RFID readers route tag traffic

RFID readers route tag traffic

By Margaret Wasserman

At every turn, networks must handle additional traffic from new sources. One of the latest and soon-to-rise sources of increased network traffic arises from the implementation of radio frequency identification, which is being used for needs such as supply-chain management, tracking airport baggage and prescription medication shipments. These examples alone suggest a growing volume of TCP/IP network traffic and data.

While conventional RFID readers were essentially data radios, today’s enterprise-grade RFID tag readers – created specifically for electronic product code (EPC) usage – have been designed to be full-fledged network devices that can support mission-critical operations. In addition to managing a dynamic population of tags, then routing data into networks, databases and business applications, these RFID readers have to speak TCP/IP natively and fully support standard network technologies such as DHCP, User Datagram Protocol (UDP)/IP over Ethernet, 802.11x, HTTP, SNMP and remote upgrades.

This design lets RFID be widely deployed in an economical, scalable, secure and manageable manner on WANs and LANs, even with the two-way demands of RFID data for networks and changes to RFID tags emanating from within the network.

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