A test protocol to characterize the effect of active interference on the performance of radio frequency identification systems

The purpose of this research was the development of a test protocol to assess the effect that active interference has on the performance of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) systems. RFID is an automatic identification technology that is rapidly moving into new application environments, particularly in the industrial sector. These environments may already contain competing wireless radio frequency-based technologies that may affect the performance of an RFID system. Therefore, there is a need for a formal evaluation procedure that can aid in determination of the factors that have the potential to adversely affect the performance of this technology.; In this research, the active interference test protocol was developed. This test protocol utilizes four different experiments to assess the effect that active interference has on the performance of RFID systems. These experiments were as follows: Jamming on Central Frequency of Operation, Apply Full Range of Frequencies in Sweeps, Modulating the Jamming Signal, and Tag Pollution. Each experiment was selected to evaluate a different problem that typically occurs in an application environment where RFID systems are applied.; The effectiveness of the test protocol was verified by fully characterizing eight RFID systems operating at frequencies that ranged from 120 kHz to 2.45 GHz. Two performance measures were utilized to assess whether or not the jamming signal had an effect on the performance of the RFID systems: read rate and read time. The validity of the active interference test protocol was established using two different methods. First, additional experimentation was conducted on the RFID systems while these systems operated in an environment that contained competing radio frequency signals of known frequency. Secondly, the results of a validation survey sent to experts of several national and international standards committees are presented.; These results obtained as a result of the verification process, which were based on actual experimentation, as well as the validation by experts in the RFID field, indicate that the approach described in this research is viable and produces results that are useful for both manufacturers and users of RFID technology.