Localization and Mapping of Passive RFID Tags

using Recognition Area of an RFID Reader

Suvankar Barai
*1
, Buddhadeb Sau
*2
, Krishnendu Mukhopadhyaya
#3
*
Department of Mathematics, Jadavpur University
Kolkata- 700032, India
1
suvankar.barai@rediffmail.com
2
bsau@math.jdvu.ac.in
#
Advanced Computing and Microelectronics Unit, Indian Statistical Institute
Kolkata- 700108, India
3
krishnendu@isical.ac.in
Abstract- Radio Frequency IDentification (RFID) is a popular
technology which identifies and tracks tags using radio-
frequency Electro Magnetic (EM) fields for data transfer. An
RFID system collectsinformationfrom a tagwithouttouchingit
under a wireless environment. RFID tags typically are of two
types: active and passive. In real applications, passive tags are
popular as its use are more robust and cost effective though
active tags are efficient in some aspects. In this paper, we
propose an efficient method for finding the position of passive
RFIDtagsinanindoorenvironment.AnRFIDreaderisusually
installed atthebottomofthe mobilerobot.The tagcontains the
unique identification number. The robot moves above the RFID
tagswhichareplottedinunknownpositionsontheplaneground.
The mobile robot computes its distances from tags using ultra-
sonicdistancefinder.The reader readsatagwhenitentersinto
the reader`s recognition area. We also demonstrate the robot
movementandbuildamapofeachtag.
KeywordsRFIDSystem,RFIDReader,Localizationusing
robot, PassiveTagTracking,Tag Mapping.
I. INTRODUCTION
The RFID tag is a microchip. It contains memory to store
information. A logic circuit is included in it to communicate
data with RFID readers. RFID system is typically used to
identify and track objects where barcodes can be used. Line of
sight, which may often be blocked, is essential to sense
barcode. On the contrary, the RFID system depends on radio
frequency. The use of RFID system instead of barcode makes
the identification and tracking of objects more robust and
adaptive with modern technological instruments. RFID is also
popular in several applications such as personal identification,
food production control, security guard monitoring, inventory
management, traffic identification in toll bridge [23], supply
chain management [17], defence sector, medical sciences [24],
[25], tracking people [13], and etc. The RFID technology is
recently being used in robotics as a localization system like
image processing or artificial intelligence.
Along with the technological advances, the dimensions of
RFID tags are gradually being reduced. Though the active tags
have advantage of longer sensing range and higher memory, it
has several drawbacks. The requirement of continuous power
supply, higher weight and size make it harder to be included
into different instruments. On the contrary, a passive tag is
cheaper, lighter and smaller in size. The most effective feature
of a passive tag is that it requires no explicit power source. It
is powered by RFID readers interrogating M field, and then
act as a passive transponder to emit microwaves or Ultra High
Frequency (UHF) radio waves (i.e., electromagnetic radiation
at high frequencies) [1]. Its life time is also longer. Thus, the
use of passive tags is more robust and cost effective in real
applications. One important and necessary issue in RFID
applications is to know the position of an object containing an
RFID tag for required actions on the object.
RFID system typically consists of tags, readers and other
supporting instruments, e.g., computers, communication
hardware, databases, and etc. [24]. Energy control is required
to enhance the life time of active RFID tags. This technology
also requires several tools for using passive tags in real
applications. Here, we describe some fundamental conception
about this technology [27]. Based on writing capabilities, the
RFID tags may be classified into three types as follows:
A. Read Only
Read only RFID tags are programmed by the tags
manufacturer. RFID reader cannot change the identification
and information data.
B. Write Once, Read Many
Write Once, Read Many (WORM) tags is not programmed
by the tags manufacturer. The purchaser has the opportunity
to write the identification data to the tag. Once written the
identification data cannot be modified. In some cases, if extra
memory space is provided, data can be added.
C. Read/Write
Read/write tags are not programmed by the manufacturer.
The purchaser programs the tags. The advantage of this tag is
that it can be reprogrammed. Thus, any data writing errors can
be corrected. A certain area of the memory can also be locked
so that it cannot accidently be modified or erased [2].
The RFID tags can also be classified into more categories
based on power source, form factor, operating frequency as
shown in TABLE I.
TABLE I
TAG CLASSIFICATION CRITERIA [14]
Criteria Types
Identification format 64-Bit EPC Tag, 96-Bit EPC
Tag, 128-Bit EPC Tag etc.
Power Source 1. Passive
2. Semi-passive
3. Active
Frequency LF, HF, UHF
Functionality 1. Memory (Size, Read/Write)
2. Environmental sensors
3. Security functionality
Form Factor 1. Size/Shape of the tag
2. Digestible, implantable
3. Weight of the tag
4. The method by which the
tag is affixed
An RFID reader can detect a signal received from an RFID
tag which falls into the coverage area of the reader. This
detected signal is called contiguous information. Positions of
the tags may be computed from this contiguous information.
Using successive contiguous information from the tags, the
accuracy of the position estimation may be improved. The
coverage area of the RFID reader varies depending on the
communication medium between the RFID reader and the tags.
