We have seen barcodes printed on nearly every item in grocery store. They are either UPC or EAN linear barcodes. There are about 300 other different types of barcodes,out of which code 39 are the most popular. Also there are 2D barcodes that store a large amount of information in a smaller space than linear barcodes.
There are two basic advantages of barcode scanning over manual entry,they are speed and accuracy. For the entry of 12 characters of data,keyboard takes 12 sec,while scanning of 12 character data takes only 3 sec. The error rate for typing is one substitution error for every 300 characters types. Error rate for barcode range from 1 substitution for every 15000 to 36 trillion characters scanned.
It is peculation that RFID tags may make the barcodes obsolete,but it is difficult for the tags to take the place of barcode as all RFID tags contain a radio transmitter, as whereas barcodes are made up of inks. The cost involved in RFID is the primary resone for not replacing barcode scanning.
RFID is consider as it stores more data than the popular linear or 1D barcode,which stores more numbers and letters in the smallest space is Code 12B.However,2-D barcode will store more data as compare to any linear barcode.
We can prevent the barcode from being copied by using a special over laminate that only allows infra red light to pass through. For instance,for a badge a laminate is placed over the barcode,and if someone tries to remove the lamination,it will destroy the barcode. This proves that the future of barcode is quite safe and this will become more popular among people.
