RF identification has become a popular choice of tracking system in the majority of medium to large businesses. Which has led to the development of an array of different types of RF tags. Choosing the best RFID components for your business operations can seem like a daunting task, that should be reserved for specialists. However, I'm here to tell you that is not the case. Today, we will discuss how to find the best RFID tags for your applications and find them easily on e-commerce platforms like EnCStore.
So, let’s start with the criteria you need to keep in mind while selecting the perfect RFID tag for your operations.
Key Factors to Consider While Choosing an RFID Tag
There are many things that can affect the functionality of your tags, making it important to choose the tags tailored to work inside your premises. There are 6-factors to remember while picking an RF tag:
(A). Environmental Factors
Unbeknownst to most of us, there are many objects and obstacles in our daily surroundings that can affect the propagation of radio signals. These can be dense obstacles, metal frames, cabinets, dust, liquid containers, etc. All of these can decrease the range of a tag by absorbing and reflecting parts of the signals coming from the tags and the readers.
Other environmental factors can be elements like moisture, temperature, and dust. These can affect the integrity of a tag and may even damage it. Moisture can result in unprotected tags becoming rusted. While sand and high temperatures can damage the microchip that stores the data in the tag. These environments require specialized tags to operate properly.
(B). Mounting Surface
Another important factor that can influence the functionality of a tag is the surface they are being mounted on. More specifically, metal surfaces and containers with liquid inside them. Liquids can heavily impact the movement of radio waves. As water is a conductor, it can attenuate the signals and impact the RF system’s ability to work.
On the other hand, placing tags on metal surfaces often leads to the antennas inside the tags coming in contact with the metal surface. This turns the entire surface into an antenna. As the size of an antenna increases, so does its broadcast frequency. Meaning that the metal surface will severely detune the signal coming from the reader, making it unreadable. These types of surfaces require specialized tags to work.
(C). Product Size
Depending on the type of industry, the items/products can vary significantly in size. From large cardboard boxes to jewelry small enough to fit on your fingers, RFID tags are used on all items. That is why, you must keep in mind the maximum size limit that should be on your tag collection.
(D). Method of Mounting
Manufacturers usually design multiple methods of mounting depending on the desired application of the tag. So, some tags may be compatible with your range and environmental requirements but may not be compatible with your product surface or packaging surface. For example, if you find a hard tag that is perfect for your environment that has a screw mount, you cannot mount that tag on your products if they don’t have a built-in screw mount.
(E). Range of Communication
There are many factors that affect the communication range of a tag. One is the frequency of the signal; this is because the energy of a radio signal is directly proportional to its frequency. Meaning that higher frequency tags have more powerful signals; signals with more power can travel a greater distance.
Another factor is the antenna gain & power. Gain refers to the range of the antenna in the peak direction as compared to an isotropic antenna (antenna that transmits equally in all directions) of equal power output. Meaning that antennas with higher gain will have a narrower peak broadcast cone and longer communication range.
An integrated power source can also be a factor in determining the communication range of a tag. Passive tags use backscattering to send data; meaning, they reflect a part of the signal coming from the reader’s antenna with the information stored inside them. However, this makes the signal have low power, reducing its range. Active tags have an internal battery that it uses to broadcast a signal. These signals are powerful enough to successfully transmit data to over 100 m.
(F). Customization
Some businesses prefer to have customization options for their tags and labels for marketing and aesthetic reasons. Customers can request specially printed tags/labels with their brand logos on them or QR codes/barcodes for additional functionality.
In addition, customers may also require custom encoding protocols in their tags for enhanced security. This is very popular in access control applications.
Best Tags Available at EnCStore for Different Applications
Now that you know what to keep in mind while browsing for tags, let’s talk about some popular options in tags amongst businesses. And the best part of all, they are all available at EnCStore.
(A). Ceramic Metal Tag
These are heavy-duty RFID tags, as the name suggests you probably already guessed that they are made of ceramic. This outer shell makes them invulnerable to most physical impacts. The shell also acts as an insulative separating layer between the antenna and the item surface, making them usable on metal items. They are also carefully attenuated to use the reflected signals from the metal surfaces to boost their signal.
These tags can be mounted using epoxy or just embedding them inside the products. They are only 4mm X 4mm X 3mm in dimension, making them easily fit inside most products.
(B). Ironside On-Metal Tag
These tags consist of an outer tag made from high-quality ABS plastic, protecting the inlay from moisture, chemicals, and dust. These tags are not as small as its predecessor but are also compatible with metal surfaces. They can be mounted using rivets and screws and have an effective communication range of 4 to 10 meters.
(C). Long-Range Hard Tag
This particular hard consists of an outer shell made of engineering-grade plastic. These operate on ultra-high frequency and have an effective operating range of 6 to 7 meters. You can mount them using adhesives and screws, depending on your mounting surface and application lifespan.
(D). DogBone Wet Inlay
Inlays are a special type of RFID tag; unlike traditional tags, they are a stripped-down version of it. An inlay consists of an antenna connected to a microchip, both secured firmly on a substrate layer. Wet inlays have an additional layer of adhesive on their back, making them self-adhesive in nature. These usually have a moderate communication range for passive tags. However, their biggest advantage is that they do not require a lot of space to stick.
(E). Anti-Theft Jewelry Tag
Securing jewelry can be a nightmare; such little items with so much value; are a nightmare for any retail outfit. That’s where our anti-theft tags come into play. These tags are very small (2.7 cm X 10 cm), small enough to fit easily around a ring’s hoop. They have an effective communication range of a couple of meters and a very easy method of mounting.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q1. What is jewelry tagging?
Jewelry tagging means using RFID technology to successfully tag and track jewelry items throughout a facility, specifically retail outfits, and warehouses. In addition to automating inventory management and billing, these systems also help in creating a security system to prevent the theft of these valuable items.
Q2. How do hard tags work?
As the name suggests, hard tags are made to ensure that RF operations can be conducted in hard environments. These tags have an outer layer made of tough material like engineering-grade plastic, ABS, ceramic, etc., that provides protection against moisture, water, heat, chemicals & physical impacts.
Q3. What is the difference between an RFID tag and RFID label?
RF tags come in all shapes and sizes, even RF labels are a type of tags, with one remarkable difference. A tag consists of an inlay held inside layers of a substrate or covered by a protective shell. Labels contain an RF inlay inside a protective covering (the label) made of polyester or paper; and in addition to the inlay, the label’s surface is also printed with a barcode.
Q4. What are the four applications of RFID?
Although RFID technology can be used for a variety of applications in today’s business environment, but there are four popular applications of this technology that are popular amongst most industries:
(A). Asset Identification & Tracking –
The primary application of this technology, the RF system allows users to successfully identify individual items and track their movement throughout the supply chain.
(B). Inventory Management –
With the help of automated ID and tracking abilities, businesses are able to automate their inventory management systems. Every time an item enters or exits the inventory, the information is updated in the database. Making your inventory data not only accurate but also in real-time.
(C). Access Control –
Tags are encoded and capable of carrying encrypted data, meaning that they can be used for security purposes. Many businesses use RF systems to act as employee identification & attendance systems.
(D). Data Collection –
Lastly, being an AIDC technology, RFID is great at collecting data in real time. With the help of this data, businesses can analyze and optimize their operations for maximum efficiency.
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