RFID Journal Staff asked 6 years ago I want to make an RFID-based shopping trolley to detect all of the RFID-tagged apparel items being put into it by customers. They would not have to take the apparel near the RFID reader and scan it. What products would I need to make this product?
—Pradipta
———
Pradipta,
You will need a passive UHF RFID reader module, as well as antennas and a battery to power the unit. If the reader module does not have built-in Wi-Fi, you'll need to combine it with a Wi-Fi transceiver. You will also need software able to host a database and look up the product associated with specific tag ID numbers.
Make sure your trolley is made of plastic, not metal. You will need to affix the antennas to the trolley in such a way that all of the tags on items put into the trolley can be read. This will require some testing and some trial and error to ensure that you avoid scenarios in which tags are not interrogated (I assume that items read by the trolley reader will be paid for, so missing one means the customer gets it for free).
The readers will interrogate the tags on all of the items in the trolley and forward that information to the back-end database via a Wi-Fi connection. The customer can then pay for the items at a kiosk or on a unit affixed to the trolley.
—Mark Roberti, Founder and Editor, RFID Journal
Previous Post How Can I Read the Phase Values of Passive Tags Using an Alien 9900+ Reader? »