Traditional and emerging technologies and applications in the radio frequency identification (RFID) industry

The Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) industry is growing exponentially. Although RFID has been used for automatic data collection since World War II, its growth has been relatively slow through the 1990s. Recent technological developments have opened the door to many new applications of RFID technology that, combined with end-user education, should drive excellent growth through the end of this decade and beyond. Current and emerging uses for RFID technology include a variety of applications such as: toll road and parking area access, intermodal freight container identification, pallet tracking, railroad and truck (rolling stock) tracking, animal identification, work-in-progress tracking, and matching passengers with bags at airports. The strongest new trend in the industry is entry of large semiconductor companies into the marketplace.