Well, RFID stands for “radio-frequency identification” and is part of a technology which reads digital data which was encoded on an RFID tag, or smart labels, these signals are captured via radio waves emitted from the tag/label.

It is very similar to a barcode scanner, except instead of the scanner has to see the barcode and align with the lines, this type of scanning just needs to be in relative proximity. 

How does it work?

Well, the tag itself doesn’t have a battery, while the reader does, so as the RFID reader comes into proximity, its antenna emits electromagnetic pulse which powers for a short period of time the tag, which has a chance to emit its data, which is stored on board and then the reader takes this data and stores it on board.

What else?

Well, you get different frequencies of RFID, such as NFC which is accessible to most people because of there smartphones, and it works in the same way that the ‘normal’ RFID tags work, and your phone takes the data it gets from the tags and can open applications and do web searches all depending on what the tag is programmed for! So don’t go scanning random tags, just now its a virus.