Transportation plays a critical role in our modern lives. We travel to go to work, to take our kids to school, to go on vacation and to do just about everything else. Most of us spend a good portion of our lives in transit going from one location to another. Therefore, any new technology that improves this experience has a positive benefit on our lives.

The discovery of electromagnetic radiation, combined with the modern miniaturization of integrated circuits, has made new technologies such as radio frequency identification (RFID) possible. Radio frequency identification is a technology that allows tagged objects to be identified as they pass near RFID readers. In general, a RFID system is composed of items that have RFID transponders (sometimes referred to as RFID tags) on them and one or more RFID readers. When a device with a RFID transponder on it comes within range of a RFID reader, the RFID reader awakens the RFID transponder with a radio signal and requests information from the RFID transponder. The RFID transponder responds by broadcasting a radio signal back to the RFID reader, providing the requested information.

This technology has already altered the way in which we currently travel--from highway toll collections to mass transit systems. Even here in Boston, the MBTA is about to implement RFID technology, the Charlie Card. If Boston's commuters and the MBTA are able to overcome barriers to adoption, users of area public transportation will be poised to realize the benefits of RFID's Smart Card technology. In Boston and in other metropolitan areas, the advantages of RFID technology are likely to have an impact on commuters and businesses, but potential misuses of the system are possible. Regardless of such threats, as it is further deployed, the future of RFID technology will drastically change the way in which we get to work.

For more information about the use of RFID in the public transportation industry, please click on the links embedded in the text above or on the outline hyper-links below.

RFID in Public Transportation (Home)

1. RFID History
2. How RFIDs Work

• a. Powering Passive RFIDs

3. Barriers to Adoption
4. Benefits of RFID in Public Transportation
5. Advantages and Disadvantages of RFID Technology
6. Social Impacts of RFIDs

• a. Second Internet
  
• b. Advertising
• c. Capacity of transit
• d. Operation cost down
• e. Integration

7. Potential Misuses of RFID technology
8. The Future of RFID in Transportation