When you think of RFID, do you think of packages quickly whizzing through a set of conveyor belts and being automatically directed to the right loading dock? As each package moves past an RFID reader, an RFID tag attached to the package identifies the package to a computer system that controls where the package goes. That’s a pretty typical use of RFID — the “Wal-Mart scenario”.

But what if you reversed things? Instead of the tags moving past readers that were fixed in place, what if the tags were (mostly) fixed and the readers were the things that moved? That’s what we call “mobile RFID”.

The Case For Mobile RFID

There’s a real need for mobile RFID, actually. Let’s say you want to take an inventory of the assets in your warehouse. Does it make sense to take each unit out of storage, move it past an RFID reader, and then return it to its original location? Of course not! It’s simpler and faster to leave the units where they are and move the RFID reader to them.

In mobile RFID applications, the reader moves, not the tags. The reader may be mounted on a forklift. Or converted into a handheld device.

A computing device is often associated with the mobile reader — typically built on either Windows CE or embedded Linux — allowing RFID tags to be processed intelligently (and locally) by on-board applications. Or the data is transmitted, perhaps in a batch, to a backend system using a wireless connection.

Mobile RFID and RFID Anywhere

Mobile RFID support is built into RFID Anywhere, our RFID middleware software. You can use to build RFID-enabled mobile applications that run on devices like the Motorola MC9090.

Or you can simply use the pre-built mobile agent to collect RFID data on the device with no programming at all. The mobile agent transfers the data directly to RFID Anywhere for processing. It’s a simple solution for mobile RFID data capture that is useful in a number of situations.

You can get more details about RFID Anywhere’s mobile support in the whitepaper Getting The Most From Mobile RFID With Middleware.