Passive RFID systems can be used over short-ranges where the objects to be tracked pass through a small number of known narrow points that can be automatically monitored – such as a pallet of goods passing through a door in a warehouse. Passive RFID systems are only capable of recording the movement of objects at those specific choke points and loose visibility outside of those points.
Active RFID provides superior performance where real-time tracking is required throughout a larger or more complex area, such as within a hospital, industrial or office building with many corridors, doors and rooms. Battery powered active tags have far greater signal range and the active readers are generally cheaper, thus making deployment more cost effective overall. An active RFID system is viable where the objects to be tracked are higher value, mission critical, have a consequential impact if not quickly located, or there is an additional security, regulatory or health and safety requirement for such information.
TagMobile is the brand name of the RFID Centre active real-time location and tracking system which incorporates both hardware and software in an integrated solution. TagMobile is a highly configurable system that provides superior indoor positional accuracy to all other systems as it uses patented tri-technology allowing the intelligent tag to ascertain its location with 100% certainty. TagMobile will locate and record the movements of people and objects anywhere within its predefined reader network. It can govern those movements with a system of rules based on associated events and actions such as an asset passing into a particular zone within the building. The following diagram shows TagMobile system architecure within a hospital environment:
