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Ask most engineers about radio frequency identification and they’ll probably tell you about the tiny tags used to track goods around a factory or fast-track frequent toll-road users through payment booths. But while both applications are interesting, and part of a rapidly growing industry, RFID as hi-tech barcode is only really half the story, because the technology that underpins it could help shape our environment in far more exciting and significant ways.

Some even claim that RFID-based technology could revolutionise the way in which we go about our daily business, arming us with mobile handsets that instantly recognise other electronic devices and enabling us to buy everything from groceries to theatre tickets using safe contact-less transactions.

Ultimately, such devices could even enable us to access a context-sensitive world wide web where smart tags embedded in everything from bus stops to shop window displays will instantly direct our handheld devices to relevant information.