The radio frequency identification (RFID) market is set to expand significantly in the next five years, a recent survey has unveiled.

According to the research, the overall RFID market is expected to surpass USD 8,25 billion by 2014 or at least USD 7,26 billion, should the automobile immobilization fragment be left aside.

In 2010 the RFID market is expected to expand to a figure of USD 4,47 billion (without automobile immobilization), which would translate to a 15 percent increase compared to the previous year.

According to the same research, an important growth would be registered in RTLS (Real Time Location Systems), baggage handling, animal ID as well as item-level tagging in fashion apparel and retail.

Such “modernizing” applications, like animal ID, asset management, POS-contactless payment or RTLS, are expected to record a growth of 6 percent compounded annually from 2010 through 2014. In contrast, their “traditional” predecessors such as access control, automobile immobilization and electronic toll collection account for slightly more than 61 percent of the total market today.

Automobile immobilization is the largest single RFID application and has a low growth rate which impacts overall market size, so it is often excluded when examining market trends.