How do you know if there is an RFID tag in a label or not? That's a question raised by the aerospace industry and others. To answer it, AIM, the automatic identification and mobility trade association, has developed an RFID Mark.

The mark, which is applied directly to labels, makes it easy for workers in manufacturing, warehousing and distribution to see immediately if a tag needs to be read or not. The mark is a distinctive pattern that contains a unique two-character code. The first character indicates the frequency and coding authority. The second character indicates the data content and/or a structure. Another mark identifies appropriate RFID readers/encoders, making it easy for workers to know if their reader is compatible with the tag.

The standard is available free of charge at www.aimglobal.org.