RFID Sourcebook

6.2. Advantages of RFID Over Bar Codes

The advantages of RFID over bar codes are as follows:

• Support for nonstatic data. An RFID tag data can be rewritten many times (assuming, of course, that the RFID tag is an RW tag). The data on a bar code is static and cannot be changed.

• No need for line of sight. Generally, an RFID reader does not need a line of sight to read an RFID tag's data. A bar code reader always needs a line of sight to read a bar code.

• Longer read range. An RFID tag can have a much longer read range than a bar code. Depending on several factors, this can range from several feet to a few hundred feet

• Larger data capacity. An RFID tag can store more data than a bar code.

• Multiple reads. A suitable reader can read several RFID tags ...