What is RFID?
- RFID technology is on track to make significant advances, fueled by what analysts say faster growth in healthcare, retail, food safety and
- The future of RFID is growing and growing as more industries and businesses invest in the technology.
- As a result, RFID is becoming more cost-effective than ever to solve real-world business challenges.
Analysis And Forecasts
- Analysts have predicted a boom in RFID adoption over the past decade.
- however, the market has been growing slowly and steadily.
- However, a report from Research and Markets predicts that the global RFID tag will achieve a compound growth rate of 22.4% through 2018.
- However, another report estimates that the smart market will reach $10 billion by 2020.
- Some experts estimate that the RFID tag market alone will reach nearly 7 trillion tags next year, primarily due to retailers adopting UHF RFID tags to replenish their inventories.
- This number is expected to reach 25 billion labels for clothing and footwear alone, with more labels deployed on high-value and highly complex items.
- Experts also predict rapid growth in the use of RFID in the pharmaceutical market for applications
Innovative Manufacturing Will Create Durable, Versatile Labels
- Advances in printed electronics have resulted in extremely thin and flexible layers of RFID tags that can be combined with printed sensors, printed batteries, thin-film photovoltaic solar cells and other technologies.
- With new electronic printing technologies and conductive inks, businesses can print their own RFID tags without being on their website.
- Some companies are also working on 3D printing technology to directly print the electronic components of products as they are rendered.
- Directly printing an RFID tag on a product can take years, but the technology is evolving quickly to make it happen.
New Antenna Designs Could Increase Range
- The key to the card’s performance lies in the antenna design.
- It is the antenna that helps determine where and how the tag can be used and how it will perform.
- In the coming years, new antennas and to be expected, because the competition for RFID antennas is increasingly fierce.
Increased Memory Will Create Hot Tags
Integrating intelligence into the tag and, by extension, the asset being marked is another key activity. Expect tags with more memory and lower cost to enable these “smart” applications. High-value assets will be an early application for this technology, as the cost of these assets will make it easier to amortize the increased cost of more robust tags.
Use Sensor Integration to Streamline Your Business
- RFID will increasingly become part of the sensing and communications technologies that help businesses better monitor and manage assets and shipments.
- Passive sensors for temperature, humidity, pressure, vibration and other factors will combine with RFID to provide even more intelligence to the company’s advantage.
Final Thoughts and Takeaways
- The RFID industry is about to enter an exciting phase in which adoption will empower technology providers to invest in exciting new innovations.
- Along with the new developments described above, advances in materials, organic polymers, nanotechnology and others will change the way RFID is integrated into products.
- For example, a label with an RFID transponder could be printed directly on the packaging using a biodegradable conductive ink.
- The future of RFID is here.
- RFID end users and manufacturers must be ready to exploit these new technologies and adopt broader use of RFID.
