Control of RFID devices for increased reliability and effectiveness in an RFID electronic article surveillance system

An RFID enabled electronic article surveillance system comprising:

• at least one RFID device including
• an antenna and
• a RFID chip coupled to the antenna via a non-contact connection, the RFID chip being connected to a conductive loop, wherein the conductive loop being physically spaced from the antenna;
• a first read zone;
• a second read zone;
• and
• a transition zone positioned between the first and second read zones, wherein the conductive loop is formed of a material of the antenna and is configured to have a greater resistance compared to the antenna to render the antenna of the at least one RFID device is configured to have reduced RF conductivity to reduce the peak sensitivity of the at least one RFID device and increase the bandwidth of the at least one RFID device, to allow the at least one RFID device be read only in the first read zone while it is present in the first read zone and be read only in the second read zone while present in the second read zone.