You are no doubt familiar with the ‘gates’ at the exits of larger retailers which sound an alarm if someone attempts to leave the shop with an item which has not been scanned and ‘deactivated’. This innovative system uses electronic tags, often embedded within the barcode tag or label which can be deactivated at the same time as the EAN retail barcode is scanned at checkout. Here we explore how the technology works.
There are two main types of tags which can be included on a product for this purpose – ‘hard’ tags which are physically removed by the sales clerk; and soft tags (as shown above) which are meant to be disposable. Each of these systems works with three main components – an electronic antenna, the electronic tag...
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