RFID opportunities and risks

✍ Scribed by Leslee N. Higgins; Tim Cairney

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2006
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 85 KB
• Volume: 17
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1044-8136
• DOI: 10.1002/jcaf.20231

✦ Synopsis

R

adio frequency identification (RFID) technology is an emerging technology that, due to recent technological advances and decreased costs, can be used by companies in many ways. The use of RFID technology can increase a company's efficiency and provide other benefits to both companies and consumers; however, RFID, like any newly implemented technology, presents management with issues of new system threats and decisions about incorporating adequate controls over the new technology. Also, because this technology typically monitors the movement of inventory and equipment, companies must consider how adoption and use of RFID technology impacts their compliance with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.

RFID TECHNOLOGY

RFID technology implants a small microchip and antenna in or on an item, carton, or pallet. An RFID tag (chip and antenna), which is programmed with an identifying code and possibly other information, is scanned by a reader using radio frequency waves. The quantity of data stored on the tag depends on the vendor and the application. Typically, a tag stores no more than 2 KB of data. The reader, which can cost $1,000 or more, sends out electromagnetic waves that form a magnetic field when they meet an antenna on the RFID tag. Readers, which can be stationary, mobile, or handheld, scan the tags, convert the radio waves to digital format, and transmit the data to a computer, where it is automatically captured and stored in a database. The database can then process the RFID tag data.

Key factors that determine what type of RFID tag is used for a particular application include: