Chapter6.RFID Versus Bar Code

Chapter 6. RFID Versus Bar Code

RFID is currently being touted as a "better bar code" and "smart bar code." The media regularly proclaims that the days of bar code are numbered and that RFID will replace bar codes "soon." In fact, RFID does have some clear-cut advantages over bar code, but bar codes also offer some clear-cut advantages over RFID. Unfortunately, in all the enthusiasm of advertising the advantages of RFID over bar codes, the other side is silently, sometimes deliberately, neglected in the press. As a result, a common belief is taking shape that bar codes are a sure loser when compared to RFID, irrespective of the context. This is a completely wrong belief!

This chapter objectively analyzes the relative advantages and disadvantages of RFID and bar codes. After reading this chapter, you will better appreciate the strengths and weaknesses of these two technologies, which will enable you to choose the appropriate technology based on its actual merits and not how it is viewed today. This chapter reviews material from Chapter 2, "Advantages of the Technology," and Chapter 3, "Limitations of the Technology," and closes with a discussion of what is probably the most popular belief today about RFID: Soon, RFID will completely replace bar codes. Before delving into an analysis of bar codes versus RFID, you need to understand bar code technology itself, which the following section covers. This understanding will help clarify some of the issues discussed in the subsequent sections. If you are already familiar with bar codes, you can skip the following section and go directly to Section 6.2.