How Does RFID Work ...

PNNL News and Publications

... "RFID Tags: How do they work? RF tags rely on modulated backscatter similar to radio waves to communicate. Modulated backscatter means the tags only reflect energy and do not create any radio frequency of their own. To read the tags requires a device called an interrogator. The interrogator is another electronic circuit board, typically much larger than a tag, that contains an antenna and a transceiver. The antenna beams radio waves to the RF tag, which then is powered up. The tag reflects its stored, encoded data back to the interrogator.The reflected signal is decoded by the transceiver inside the interrogator. " ...