An RFID "tag" is a radio transponder component that transmits a coded signal in response to the interrogation by a fixed or hand-held reader, similar to a laser bar code scanner. Tags are considered "passive" when they obtain their transmission signal energy from the electromagnetic field received from the interrogator device or "active" when they are self-powered. Tags can be read-only, re-writable, or read/write. RFID tags provide information to the reader device that can be (in the simplest case) similar to that obtained by scanning a UPC bar code or (in the more elaborate case) multiple pages of data tracking the complete lifecycle of a piece of inventory, a finished product, or any part of the supply and use chain.

TKIP is a data encryption method that uses the WEP algorithm to encrypt data (hence, not requiring specialized hardware) but dynamically modifies the WEP key at periodic intervals. Because the key continuously changes an unauthorized intruder attempting to penetrate the network would be unable to gather sufficient WEP data to decrypt the current key before the key changes. TKIP is specified in the 802.11i standard and is part of WPA (Wi-Fi Protected Access). TKIP fixes the flaws in the original WEP algorithm and includes a special message integrity check to assure that data has not been "spoofed."