Is RFID Already Being Replaced?

Filed in archive Near Field Communication , Tags and Readers , Ubiquitous Computing on August 12, 2004

Is RFID already being replaced, before it even hits the mainstream? I raise this rhetorical question only half in jest.

A German company, Ident Technology AG (in German, use your Google Translator), has announced Skinplex, what they call a replacement for RFID, Near Field Communications, Bluetooth and other technologies. It uses human skin -- and the electrical characteristics inherent in skin -- as a transmission medium. (Link via Boing Boing.)

Skinplex can be used for any application where the presence of an authorized person is required to implement the application:

Skinplex technology could be used between an identifier worn on the user's body and a receiver integrated into a car, for example. A distinct code is transmitted through touch, the receiver recognizes its dedicated, authorized sender, and the car door is opened, for example.

I raise Skinplex as an example of the experimentation we are seeing in many different directions with RFID and RFID-like applications. Some of these directions will end up being just that -- experiments, and nothing more. But it gives a sense of the dynamic nature of this entire field right now.

With the technology evolving so quickly and multi-directionally, all the more reason that standards for RFID are needed very soon, so that companies do not end up with significant investments in dead-end applications or implementations that have to be replaced in 2 years.