ADVANTAGES AND LIMITATIONS OF THE TECHNOLOGY

ADVANTAGES AND LIMITATIONS OF THE TECHNOLOGY
 Advantages
Though RFID is not likely to entirely replace commonly used barcodes in the near future, the fol-lowing advantages suggest to additionally apply RFID for added value of identification:
􀂃 Tag detection not requiring human intervention reduces employment costs and eliminates hu-man errors from data collection,
􀂃 As no line-of-sight is required, tag placement is less constrained,
􀂃 RFID tags have a longer read range than, e. g., barcodes,
􀂃 Tags can have read/write memory capability, while barcodes do not,
􀂃 An RFID tag can store large amounts of data additionally to a unique identifier,
􀂃 Unique item identification is easier to implement with RFID than with barcodes,
􀂃 Tags are less sensitive to adverse conditions (dust, chemicals, physical damage etc.),
􀂃 Many tags can be read simultaneously,
􀂃 RFID tags can be combined with sensors,
􀂃 Automatic reading at several places reduces time lags and inaccuracies in an inventory,
􀂃 Tags can locally store additional information; such distributed data storage may increase fault tolerance of the entire system,
􀂃 Reduces inventory control and provisioning costs,
􀂃 Reduces warranty claim processing costs.