Some localization schemes [9], [10] have been proposed to
improve the accuracy of estimation.
In this paper, we propose a method to locate the passive
RFID tags using the uncertainty of position estimation. We
assume that the tags are plotted on the plane ground. A mobile
robot, which has a RFID reader at the bottom, moves over the
tags. The reader is adorned with a single antenna. When an
RFID tag enters into the readers recognition area, the mobile
robot computes the co-ordinates of the tag using the proposed
algorithm. We show that the uncertainty position estimation
method [4] provides more accurate positions of tags than the
conventional methods. We also carried out simulation studies
to validate this result.
The rest of the paper is organized as follows. Section II
describes related works. In Section III, we formally describe
the used system model and problem of RFID tag localization.
The proposed algorithm for tag localization is presented in
Section IV. The experimental set up and the results of
simulation of the proposed method are shown in Section V.
Section VI includes our conclusion.
II. RELATED WORKS
RFID sensors [3], [13] have recently started to enter into
the field of mobile robotic localization. RFID readers can
detect ordinary passive tags in the range of several meters. It
also has the ability of sensing multiple ranges [19]. These
make the RFID technology attractive in mobile robot
applications. Wada et al [5] proposed a scheme named
Communication Range Recognition (CRR) to localize RFID
tags by finding the communication range. They also adapted
the likelihood distribution scheme to adjust the likelihood
distribution based on the signal intensity from tags [6]. Brusey
et al [11] have introduced the problems of false negative reads
(the presence of unreadable tags is wrongly ignored) and false
positive reads (the readability of tags outside the recognition
area is wrongly accepted by the localization schemes). They
used the time-based filters to avoid the false positive and
negative reads. It helps to design more sophisticated and
robust tags.
The communication direction depends on the type of tag. In
a passive tag, the Electronic Product Code (EPC) [8], [26] is
sent to the reader by reflecting or backscattering [7]. Swift
Communication Range Recognition (S-CRR) [15] improves
the accuracy of position of passive RFID tags over CRR. This
method is capable of locating passive tags in near real time for
large scale passive tag applications. They assume that a user
has an RFID reader. The RFID tags are attached at a wall in
equidistant intervals. The user can estimate the positions of
RFID tags by using S-CRR. This method has two advantages
as follows: (1) position of the RFID tag can be estimated from
a single observation point, (2) the communication range of the
reader is adaptive with the change of relative angle between
tag and reader. During the position estimation by S-CRR,
angle of rotation of the RFID reader may become large. It may
cause the overhead of antenna rotation to suitably adjust the
communication range of the reader. Dual type Communication
Range Recognition (D-CRR) method [16] uses a new flexible
antenna. By this system, they reduce the process time of RFID
tag detection. The degree of rotation angle of the RFID reader
is controlled. Thus, it shortens the position estimation time.
The Communication Range Recognition method uses a
flexible antenna. The flexible antenna is more costly and
requires more power to operate. In these methods, a position is
estimated only once. Due to some technical failure or noise in
the environment, if a position is not identified (called
uncertainty of a position identification) the estimated position
will be incorrect.
In this paper, we propose a simple and efficient strategy of
reader movement. We provide a scheme for locating passive
tags based on the data collected by the mobile robot with an
RFID reader. To estimate the position, we use the uncertainty
of position estimation method which eliminates the problem
of uncertainty in position identification. In the proposed
system, we do not use the flexible antenna. We use ultra-sonic
range finder in place of laser range finder to locate the mobile
robot. Ultra-sonic range finder is cheaper than laser range
finder. It also provides more accurate estimation in indoor
applications.
III. SYSTEMMODELLING AND PROBLEM DEFINITION
Any RFID system consists of at least one interrogator
(commonly known as reader) and at least one transponder
2
2
(commonly known as tag). The readers use radio link to
communicate with tags (Fig. 1). The reader is often (though
not always) remains connected to a server through a network.
The data collected by the reader will be sending to the server
through the host network.
Fig. 1 RFID System [18]
RFID system has several limitations due to the constituent
hardware [20]-[22]. Therefore, we consider the model for the
RFID system as follows:
1) The readers recognition area is a circular disk. The
current position of the reader is the centre of this disk.
2) Mobile robot with the reader moves along straight lines
parallel to a side of the scan area.
3) Scan area (area of interest in plane) is bounded and
rectangular.
4) In each side of the scan area, there is a vertical wall. The
robot measures the distances from these walls.
5) There is no obstacle in the scan area.
6) Each tag contains a unique identifying number.
As the mobile robot moves with RFID reader which has
been installed at the bottom of the mobile robot chassis, the
RF field is generated by RFID reader antenna. The reader
consists of two ultra-sonic distance finders which find two
distances from two perpendicular walls. These two distances
will be treated as X, Y coordinates of the reader. The
maximum values of X and Y are bounded by the side lengths
of the scan area. Fig. 2 shows the scan area of mobile robot.
The green points represent tags.
