Wednesday, November 30, 2011

R.I.P. Charles Walton, Father of RFID


Charles Walton, inventor of RFID technology died yesterday, at age of 89 and it is really sad that this news was out almost a month later (death happened on 6th of November). It was in the year 1973 that Charles Walton invented the swipe-read-unlock technology that every entrance to secure or restricted area uses. Best examples are those badges that IT employees use to enter the office (employee swipe at the reader -> door unlocks -> person enters -> door swings shut and locks). Charles was among the first to get patents for RFID and in fact, the tag Radio-frequency identification was first used in his patent application. In today's world, RFID is used everywhere and if you are still scratching your head what this RFID is, read this:

"RFID is expected to generate $6 billion in worldwide revenue in 2011, according to ABI Research. The chips are used in access control, theft control, car immobilization, electronic toll collection, electronic document identification, dog tags, asset management, baggage handling, cargo tracking, contactless payments and ticketing, and supply chain management." quote from http://venturebeat.com/2011/11/27/charlie-walton-inventor-of-rfid-passes-away-at-89/
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