When we think of uses for RFID technology, we may think of highly technical applications. However, RFID technology is rapidly gaining popularity, and is being used more and more in diverse applications.

Izzy’s, an ice-cream shop in St. Paul, Minnesota is using RFID technology to keep track of their inventory and keep customers constantly updated with what flavors are available. At the store, each flavor’s nameplate is embedded with an RFID tag and an antenna monitors and broadcasts information whenever and employee replaces one flavor with another, thus providing flavor availability in real time.

Customers can even subscribe to their favorite flavors so they receive alerts via Izzy’s website, Twitter page or Facebook page, when the flavors become available. Aside from keeping customers informed, the system is primarily used for inventory tracking purposes, so Izzys knows exactly where everything is and how much of it is left.

With consumers constantly retrieving information from their smartphones, its no doubt that people like to be updated with the latest information. This constant need to be informed is a rapidly increasing trend that lends itself well to RFID technology. Will more businesses follow in the footsteps of Izzy’s and use RFID to not only track their inventory, but keep their “followers” informed?

Researchers at the University of Florida needed to develop a technology for tracking when medications are taken, ensuring that patients and clinical trial participants stick to their routine. When thinking of a solution, researcher Rizwan Basirullah wanted to use RFID technology. While RFID could transmit information that would confirm that a pill was swallowed, it was unsure as to whether or not it was possible for a tag to transmit a passive RF signal through the human body’s digestive track.

After much research and development, Bashirullah and his colleagues were able to develop a tiny RFID tag that can adhere to pill capsules and transmit data once in the digestive system. The system, now called ID-Cap, involves a microchip, a digestible antenna, and software and plans on being sold by a company called eTect, which was formed by Bashirullah and some of the researchers.

ID-Cap works by employing low-frequency (LF) signals and the body’s natural electrical conductivity in order to carry signals from an interrogator to the tag, and also from the tag back to the reader. While the system has been tested on devices that mimic the human body and cadavers, it has not actually been tested on humans. The next step for eTect is to gain approval from the FDA so that laboratory trials of the ID-Cap can be tested on animals and humans.

While the ID-Cap may be years away from actual implementation, eTect has already begun dialogue with manufacturers who envision the system being sold as a package. Until then, we’ll have to wait and see who’s been taking their medicine!

While we have often discussed RFID technology possibly replacing barcodes in the future, the future may be sooner than we think. South Korean researchers from Sunchon National University have recently developed a technology for printing RFID circuits on plastic film, meaning the average price of a tag could be less than a penny, down from at least 15 cents a tag.

It is anticipated that this new version of an RFID tag will hit the market this year and will use printed transistors based on carbon nanotubes. The researchers have already printed plastic RFID tags via common industrial methods such as ink-jet printing, roll-to-roll printing and silicone rubber-stamping.

While this development is definitely a breakthrough for RFID technology, there are still problems that need to be resolved with the prototype before it is officially released. For example, the tag is much larger than a standard barcode and can’t store as much as much information. In addition, the power signals are weak and may not work with all readers within a reasonable range. However, these issues are expected to be sorted out prior to the release.

While this new technology does look promising, I am skeptical to think that the new tags will overtake barcodes any time soon.