of specialized materials that make it easy to mount the RFID tag on liquid containers or metal, or in high-heat or hazardous environments. Examples of other carriers include plastic capsules or ID badges. The simplest carrier is label stock (think barcode label), where the inlay is laminated into the label stock using specialized converting equipment. The carrier is the material or package that the inlay is placed in. Inlay manufacturers ship their products to RFID tag producers, like Lowry Solutions, who then produce finished products that are ready to be applied. The inlays are designed for optimum performance when affixed to the material they are intended for. Different industries have different requirements for inlays, so there are inlays for pharmaceutical, automotive, retail, manufacturing, and healthcare applications. There are literally hundreds of different types of inlays, each designed with a specific application in mind. The choice of inlay depends on the purpose and placement of the tag on an object. A wet inlay features an adhesive so it can be applied to a surface a dry inlay has no adhesive.

An inlay is typically a plastic substrate that the chip and antenna are placed on so they can be connected. Together, the chip and the antenna comprise the RFID inlay.

The antenna also transmits attribute data from the chip. The UHF passive RFID antenna, which is attached to the chip, collects radio frequency waves used to power the chip. In other words, the chip is the brains of the RFID tag. The RFID chip is an integrated circuit that provides several key attributes related to operating frequency, memory type and capacity, data transmission/receipt, and power. A UHF passive RFID tag consists of four sub-components: and RFID chip, an antenna, an inlay, and a carrier. They have no power of their own - which is why they are called “passive” tags - so they are powered by the radio frequency energy transmitted from RFID readers/antennas. When it comes to radio frequency identification (RFID) technology, ultra-high frequency (UHF) passive RFID tags are an extremely popular option because they are very cost-effective, yet still have one of the longest read ranges.
