The Myths of LF vs. HF

HF's Notoriety
The reason most folks have heard and read so much about HF in press releases is that the technology is practically all that is available these days from RFID tag and reader manufacturers (we'll exclude ultrahigh-frequency RFID hardware for the purpose of this argument). Why is that? There are three reasons, all intertwined:

1. The market for larger-volume tag opportunities
2. The ISO standards on which HF RFID hardware is based
3. The growth of multiple sources of standard wafers (EEPROMs), allowing more entrants into the market—and those being HF

Back in the day, there were no wafers of standard EEPROMs, and there weren't three or four sources of wafer manufacturers with interchangeable chips, or knock-off interchangeable chips made in the Far East. The early RFID companies owned their own proprietary wafers and chips. It took 18 months (if you were lucky) and up to a million dollars in funding to develop one's own chip. The growth of HF wafer developers and providers enabled many aspiring tag and reader manufacturers to enter the RFID market without the long lead time and expense of manufacturing their own EEPROM chips. The growth of HF wafer developers and providers would not have occurred without reasons 1 and 2 above, nor could 1 and 2 be supported in the long term without the support of reason 3.

And yet, LF RFID still enjoys a healthy market share, though it is not as well-known since most hardware competitors exclusively carry HF nowadays (again, UHF not withstanding). Think about it: Aside from the animal ID market and prox security systems, there aren't nearly as many LF RFID hardware developers and manufacturers.

Comparing LF and HF Performance
As I mentioned earlier, my company also offers HF products in addition to LF. If, during the sales process, I believe HF to be the competently recommended frequency, I will say so. Whether my company wins a $100,000 sale for HF or LF makes little difference to me.

Now let's get straight to the chase. I have been told that HF RFID reads faster than LF, that HF generally outperforms LF, that it performs better in a metal environment, that HF read ranges are better than LF, that HF is the standard and can be multi-sourced due to the existence of the ISO 15693 and 14443 standards, and that it is less expensive than LF.