Chances are, if you’ve visited a music festival, water park, hotel or convention in the last couple of years, you've probably worn an RFID wristband. But how do RFID wristbands work?

You might have even used an RFID wristband to tap and pay for drinks or post a photo to your Facebook account.

Not quite following me?

Well, here at ID&C we receive lots of questions about RFID wristband technology; how it works and more importantly, what the benefits are for event organizers.

So, we wanted to explain it plain and simple. A beginner's guide if you will. An 'RFID wristband 101', if you please...

RFID technology stands for Radio Frequency Identification, but what is that exactly?

RFID describes the method or process of transmitting the unique identity of a wristband (or any RFID-enabled object) using radio waves.

The technology enables specialist readers or 'scanners' to capture the data on an RFID tag and transmit it to a back-end computer system without the requirement for physical contact.

What happens when an RFID wristband is scanned?

The wristband contains a tiny RFID chip, which holds data such as a unique identifier, access permissions, contact details, account information, payment details, medical records or other relevant details. The antenna connected to the RFID chip transmits and receives radio frequency signals

When read (or 'tapped'), an RFID scanner will transmit an encoded radio signal which identifies a tag. In less than a millisecond, RFID tags receive the transmission and respond with a unique identification number. The RFID reader captures the transmitted data and processes it. Depending on the application, the reader may grant access, process payments, update records, or trigger specific actions based on the received information.

The most simple every-day comparison to RFID is a barcode on a can of soda.

When scanned, the barcode talks to a database of information relating to the soda. Details including product name, price, weight and use-by-date are unlocked when a barcode is read.

So, are RFID wristbands the same as barcode wristbands?

No. Not even close.

While the principle of retrieving data via scanning is the same, the similarities between RFID and bar codes end there.

I could write at length about the differences but this handy table provides a quick overview.