A Short Timeline of RFID
1945 - A form of RFID is used as a means of identifying aircraft to supplement early military radar systems. Allied aricraft employ a system that responds with a identifying radio signal when it receives a radar signal. It is known as IFF or "Identification Friend or Foe".1 The Soviet Union develops passive listening devices that are powered by an outside radio signal.2
1970s - Reflected-power devices find a common application as toll takers.3 RFID devices are used by the United States government to track cattle and nuclear material.4
1980s and early 1990s - RFID technologies mature during this period. A major application of RFID is the tracking of vehicles and containers. The first passive-style RFID tags capable of storing information appear. The Association of American Railroads creates a lending library of rail cars using early RFID to track them. Idle train cars left on sidings can be taken and used by any railroad despite the markings and origin of the car.5
1998 - Rockefeller University library is the first to adopt RFID technology.6
Late 1990s and early 2000s - Improvements in production and miniaturization begin to make RFID tags and readers affordable for large scale use in industry and in libraries.
2007 - North Vancouver District Public Library adopts RFID for use in its new Lynn Valley Main Library location.
Prepared for LIBR 500: : Foundations of Information Technology
November 1, 2007