UHF vs. HF technology comparison

Short range readability (advantage: tie)

Both HF and UHF technologies allow for equal short range readability.

Long range readability (advantage: UHF)

UHF technology far surpasses HF technology, allowing tags to be read up to hundreds of feet away.

Manufacturing cost (advantage: UHF)

UHF tags are 2 or 3 times less expensive and are more cost effective. UHF tags are much easier to manufacture. Their very design, with its single layer antenna, lends itself to mass production. Furthermore, since UHF has become accepted as the standard technology, increasing amounts of research are being poured into it. The same cannot be said for HF technology.

Rate of data collection (advantage: UHF)

Share Article

It is simple. UHF tags can be read much quicker than HF tags. Up to thousands of UHF tags can be read simultaneously. This is a benefit HF technology cannot keep up with.

Conducive with metals and liquids (advantage: tie)

Because current UHF technology takes advantage of the "near field" magnetic field of the tag, it is comparable, and actually exceeds HF's ability to be conducive with metals and liquids.

Standard worldwide protocol (advantage: UHF)

UHF Gen 2 standard is just that, a standard which holds across the UHF industry. On the other hand, HF technology has several competing standards which are sometimes incompatible and lead to technical difficulties and integration issues across the industry.

Solitary infrastructure from item to pallet (advantage: UHF)

If you want to track individual items, you can use HF or UHF. If you want to track pallets, however, you have to use UHF. Thus, if the possibility of tracking beyond the individual item level is likely for the future, you may as well start out using UHF.

No shielding of adjacent tags (advantage: UHF)

Because of the way HF technology works, adjacent tags can be shielded by other tags' magnetic fields. This leaves some tags unread and severely undermines the reliability of HF technology. This shielding does not occur with UHF technology.

For a more exhaustive report click here.

Contact Matrix Product Development to learn how UHF can benefit you.