OVERVIEW

From security and military implementations to retailers and health care providers, applications for RFID are appearing weekly. In a seemingly relentless way, new possibilities are being discovered, developed, and applied. By now, each reader has undoubtedly made use of one form of RFID or another passing through a tollbooth on the highway, using a smart card to buy gasoline or burgers, entering a building with an RFID access card, or participating in a retail payment system. Across the world, other countries are entering the game as well. Prepaid electronic money, using contactless auto-identification technology, has been in effect for the euro and yen. You can use both at retail shops and for cyberspace shopping, charging from credit cards or using cash. British Petroleum is applying identification and location information supplied by RFID on its large tanker ships, to check temperatures through sensors placed on cases of food and produce. BP is also tracking the state of its people and assets, discovering where a pump might be stuck or an air-conditioning unit not working. Reduced insurance and maintenance costs are among the benefits, as well as better conditions on board the ships that are subject to lengthy voyages.

The "Octopus Card" is a single smart card used to pay all the fares on underground trains, ferries, buses, and light rail in Hong Kong since September 1997. The goal in that country is to grow nontransport purchases from 10 percent now to 50 percent. In a similar vein, access control...