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scientific papers being published. In the 1960s various inventors and researchers developed prototype systems. Some mercial systems were launched with the electronic article surveillance (EAS) equipment used as an antitheft device. These systems used 1bit tags detecting the presence or absence of a tag and were used in retail stores attached to high value items and clothing. This proved an effective antitheft measure and is arguably the first and most widespread mercial use of RFID. In the 1970s there was a great deal of interest in RFID from researchers, developers and academic institutions including such anizations as Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory and the Swedish Microwave Institute Foundation. There was much development work in this period and such applications as animal tagging became mercially viable. In the 1980s RFID applications extended into a number of areas. In Europe animal tracking systems became widespread and toll roads in Italy, France, Spain, Portugal and Norway were RFID equipped. The 1990s were significant with the widespread adoption of electronic toll collection in the United States. In 1991 an electronic tolling system opened in Oklahoma where vehicles could pass toll collection points at highway speeds (no toll booths). In Europe there was also considerable interest in RFID applications including toll collections, rail applications and access control. RFID tolling and rail applications appeared in many countries including Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, South Korea, South Africa, Singapore and Thailand. Developments continued in the 1990s with integrated circuit development and size reduction until microwave RFID tags were reduced to a single integrated circuit. Currently there is considerable work being undertaken in the rationalization of frequency spectrum allocation between countries, development of standards and the introduction of many mercial applications. There are now over 350 patents registered with the US Patent Office related to RFID and its applications (Table 1). RFID devices can be classified into four usage categories: ? EAS (Electronic Article Surveillance)。 ? portable data capture。 and ? positioning systems. EAS These are typically 1bit systems used to sense the presence or absence of an object. The most mon use is in retail stores as an antitheft device. Tags are attached to clothing or other items and trigger an alarm if the goods leave the store before the tag is deactivated. These have been in widespread use for some years and are found in a variety of retail stores including clothing, small appliances, electrical goods and book stores. Portable data capture Used with portable devices where data required from the tagged object may vary. Some devices incorporate sensors to record, for example, temperature, movement (seismic) and radiation. Data can be stored on the portable device for later download and processing. Networked systems These systems are characterized by fixed pos