The microchip or electronic transponder

The microchip, also called a “transponder” is a small glass capsule approximately the size of a grain of rice, around 11mm by 2mm.

This capsule is totally inert, extremely resistant and bio-compatible. It contains:

• an electronic chip etched in silicon, with a unique coded number;
• a condenser
• an inductor (copper) which acts as an antenna. 

---

 

It is a bit like an “emitter-receptor” which is activated only when in presence of a microchip reader emitting compatible waves.

To place the transponder an injector is required. It is a small syringe equipped with a single-use sterile trocar, this enables the chip to be implanted.

---

In horses, the chip is implanted in the fatty tissue of the cervical ligament, in the top third of the neck, on the left hand side, at about 3cms below the base of the mane.

The organism will respond to the introduction of a foreign body: a fibrous sheath will encompass the capsule and will maintain it in place, thus avoiding later migration.

The reader is equipped with mobile batteries. Some can be linked up to a computer, which can then store the information. It features a liquid crystal display screen.
The reader can be compared to an “emitter- transcriber”. Indeed it emits low frequency radio-waves and informs that it is receiving information with a sound signal, the message is transcribed. The actual distance at which it can read is quite small (around 5 to 10 centimeters)

---

As long as there is no specific reader to detect the chip, the chip remains inactive, in other words, it does not emit any waves nor does it produce any electrical current. When the reader is placed near the chip, it reads the number contained in the chip thanks to low frequency radio waves (RFID of 134 Khz).

This wave is detected by the antenna in the transponder. Thanks to the condenser, it then uses the energy sent by the reader, to wake up the chip. The response sends back a signal: its unique number.

It is something like an “emitter-transcriber” which enables to display the unique coded number from the chip.