A History of Development

RFID was developed out of the radar experiments and development during the Second World War. The actual date of invention is 1948 but this was followed by decades of development and experimentation before commercial applications were implemented. For a detailed history of RFID development see the AIM publication Shrouds of Time, The history of RFID. [3]

It wasn’t until the 1970’s that RFID implementations started to occur. At this time the cost of the tags was prohibitive and use was limited. By the 1980’s significant development had occurred and in 1987 Norway implemented the first successful toll collection system. Toll systems were the breakthrough product for RFID. In just a few years, toll systems and government toll collection agencies had spread across the United States fueling the development of the system.

We now bring us forward to libraries again. During the 1990’s the proliferation of competing systems and radio frequencies employed created the need for standards and interoperability. Most warehousing operations can use large readers which use low radio frequencies. Libraries need the higher frequency waves to allow for smaller, less powerful and portable readers. As complexities and uses increased, standards were developed to allow systems to work together. Development of standards is still going on with the latest standard being release late in 2004.

The final piece of the RFID puzzle was the miniaturization of the tags and the improvements in manufacturing. These two developments dropped the price of the tags to a level that allowed for wide-spread use of the system.

The first Library suppliers started to market their systems in the mid 1990’s.