People use all kinds of technologies available today to go about their lives but implanting yourself with an RFID (chip/tag implant)? Well, it is happening. People are getting an RFID implant.
We’ve already seen our livestock and our pets getting an RFID tag attached to their ear or collar which is used for identification purposes and tracking needs and it works great. Use of QR codes is also very useful as it is free and you can store a lot of information compared to an RFID tag but you can’t track it like an RFID tag. Anyway, use of RFID to identify things is not new as RFID has been around since WW2 but it got commercial success much later. In last 30 years RFID technology has been massively adopted by various sectors such as retail, security, healthcare, logistics and supply chain and it has done a pretty good job replacing barcodes. However, use of RFID is limited by the implementation cost as costs of RFID equipments such as RFID readers and software is still high even though RFID tags have become quite cheaper (from 40-50 cents few years ago to 4-5 cents now, RAIN RFID).
Radio Frequency Identification: An Introduction
For people who don’t know, RFID is short for Radio Frequency Identification and it is an AIDC technology that allows wireless data transmission, like Wi-Fi, using radio frequency signals. It is very efficient and highly accurate when it comes to identifying and tracking an RFID tagged object or individual or animal.
The RFID tag is used to tag the asset and an RFID reader is used to interrogate the signals coming from the tag. A tag mostly consists of an antenna and an integrated circuit (IC) which modulates and demodulates the signals coming from the interrogator and stores the data in the memory.
If the RFID tag is passive, sans batteries, it waits for the reader signal first which is caught by the tag antenna. It activates the IC and allows for an encoded message to be sent to the RFID reader in the form of an RF signal. The reader then decodes this signal for the end user.
RFID Latest Trend: RFID Implant
As I mentioned before, RFID tags can be used on anything, be it shoes, pets, cattle, shirt, or a metal container or tool. In supply chain, it is used on pallets and packages to have real-time visibility on asset and asset movement.
RFID implant, however, is a latest trend that some tech savvy people are going for. It’s the making of a human Cyborg as you might know that Captain Cyborg (Kevin Warwick), a British scientist, was the first human to get an RFID microchip implant. A fiction come true, right? Well, human Cyborg is not a wild imagination anymore as RFID implants are now commercially available and people can surgically insert an RFID microchip (like a tiny capsule) and configure it to automatically unlock their doors and let themselves in, unlock their car doors, and even pay for a cup of coffee. It completely removes the need to carry your house keys or your credit cards. Ironically, credit cards also come with RFID.
Benefits of RFID implant
RFID implants offer several benefits for animals as we already know, but for humans, the benefits are even more. One of the main advantages is that they can provide a convenient and efficient method of identification. In the case of pets and livestock, RFID implants can be used to track and manage healthcare information, as well as to help locate lost animals. For humans, RFID implants can hold key information such as medical records and personal identification data which can be very useful in case of an emergency or an accident where paramedics can just scan the tag and get your medical details and help.
RFID implants also provide a hands-free method of access control like captain Cyborg. It can be used to grant access to secure areas or unlock entry doors, eliminating the need for physical keys or password entry. It can also be used to make contactless payments, and some people find them convenient for this purpose.
Apart from that, there are also potential benefits to society as a whole, such as improved supply chain management and more accurate workforce tracking systems where implants can be used to track employees in a business.
It is important to note that there are also potential risks and concerns associated with RFID implants, such as privacy and security issues. And you should also consult a doctor before doing so or rather ask a doctor to do it for you. It is thus, essential to weigh both the benefits and drawbacks carefully before making a decision on whether to get an RFID implant or not. Apart from that, it is expected that by year 3000, having a chip implant would be quite normal.
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