White Paper: RFID/RTLS Technology Simply Defined & Compared

RFID is the ability to detect the presence of a tag and to uniquely identify that tag. All RFID systems can perform these simple tasks: identification and presence detection. The range or distance from tag to reader, also known as access point or gateway, at which this task can be performed depends on the technology being used. Passive RFID's maximum range is about 20-30 feet (6-10 meters) while active RFID can achieve ranges of several thousand feet.

Aside from presence detection and identification of tags, RFID is able to perform various types of locating. Both passive and active technologies are capable of performing basic chokepoint locating while the RTLS technology which is built upon active RFID technology, is capable of performing more sophisticated precision locating.