A Reliability Study of RFID Technology in a Fading Channel

Abstract

RFID systems are an important component in the effort to increase the efficiencies of the logistics supply chain for the U.S. Department of Defense. While the U.S. DoD has mandated the use of RFID tags for its suppliers, the technology has not always kept up with the performance expectations. This study explores new modulation and coding techniques to possibly be used in the improvement of the read reliability of RFID systems. Bit and tag error probabilities are computed for various OOK and M-CSK modulation schemes in a varying Nakagamim fading channel, and the best performing schemes are identified for future employment.