FASTag

 

For: Preliminary & Mains

Topics covered:

• All about FASTag.
• About Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology

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News Flash

From December 15, 2019, FASTag will be mandatory.

 

What is FASTag?

FASTag is an electronic toll collection system, operated by the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI). It employs Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology for making toll payments directly from the prepaid or savings account linked to it or directly toll owner.

FASTags are prepaid rechargeable tags for toll collection and is affixed on the windscreen of vehicles. They do not have any expiry date.

 

Benefits

• Prevent congestion
• The government is offering 2.5 percent cashback on using FASTag at toll plazas.

 

 

Radio-frequency identification (RFID)

• FASTags contain electronically stored information. RFID uses electromagnetic fields to automatically identify and track tags attached to objects. Two-way radio transmitter-receivers called interrogators or readers send a signal to the tag and read its response.
• Passive tags collect energy from a nearby RFID reader’s interrogating radio waves. Active tags have a local power source (such as a battery) and may operate hundreds of meters from the RFID reader.
• RFID is one method of automatic identification and data capture (AIDC).

 

RFID tags contain at least three parts:

1. An integrated circuit that stores and processes information and that modulates and demodulates radio-frequency (RF) signals
2. A means of collecting DC power from the incident reader signal
3. An antenna for receiving and transmitting the signal.

 

The tag information is stored in a non-volatile memory. The RFID tag includes either fixed or programmable logic for processing the transmission and sensor data, respectively. An RFID reader transmits an encoded radio signal to interrogate the tag. The RFID tag receives the message and then responds with its identification and other information.

 

Uses of RFID

RFID tags are used in many industries, such as an RFID tag attached to an automobile during production, RFID-tagged pharmaceuticals can be tracked through warehouses,  and implanting RFID microchips in livestock and pets enables positive identification of animals.

 

 

Important Information

• In India, the system was initially set up as a pilot project in 2014 on the stretch of the Golden Quadrilateral between Ahmedabad and Mumbai.
• The world’s first electronic toll plaza began operations in Norway in 1986.
• Japan was the first Asian Country to began it in 2001 and China started in 2014.

 

Source: BS

 

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