Traditional Passive RFID Tags rely on gathering energy from the RFID Reader's signal to wake up the integrated circuit (IC) and provide the backscatter required for identification. BAP RFID tags contain their own integrated power source, which is most commonly a battery. It’s very important not to confuse BAP tags with Active RFID Tags. Active tags transmit a beacon at a defined interval. BAP tags do not transmit. The range is improved because no energy needs to be harvested from the reader to power the chip and all of the captured energy can be used for backscatter.

Why RFID Reader Sensitivity is Critical When Using BAP RFID Tags

Since our first BAP (Battery Assisted Passive) RFID benchmark tests in 2009, RFID Network engineers have received dozens of calls from people complaining that BAP tags perform no better than 20¢ passive labels. While they're both passive RFID, they are designed in very different ways. In nearly every situation, the problem is the RFID reader being used does not have high sensitivity. Obviously, some RFID readers perform better than others, but this is especially true when working with BAP tags. In this video, intended for our technical viewers, we talk with Dean Kawaguchi who sits on the ISO RFID committee to understand why reader sensitivity is critical when working with BAP tags.

Watch the two videos & read the in-depth technical article