Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) & RFID Technology

RFID and Bluetooth Low Energy, two technologies that allow you to automatically identify objects or people and thanks to their different operating characteristics, complete each other. Here is an overview of how they work to better understand which one to use.

RFID TECHNOLOGY

The passive Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology is divided into three different frequencies, LF 125Khz, HF 13.56Mhz and UHF (860-960Mhz). Each frequency has its own peculiarities and different functionalities. There are numerous chips available, each with its own technical characteristics created to meet the needs of the many different applications that can be made with this technology.There are ISO standards that allow the interoperability of systems even from different manufacturers that make the implementation of RFID tags and devices flexible. A section is then dedicated to NFC technology.

BLE TECHNOLOGY

Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) technology works at 2.4Ghz frequencies and is based on the Bluetooth standard, from version 4.0+.Thanks to a special communication protocol, the low power consumption has allowed the design of beacon tags with a battery life up to 4/5 years, that is able to send an electromagnetic signal even at distances over 200mt. Intelligent sensors such as accelerometer and temperature/humidity can be added to complete the proposal. BLE technology can be considered as active RFID technology, but with the great advantage of being completely standard and working with almost any smartphone available today.