What is the difference between RFID technology and barcodes?

What is the difference between RFID technology and barcodes?

Conceptually, they are similar in that they both aim to quickly and accurately identify and track a target object. The main differences are as follows: the ability to write information or update memory. The barcode memory cannot be changed. Unlike barcodes, RFID tags have unique identifiers that cannot be copied. The role of the label is not limited to the visible environment, because the information is transmitted by radio waves, and the barcode must be in the visible environment. Due to the low cost of barcodes and a complete standard system, which has been spread around the world, it has been generally accepted. Generally speaking, radio frequency technology is only limited to a limited market share. At present, a variety of barcode control templates are already in use, and radiofrequency also has different standards in terms of obtaining information channels.

Seven characteristics of electronic label RFID compared with barcode:

1. Quick scan

Bar codes Only one bar code can be scanned at a time; RFID identifiers can simultaneously identify and read several RFID tags

2. Small size and diverse shapes

RFID is not limited by size and shape in reading and does not need to match the fixed size and printing quality of paper for reading accuracy. In addition, RFID tags can be further miniaturized and developed in various forms to be applied to different products.

3. Anti-pollution ability and durability.

The carrier of traditional barcodes is paper, so it is easy to be polluted, but RFID is very resistant to substances such as water, oil, and chemicals. In addition, because barcodes are attached to plastic bags or outer packaging cartons, they are particularly vulnerable to breakage; RFID tags store data in a chip, so they are protected from contamination.

4. Reusable

Today's barcodes cannot be changed after they are printed, while RFID tags can repeatedly add, modify, and delete data stored in the RFID tags to facilitate information update.

5. Penetrating and barrier-free reading

When covered, RFID can penetrate non-metallic or non-transparent materials such as paper, wood, and plastic, and can communicate penetratingly. Barcode scanners can only read barcodes at close range and without objects blocking them.

6. The memory capacity of the data is large

The capacity of a one-dimensional barcode is 50Bytes, the maximum capacity of a two-dimensional barcode can store 2 to 3000 characters, and the maximum capacity of RFID is several MegaBytes. With the development of memory carriers, the data capacity also has a trend of expanding. In the future, the amount of data that items need to carry will increase, and the demand for expanding the capacity of labels will also increase accordingly.

7. Security

Since RFID carries electronic information, its data content can be protected by a password, so its content is not easy to be forged and altered. In recent years, RFID has attracted much attention because of its long-distance reading and high storage capacity. It can not only help an enterprise greatly improve the efficiency of goods and information management, but also connect sales enterprises and manufacturing enterprises, to receive feedback information more accurately, control demand information, and optimize the entire supply chain.