Early RFID Fob From 1993
ELSA (Italy) RFID access control tag/fob using a Hughes Microelectronics (Scotland) H223 chip. Hughes were an early RFID innovator, with chip design in Scotland (and the US), tag manufacturing in Spain and a separate Hughes Identification Devices business, which became the company HID. HID is still a leader in access control. The above is an early tag. For example, before 2000 I never had an access control card or fob at my workplace. Like today, access control cards and fobs are not self-powered. The energy to operate comes from the reader.