It&#x27;s important to understand the difference between UHF RFID (this technology) vs. others like BLE.<p>UHF RFID tags harvest all of their operating power from a reader&#x27;s transmitted RF signal. Multi-access is handled at the protocol layer via probabilistic time-division multiplexing.  The tag doesn&#x27;t actually &quot;transmit&quot; -- rather, it is a cooperative radar target that reflects RF power back to the reader (sort of like an SOS mirror) by intelligently, electronically changing its radar cross section.  The tags contain a single IC, and the antennas (for commercial ID-only tags) are roll-to-roll printed... to the tune of Billions of tags per year.  The net effect: Tags cost around $0.10 each in volume.  The read range is practically limited to around 20 feet, as dictated by FCC limits on the reader&#x27;s RF output power (1Watt).  Nominally, gen2 UHF RFID tags operate at bitrates up to ~500kbps, but there are some specialized tags that can transmit at 100Mbps using just a few microwatts (we used them to transmit dragonfly neural signals during flight!).<p>Meanwhile, BLE technologies can do push notifications, mesh networking, and the like.  The beacon (tag) may contain a full TX-RX transceiver.  However, due to the tight spectral requirements of their transmissions, they generally require an external (off-IC) crystal oscillator.  The net effect is that BLE beacons are more costly -- on the order of $2-3 ea.  This means that they are much less likely to be used to tag everyday items (like a carton of milk) or deployed in the billions for outdoor monitoring.<p>Source: I&#x27;m an expert on these systems as applied to robotics, healthcare, and remote sensing [1,2,3,4]. I&#x27;m giving a talk on them next week at IEEE RFID &#x2F; RFID Live.  Oh, and you can also buy WISP-like tags from a company called Farsens.<p>[1] <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.travisdeyle.com" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.travisdeyle.com</a><p>[2] <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.travisdeyle.com&#x2F;research.html" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.travisdeyle.com&#x2F;research.html</a><p>[3] <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.hizook.com&#x2F;blog&#x2F;2015&#x2F;08&#x2F;10&#x2F;mobile-robots-and-long-range-uhf-rfid-sensor-tags-internet-things" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.hizook.com&#x2F;blog&#x2F;2015&#x2F;08&#x2F;10&#x2F;mobile-robots-and-long...</a><p>[4] <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.wired.com&#x2F;2013&#x2F;06&#x2F;dragonfly-backpack-neuron&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.wired.com&#x2F;2013&#x2F;06&#x2F;dragonfly-backpack-neuron&#x2F;</a>