Everyone has always believed that price is the biggest obstacle to the popularization of UHF RFID. However, after careful analysis, apart from the price factor, RFID technology also faces some other problems. I think the popularization of RFID is facing four major problems: tag prices, excessive fragmentation and segmentation of the industry, software infrastructure replacement costs, and environmental dependence of technology.
1. Label price
Price is usually not an issue. Although the tag price is considered an obstacle to BYOD's popularization, in fact, the price is only an issue in open-loop applications. Open-loop applications refer to scenarios where users purchase tags and attach them to items, and then deliver these tagged items to another user. In this scenario, the label purchaser cannot obtain the additional value of the label. For example, a pallet supplier attaches a label to the pallet before it is delivered to the end customer.
When calculating label costs, you also need to take into account the benefits of scanning items. In open-loop applications, the benefits of RFID tags are very limited, which also reduces the cost-effectiveness of the tags. In contrast, closed-loop applications will benefit greatly from tags. Take a closed loop example of a reusable box. The QR code is easily damaged and is not suitable for long-term use. The RFID tag can be used for several years. In this way, the use of RFID tags can bring about a cost reduction of $100,000 per year.
If tag price is the only factor in the popularity of RFID, then the deployment of RFID in closed-loop applications should have become popular a few years ago. But obviously this is not the case. Therefore, there is no doubt that there are many factors that hinder the popularization of RFID.
2. Excessive fragmentation and segmentation of the industry
The lack of major suppliers in the market has led to excessive fragmentation of the industry. There are too many RFID solutions on the market for users to choose, which also makes it difficult for users to make a decision. The recent industry consolidation will help it to some extent, but it is far from enough.
Over-segmentation of the industry means that users need to purchase equipment from multiple supplies to form a complete solution. Usually, users will look for suppliers to buy tags and readers, but tags and readers alone cannot solve all problems. A complete RFID solution requires design, readers, antennas, tags, brackets or cabinets, integrated wiring, RFID middleware, application software, software integration services, installation services and training.
RFID projects require so many suppliers to participate together, which also makes project management difficult. Small deployment scale means high infrastructure deployment costs. Too much segmentation also increases project risk and deployment time. The lack of system integrators with RFID experience also transfers these risks to end customers. It's like customers buying auto parts and then assemble their own cars. Although the industry has established standards to ensure compatibility, unless RFID system integrators become stronger, this problem remains unsolved.
3. The cost of infrastructure replacement
The RFID industry is part of the automatic identification industry. This technology was initially promoted by semiconductor manufacturers selling tags. In order to sell tags, these companies began to produce designs and chips for infrastructure, readers, or receivers.
Although these semiconductor companies have technology and chip-level design, they lack system-level experience and current practices in the automatic identification industry. Therefore, there is a big technological gap between RFID readers and the existing QR code infrastructure.
Software engineers with experience in application and database software try to use RFID middleware to bridge this gap. However, these softwares are often very expensive, uncustomized and have poor real-time performance. The use of RFID solutions that are independent and different from existing technologies requires repurchase of infrastructure. In addition, there is basically no connection between RFID and QR codes.
On the contrary, there is a seamless transition between two-dimensional code technology and image sensors. Compatibility with existing facilities and similarity of connections are the key differences. Although the transmission between the reading target (two-dimensional code) and the infrastructure (reader) requires a completely different technology, the back-end technology required for the two different two-dimensional codes is exactly the same.
To solve this problem, the RFID industry needs to develop a solution compatible with the existing QR code infrastructure.
Four, environmental dependence
In my opinion, the environmental dependence of technology is the most troublesome problem. In fact, there are almost no two identical RFID deployments. The 915MHz RF transmission used by RFID technology will be interfered by the building or use environment. This has a huge impact on labels and infrastructure. In the past 5-10 years, label suppliers have made great progress in water and metal environments.
Now, users can send samples to label suppliers to help determine the choice of suitable labels and ideal placement schemes. However, on the infrastructure side, the customer obviously cannot send the use environment to the manufacturer to determine the appropriate power settings, shielding requirements, antenna selection and angles.
This also means that RFID engineers need to go to the site for on-site inspections. Ideally, users need to hire an engineer during the design phase. Many projects fail because of the inapplicability of on-site conditions. In my opinion, this is also an important factor in the negative impact of RFID.
Compared with RFID, the deployment of QR codes is simpler. The deployment process only needs to pay attention to the reading distance and angle. In many cases, users can purchase QR code devices directly from the dealer and install them. For RFID, this is obviously impossible. Of course, the RFID industry can do many things to solve this problem. The industry needs better and more experienced integrators. Users also need to be aware of the importance of early design and installation support.
How to increase the penetration rate of RFID technology?
The RFID industry is disappointed with the penetration rate of RFID technology. They have been accelerating popularization by lowering label prices. Of course, this is a misunderstanding. On the contrary, the fundamental problems of the industry are centered on the infrastructure and deployment itself.
Specifically, we need further industry integration, a better one-stop system integrator, an RFID solution compatible with QR code technology, and let customers know that the installation and deployment methods have a huge impact on the effect of the solution.
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