Simulation and Analysis of RFID Localization Algorithms

Radio frequency identification (RFID) based localization systems provide a unique approach to localize mobile entities equipped with RFID readers or tagged with RFID tags. UHF RFID systems using passive tags are a good choice considering their cost, reading range, and reliability. With global acceptance and deployment of UHF RFID systems using passive tags for tracking and identification, virtually everything around us can be tagged with small and low-cost passive RFID tags. This thesis describes a Monte Carlo Localization based algorithm to localize a mobile RFID reader within a tagged environment. A software tool is developed to validate this localization process, simulate it and analyze its performance. Requirement specification for such RFID based localization systems can be determined based on various analysis plots available from this software tool. The tool also analyses tag localization using fixed readers to study the RFID characteristics for localization. These localization approaches can be used to provide intelligent context aware services