Comparative Study on RFID based Tracking and Blockchain based Tracking of Material Transactions

Radio Frequency Identification & Detection (RFID) technology is used frequently in material and
device identification and tracking in business firms and retail shops. In RFID technology tags are
used to transmit data in the form of radio waves. The device transmits information from a reader
to an RFID computer program. The RFID tags are often used for goods as well as for the followup
of pets, Alzheimer's disease patients & vehicles. RFID tag is called an RFID chip as well. This
technology supports the tracking of tangible components and materials. Similarly, one of the ICCT
underlying technologies called blockchain technology is recently developed and it consists of a
growing list of cryptography associated records in the form of chain that has the property of
transparency, decentralization, and immune to modifications. Blockchain technology is used for
record creation across many computers or digital devices of a process or an activity which cannot
be altered retroactively, without altering its subsequent processes or activities. Blockchain
technology allows a system to own digital goods, assets, and data and capable to trace the history
of everything which is created as a footprint in the past transactions. In this paper, we have
analyzed and compared how RFID and Blockchain technologies can be complementary to each
other and add new features in material-based tracking in society. The data were gathered from
various websites & scholarly journals. Initially, RFID, ICCT & BCT are analyzed in terms of their
material tracking properties, then a comparison is made between RFID & BCT in material tracking
to give an insight into different complementary technologies in transactions and material tracking.