RFID Journal Staff asked 9 years ago Are there any savings to be made with regard to the different readers required by each?
—Name withheld
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Battery-assisted passive (BAP) tags can be cheaper than active RFID tags. It depends on the functionality, the housing used to protect the transponder and other factors. BAP tags can be made with printed batteries to reduce the cost. Active tags tend to be designed to last longer than BAP tags, and thus have a larger, longer-lasting battery, which increases the price. BAP tags usually have a simpler design and are made to last for a few months and then be replaced, though some are built to be around for years.
Readers also tend to be cheaper, but keep in mind that a BAP tag only responds when it is within the field of a passive RFID reader. Active tags, on the other hand, can usually be made to send out a signal at regular intervals, whether or not a reader is nearby. So BAP tags do not provide real-time location data, as an active-RFID real-time location system does.
—Mark Roberti, Founder and Editor, RFID Journal
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