RFID

 **Song Yun 11C Area of Impact Business and Employment RFID-****Radio-Frequency Identification**

**What is RFID?** RFID, known fully as Radio-Frequency Identification is a special tag that is attached onto several products for identifying and tracking using radio waves. The IT systems are the use of an integrated circuit and an antenna. An integrated circuit is a chip, which consists of a semi-conductor such as silicon and is very small in size. These chips are used to store data, which will then be read by an RFID reader. The antenna is responsible for sending the radio waves from one antenna to the other. In other words, this enables the reader to detect the tag on the antenna from his own from a very far distance. This will then show readable information on a monitor.


 * Examples of RFID **
 * First,** RFID can be used for Access Control. Access control is a control system managed by an authority of a company for example to identify employees when passing through doorways or tubes. Tags can be seen as compulsory object to carry with you every working day to then be able to access the working area. It can also be used as method of security where access to secret or confidential facilities requires only authorized people to gain access.
 * Second,** RFID can be used for Asset Tracking where tags are put on economic resources. Companies can make use of RFID because it helps monitor their resources more appropriately. Assets that are underused, lost or stolen can be issued with tags as a safety measure to be able to relocate them without any problems. Many companies tend to have really many resources that pile up. RFID can help companies become more organized and in addition save a lot of money because they do not waste their money on buying new assets.
 * Third,** RFID can be used for Grocery retailing instead of using barcodes. This will speed up the waiting lines at supermarkets and will increase quality standards of the market. The RFID can be tagged onto the objects so when they go through the reader, it will take seconds of processing all the information.
 * Fourth,** in conjunction with the previous use, RFID can be used to monitor supply chains of goods from when they are made until the consumer disposes them. RFID tags are put onto products when they are made, and are then monitored throughout the whole process from producer to consumer. This helps them to check trends from what the consumer does with the products so that they can improve them with time.

** Other Areas of Impact **
 * Arts, Entertainment and Leisure**

One minor use of RFID would be to embed them onto casino gambling chips. Many people who play in casinos tends to cheat by bringing fake chips not distributed by the casino itself. Using RFID, casino employees can track these chips to see which ones are false and which are real. This idea is further expanded onto several other major examples such as using RFID on bank notes to see the difference. Ultimately, this will help get rid of anti-counterfeiting.


 * Health **

RFID can be used for identifying farm animals for disease control. Tags can be put on animals so that farmers are able to monitor livestock condition according to which animals have the disease and which does not. This enables them to quickly give proper treatment against the disease effectively. This ensures a better productivity and in addition provides a quick method controlling animal hazards. This is very useful for health reasons, not only for the animals but also for the consumers because the livestock consumption of meat or milk from cows for example might lead to the disease being carried over to the consumer when the food is unknowingly sold at the market causing many health problems to the consumers as well.


 * Government **

The Government can use RFID for increasing security standards for passports. The tags can be embedded into the passports carried by individuals or issue electronic passports. These e-passports have ID numbers and digital photographs that use a biometric identifier, which identifies you from your physical traits such as fingerprint and voice. These security standards help for airport travel and border travel, ensuring a greater security measure. The US government is a good example for recently using RFID passports for transmitting personal data from their tag to the government database. This allows the government to track names, date of birth and gender.


 * Education **

RFID Tags can be implemented onto library books. Students can be issued with library cards that have a unique number on them for each student. This enables teachers to track the students’ book records to see whether they borrowed books or magazines. This can be further expanded into a database showing all of the students’ records in the school facility. This would be perfect to monitor books that need to be returned or lost, to then issue a payment fee or a replace quickly. Another effective method would be to build an alarm system at the entrance of the library. Passing through the system without the books being checked out at the reception will immediately signal an alarm preventing any books being taken.


 * The Social and Ethical Issues **


 * Privacy and Security Issues**

The use of RFID tags can be a privacy issue because they can be used to retrieve personal information from the users. For example, the use of RFID in passports can easily become a problem to skimming, where “someone uses an RFID reader to scan data from an RFID chip without the e-passport holder's knowledge.” [1] In other words, people can use the exact same reader found in supermarkets and libraries to unknowing read from your passport leading loss of personal information. Another issue could eavesdropping, where the frequencies or radio waves that are emitted from the antenna can be scanned from another person who has a RFID reader, once again being able to steal the personal information. The Security issue can be that the RFID tag, as stated above, can be used to steal information. However it is possible that hackers can use this information to pretend to be someone else. They impersonate the person who originally had the RFID tag.


 * Effects on Health**

There has not been any evidence of Health issues concerning with RFID, however there could be a risk when you implant RFID chips into your skin such as your hand or arm. There have been reports of cancer showing up in the implanted area with test animals such as mice. Another concern is that the Radio Waves might cause risks. For example when these waves come into contact with other waves, it will cause serious burns on the implanted area.

=Bibliography =

[] [] [] [] [] [] [] [|http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microchip_implant_(human])

[1] How Stuff Works