What is automatic identification ?

System classification

The possibility of automatically identifying articles and objects to manage, test and control sequences in production and logistics is an essential part of automatic systems. 

In many fields, correct identification of articles in the shortest time, for which automatic identification forms the basis, is a basic requirement for efficient process design. 

The term "automatic identification" summarizes technologies for identification , data capture and data transmission. It includes systems such as :

• Bar code.
• magnetic ink character code (smart label).
• RFID (radio frequency identification).
• OCR (optical character recognition)
• Voice recognition.
• Chip card applications.
• Biometrics.

The figure below provides an overview of all automation identification technologies:

Two-dimensional bar code (Data Matrix code) and RFID technology are the main points of this application. 

The aim of the following sections is to give an understanding of both systems and to show the advantages and possible applications of the two technologies.