The term RFID is used to describe various technologies that use radio waves to automatically identify people or objects. RFID technology is similar to the bar code identification systems we see in retail stores everyday; however one big difference between RFID and bar code technology is that RFID does not rely on the line-of-sight reading that bar code scanning requires to work.

A passive RFID reader provides the energy to the RFID tag which does not have its own onboard power source and the tag then uses backscatter technology to return information to the reader.

An active RFID reader receives energy transmitted from an active RFID tag which has its own built in power source. If a long range RFID reader is required then an active solution is most likely a good fit.