Do RFID tags have a "real" processor capable of simple computations? If so, what is the processing power of nowadays RFID processors?
A:
They do not. They're just an antenna hooked to a data-providing chip, powered by the external radio waves of a reader.
Head Geek
2010-08-01 13:58:58
They can also contain a battery either to power them completely or to provide power after they have been woken up by external radio waves in order to increase their transmitting range.
Jaka
2010-08-01 14:03:27
That would be the "active" ones? I've never seen an active one, only passive ones.
Head Geek
2010-08-01 14:04:47
Yes. I have seen the active one being used as a road toll payment system. But I don't know if it was a fully active or only the "Battery Assisted Passive" one.
Jaka
2010-08-01 14:13:06
A:
Hi!
Neither I do know of any RFID with real processing capabilities. However according to Wikipedia description of RFID "[m]ost RFID tags contain at least two parts. One is an integrated circuit for storing and processing information...".
John P
2010-08-01 14:04:51
+3
A:
That depends.. RFID is a very broad field.
There are very simple tags that really only send back their ID when activated using a fixed function logic. I doubt many of them are still in use.
And then there are very sophisticated ones that even run programs written in JAVA and have crypto-processors and other funky stuff built in.
One example of this is the SmartMX Mifare card from NXP.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MIFARE
Note: Don't confuse active and passive tags with processor/no processor tags. A tag is active if it has it's own power supply. That does not imply that it has a processor and vice versa.
Nils Pipenbrinck
2010-08-01 14:09:30
Actually, those really basic memory-only tags are very very useful for things like inventory tracking. Their main benefit is being cheap, and they are by far the most prevalent type of RFID chip in use today.
Borealid
2010-08-01 14:54:53
@Borealid: ... and the most cattle population nowadays is "equiped" with one of those also.
Romias
2010-08-02 21:11:06