Radio frequency identification – RFID - is a technology mainly used in fields related to mobility (the most popular are SSR - Secondary Surveillance Radar - for air traffic control, and Telepass – Italian brand name for an electronic toll collection system used in motorways), but it seems to be spreading to further applications (whether as a remote control system or not), aimed at detecting and memorizing data on people, animals and objects.

Being more effective and secure, this technology is gradually substituting bar codes and magnetic stripes, and it is more and more used for passports, credit cards, travel or entrance tickets. It is believed that thanks to the RFID system, a truly electronic currency will be soon available. On the whole, terms such as “traceability”, which has recently entered into common language, refer to - and will ever more refer to – the technology of radio frequency identification. 

 

entry RFID in the Treccani Encyclopedia

scheda Fondazione Ugo Bordoni