Researchers create faster, cheaper RFID testbed
Researchers have designed a system capable of simultaneously measuring hundreds of RFID tags and rapidly testing new RFID antenna prototypes.
“We designed a really inexpensive, simple anti-collision system that transmits multiple unique signals back to us simultaneously without this complicated back and forth process,” said Gregory Durgin, an assistant professor in the Georgia Institute of Technology’s School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, who led the research team.
“This testbed enables us to measure the signal strength of tags hidden behind other tags and to rapidly test unique antenna configurations and multiple antennas without actually constructing new tags for each experiment,” Durgin explained
The system includes three parts – a transmitter, receiver and emulator. The emulator simulates the activity of an integrated circuit. The transmitter sends a radio signal to the antenna. By attaching the emulator to an antenna, a unique spread spectrum signal is transmitted to the receiver. Each antenna signal can then be separated from the others, allowing his team to simultaneously measure the signals from multiple tags.
The researchers’ experiments have shown their design can measure the power strength and phase of up to 256 antennas in its field of view, an area of approximately 20 feet by 20 feet.
The research was funded by the National Science Foundation and results were presented in April at the IEEE International Conference on RFID. ![[end]](/resources/bullet/rfidnews-4.gif)
