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42. How does RFID work?

Hey everyone!
I have used RFID systems in some of my previous Arduino Projects. I have always wondered how RFID systems work. Today I carried out a small research to test my idea and it was successful. Today, I will share my findings with you and explain you about how RFID works.
The RFID system for Arduino includes MFRC522 RFID reader and some passive RFID tags. The tags are passive because they have no battery and use energy from the RFID reader to power their microchip.

My Research and findings:

I read that RFID systems work by electromagnetic fields, so with the concept in my mind, I took a small coil of wire and attached it to a Red LED. I chose Red because it consumes less power than other colours. 
I connected my MFRC522 RFID reader with my Arduino Uno and uploaded the DumpInfo sketch. I used the MFRC522 library by GitHub community, and this sketch can be found in the Examples folder. 
Go to File---> Examples--->MFRC522---> DumpInfo.
I placed my coil of wire near the RFID reader and the LED lit up. The LED's brightness varied with the distance from my RFID reader. The brightness was indirectly proportional to the distance from the RFID reader. 

Connections

  • SDA/SS - D10
  • SCK - D13
  • MOSI - D11
  • MISO - D12
  • IRQ - Not connected
  • GND - Ground
  • RST/ RESET - D9
  • 3.3V - 3.3V

How does RFID work?

The MFRC522 RFID reader consists of an Antenna coil, which generates high frequency electromagnetic field. When I move my coil of wire towards the reader, there is a change in flux linkage and an electromotive force(emf) is induced. The emf provides the power to light up my LED.


As you may have seen in the pictures above, the RFID tags consist of an antenna and electronic microchip. The Antenna in the RFID tag receives and transmits signal, while the electronic microchip usually stores 1 kilobyte of data. When the tag is placed near the RFID reader, an emf is induced and it serves as power for the microchip. In my research, I have used the coil of wire and LED to denote the antenna and electronic microchip. 
There are two types of data transfer:
  • Load Manipulation
  • Backscattered coupling
The data from the tag's electronic microchip is transmitted to the RFID reader by radio waves.

To learn about RFID basic, please visit this:
https://learn.sparkfun.com/tutorials/rfid-basics/all

If you have any questions, please feel free to comment below or send me an email at arduinoprojectsbyr@gmail.com.


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