RFID vs BLE vs UWB vs LoRaWAN vs GPS
There's no single "best" tracking technology — only the right one for your use case. This guide gives you an honest, engineering-level comparison to help you decide.
Quick Comparison Table
| Feature | Passive RFID | BLE | UWB | LoRaWAN | GPS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Range | 1–12 m | 10–100 m | 10–50 m | 2–15 km | Global |
| Accuracy | Zone-level | 0.5–3 m | 10–30 cm | 50–1,000 m | 3–10 m |
| Tag Cost | S$0.07–15 | S$8–30 | S$20–60 | S$15–50 | S$30–200 |
| Battery | None | 1–5 yrs | 1–3 yrs | 2–10 yrs | Days–months |
| Indoor | ✅ Excellent | ✅ Excellent | ✅ Excellent | ⚠️ Limited | ❌ No |
| Outdoor | ⚠️ Limited | ⚠️ Limited | ⚠️ Limited | ✅ Excellent | ✅ Excellent |
| Bulk Read | 100s/sec | ~20/sec | ~10/sec | 1/device | 1/device |
Passive RFID (UHF)
Tags have no battery. They're powered by electromagnetic energy from the reader and reflect a signal back containing their unique ID.
BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy)
Battery-powered beacons broadcast signals picked up by BLE gateways. Signal strength (RSSI) or angle-of-arrival (AoA) determines position.
UWB (Ultra-Wideband)
Uses very short pulses across a wide frequency band. Time-of-flight measurements between tag and multiple anchors provide precise positioning.
LoRaWAN
Long-range, low-power wide-area network. Devices transmit small data packets to LoRa gateways over kilometres using chirp spread spectrum modulation.
GPS / GNSS
Receives signals from orbiting satellites to calculate position. Requires clear sky view.
Which Technology Do You Need?
📦 "I need to track inventory / assets at checkpoints"
→ Passive RFID (UHF) — Lowest tag cost, highest bulk read speed, no batteries. Best for warehouses, supply chain, and asset management. See our warehouse solution.
📍 "I need real-time location of people or assets indoors"
→ BLE — Good balance of cost and accuracy for indoor positioning. Ideal for hospitals, offices, and large facilities. See our IoT tracking solution.
🎯 "I need sub-meter precision positioning"
→ UWB — Centimetre-level accuracy for AGVs, robotic navigation, safety zones, and high-value asset tracking.
🌏 "I need to track assets across large outdoor areas or cities"
→ LoRaWAN + GPS — Long range, low power. Best for fleet tracking, containers, environmental monitoring across Singapore.
🔄 "I need multiple technologies together"
→ Hybrid solution — Many deployments combine RFID + BLE, or RFID + GPS. Intensecomp specialises in multi-technology solutions through Inventrack, which unifies all tracking data in a single platform.
Why This Matters: Most Vendors Only Sell One Technology
Most RFID vendors in Singapore only offer passive RFID. If your problem needs BLE or UWB, they'll either try to force-fit RFID or refer you elsewhere.
Intensecomp offers all five technologies through a unified platform. We'll recommend the right technology for your use case — not just what we happen to sell. Our Inventrack platform integrates data from RFID, BLE, UWB, LoRaWAN, and GPS into a single dashboard, so you can deploy hybrid solutions without multiple vendors.
Not Sure Which Technology You Need?
Tell us what you're trying to track and where — we'll recommend the right technology and give you a realistic cost estimate.