Radio frequency identification (RFID) is (not surprisingly) a method of identification discussed with Professor Fred Riggins

Professor Fred Riggins with the Carlson School of Management explained what RFID is:

"RFID is a tracking and monitoring system that basically consists of three parts. There's the RFID tag that goes on the entity or items that you want to track. There's a reader made of antennae that reads the presence of the RFID tag. And then it's hooked up to a system—a computer system—that has back-end databases and things."

Fred discussed the major advantages of using RFID tags:

"We don't need a line of sight; we can just take the pallet through the door and it would read. Also, with bar codes, you're reading one at a time. With RFID tags you can take a truckload through the door and it would read everything in the truck. The bar code would [need an] individual . . . to do the scan, whereas RFID would be automated. It's particularly useful for perishable items or, for example, imagine if the item back in the warehouse itself could talk to the sales associate. It might say, 'Don't take that item; take me out—my expiration date is sooner than the other one's.' So the system would help the associate manage what goes out, in what order, and so on. Also it can be used to eliminate shoplifting. We're already seeing systems like this used to catch people at the door if they're shoplifting."

Beyond tracking products and goods, this technology is being used to track other items as well. Kathie Johnson with the Animal Humane Society explained.:

"Microchipping is a form of permanent identification where we actually implant a chip about the size of a grain of rice between the shoulder blades of pets, underneath the pet's skin, again as a permanent identification system. Most major shelters across the country will microchip their pets before they're adopted and most of the veterinary clinics are now promoting microchipping, especially in light of the recent hurricanes when more people realized how important it was to have some sort of permanent identification on companion animals."

Fred explained how such different uses can take advantage of the same technology:

"It's all based on what is the application—so what we were talking about before, these are used for tracking pallets, products, and so on, where you need the read range of 20 or 30 feet. For animals, pets, tagging like that, one foot will do so it's a much smaller tag; the antenna doesn't need to be as large. It's also using different frequencies. There're about three or four different frequencies that are popular and that's based on some of the physics of the issue. So for example with animals, can you read through the fluid of the animal? Water can distort or absorb the radio frequency and the radio waves. Different frequencies respond better to water or metals or these kinds of things. So again it depends on what the application really is."

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