Source: RFID News 2000-02, the electronic newsletter for the RFID industry by AIM "Food for Thought"

The "RFID Handbook" by Klaus Finkenzeller is a 300 page hardback book all about RFID. The author, an employee of Giesecke & Devrient GmbH, Munich Germany, has tried to provide information about all aspects of RFID at all the frequencies that it is available. This book is an English translation of a German book, first published in 1998 (in German).

The book has fourteen chapters which cover a variety of subjects. (A chapter list is available at http://www.aimglobal.org/aimstore/rfid_handbook.htm ) Each chapter goes into the subject matter in some detail, providing the reader with enough knowledge to be able to understand the issues relating to the technology.

The early chapters cover the fundamentals of the technology, including the operating and physical principles of RFID systems. For the non-technical reader these are the hardest chapters to read with many equations and graphs explaining how RFID works.

A chapter on the Regulatory issues concerning RFID gives a flavor of the problems in creating a global product, and the following three chapters talk about the data side of a system and how the data is encoded and secured in a tag.

Chapter nine gives a brief look at standardization of RFID, with coverage of animal identification, contactless smart cards, anti-theft systems for goods, container identification and data carriers for tools and clamping devices. This chapter contains some interesting information on standardization, but does not provide a complete picture because of the 1998 original publication date.

Chapters 10 to 12 get more product specific with descriptions of the architecture of readers and tags, using specific examples to illustrate the information. With chapters 13 and 14 giving some application examples and a market overview.

Overall this book is a good start for someone getting involved in RFID. The book contains many gems of information and is written in an easy to read manner. The book relies heavily on German examples to illustrate the items discussed (as you may expect from a German author), however this does not in any way detract from the book. Recommended reading for anyone who needs more information, though at $120 (US) this book is expensive. You can order the book from the AIM web site at: http://www.aimglobal.org/aimstore/rfid_handbook.htm.

Source: Transponder News, February 2000

http://rapidttp.com/transponder/books.html

This excellent book was originally published in German under the title RFID-Handbuch by Carl Hanser Verlag Munich/FRG in 1998. Due to its excellent content it has been translated into English by Rachel Waddington and published by John Wiley & Sons

Klaus Finkenzeller has written this book based on his extensive experience in the technology and has been involved in the RFID industry in Europe for many years as a member of staff of Giesecke & Devrient GmbH, Munich,Germany. In addition numerous companies that provide RFID systems have provided Mr Finkenzeller with technical information to make this an excellent reference book on this technology for users and designers who need inside information into the design of transponder systems.

Transponder systems can be basically divided into magnetic coupled and electric coupled systems. Magnetic coupled systems have been available widely over the past 20 years and this book is particularly strong on providing design details and information on this group. The patent files in Transponder News show weekly new developments in transponder systems, most of which are now happening in the electric coupled grouping, and although this book does cover this group, its information is less complete due to the rapid developments happening at present.

The reference book touches on propogation issues; theory issues of range at different frequencies; current and future ISO standards; design of transponder systems, reader sysytems and antennas; and many sample applications.

This book is highly recommended for those with a technical interest in transponder systems. (Mike Marsh)

Source: Amazon.com customer reviews, March 2003

source

 university level presentation, March 19, 2003
Reviewer: it from Sunnyvale, CA USA

This is the only book on this subject that I have read that is intelligently and scientifically presented. All the others are written at the Popular Electronics hobby magazine level.

The information in this book is based on science. There are equations and graphs on every page. It is not the hand waving Popular Electronics style found in other books.

Source: Amazon.com customer reviews, June 2003

 Great book for understanding the concepts and applications, June 3, 2003
Reviewer: Arun Rao from Santa Clara, CA United States

If you are an Engineer looking to understand the history, technical aspects, implementation, standards and details of RFID systems, this book provides an excellent introduction for you.

The chapters are well laid out and paced. The author explains the most common devices and systems available in the market, their technology and concepts quite well. Most of the RFID related standards have been covered along with relevant examples. The author covers such things as the hardware design specifications for devices, software requirements, and some basic RF concepts that are required to understand Transponder and Receiver designs.

If you need specifics about recent products however, you might want to research for other sources of information because this book does not cover vendors and products in detail. For readers without technical background, the book introduces the concepts well; but some content might not be relevant because of the [technical] nature.