Fig. 2 Tags fall in recognition area of reader
Problem: Let R1 be the position of moving reader where it
first finds a tag. Let R2 be the position of the reader where it
last finds the tag. Suppose x
1
and x
n
are the x-coordinates of
R1 and R2 respectively. Same thing is also applicable for Y-
axis, which is not shown in the figure. We have to calculate
the position of the tag which falls in the recognition area of
the reader. To avoid the problem of uncertainty of the position
of a tag, we proposed an algorithm such that the error due to
the uncertainty of position identification can be waived. The
error is not generated because the reader reads the tag more
than one times or unless it is with the recognition area.
IV. PASSIVE TAG TRACKING
Initially, mobile robot starts from a known position with
respect to walls. It moves along X-axis keeping y-coordinate
fixed. When a tag comes into the readers recognition area,
mobile robot start gathering the X co-ordinate data till the tag
is within the recognition area. Since multiple position data are
collected, uncertainty of position identification almost has no
effect on the position estimation. Hence, we may assume that
the problem of uncertainty of position identification is almost
eliminated.
Let (x
1
,y
1
), (x
2
, y
2
),. ....,(x
n
,y
n
) be the coordinates of the
reader when the particular tag has been read n times by the
reader. If (x
e
, y
e
) are the coordinates of the tag then the
coordinates may estimate by the formulas:
x
e
=
max{x1,....,xn}+min{x1 ,....,xn}
y
e
=
max{y1,....,yn}+min{y1,....,yn}
A. Movement of Reader
In this section, we formally describe the proposed robot
movement for tag localization.
Algorithm1. ForX-AxisMovementMethod
Data: XIncrement=1, X=0, Y=0, MaxX, MaxY
Result: Makes Mobile Robot to scan the whole area
while Y < MaxY do[till Y is less than max Y]
if X < 0 then[when X is at start pos]
XIncrement=5; [increase X by 5]
Y=Y+20; [increase Y by 20]
end
if X > M axX then[when X is at end pos]
XIncrement=-5; [decrease X by 5]
Y=Y+20; [increase Y by 20]
end
X=X+XIncrement; [change the value of X]
end
Algorithm 1 is used to scan the entire area through X-Axis.
We assume that the recognition area of RFID is 30 inch and
the mobile robot scan all tags after travelling every 5 inch till
Robot reach the edge of X co-ordinate. Then the robot goes
20 inch along the direction Y-axis and starts scan parallel to
X-Axis in reverse direction.
Algorithm2.ForY-AxisMovementMethod
Data: YIncrement=1, X=0, Y=0, MaxX, MaxY
Result: Makes Mobile Robot to scan the whole area

while X < MaxX do[till X is less than max X]
if Y < 0 then [when Y is at start pos]
YIncrement=5; [increase Y by 5]
X=X+20; [increase X by 20]
end
if Y > MaxY then [when Y is at end pos]
YIncrement=5; [decrease Y by 5]
X=X+20; [increase X by 20]
end
Y=Y+YIncrement; [change the value of Y]
end
Algorithm 2 is used to scan the entire area through Y-Axis.
As we assume that the recognition area of RFID is 30 inch.
Similarly, the mobile robot scan in each tag after traveling
every 5 inch till Robot reach the edge of Y co-ordinate. Then
the robot goes 20 inch X co-ordinate and starts scan parallel to
Y-Axis in reverse direction.
B. Computing Tag Location
The scan process gathers the coordinates of tags as they fall
into the readers recognition area. Algorithm 3 describes the
location computation of the tag in detail.
Algorithm3.Determinethelocationofthetags
Data: PX=0,PY=0,EX=0,EY=0,SX=MaxX,SY=MaxY
Result: Robot calculate the location of the tag
if hitTest(Robot) = true then
PX=Robot.X; [PX stands for previous X position]
PY=Robot.Y; [PY stands for previous Y position]
if Robot.scan = 0 thenscan X axis wise]
if EX < P X then
EX=PX; [EX is end position of X]
if SX > P X then
SX=PX; [SX is start position of X]
end
if Robot.scan = 1 thenscan Y axis wise]
if EY < PY then
EY=PY; [EY is end position of Y]
if SY > P Y then
SY=PY; [SY is start position of Y]
end
TagX = (SX + EX )/2; [middle X pos]
TagY = (SY + EY )/2; [middle Y pos]
end
V. SIMULATION
To verify the the proposed method, simulation studies are
carried out using C-Programming. The robot starts from (0,0)
co-ordinates and scans through the X-axis to determine the the
tags' x-coordinates (Fig. 3). It then scans along the Y-axis to
determine the tags' y-cordinates (Fig. 4). It is necessary to
scan the entire area to find out all tags location. As the robot
scans through X-axis, it also needs to go through Y-axis.
Fig. 3 Robot moves through X-axis above the tags
Fig. 3 shows that mobile robot moves through X-axis and
locating tags. The arrow on the mobile robot indicates the
direction of the robot. The red points are the RFID tags which
are plotted in unknown location on the tag floor [12]. The
blank areas are yet to be scanned. Similar case is done in next
figure but through the Y-axis.
Fig. 4 Robot moves through Y-axis above the tags
After completing the scan process we get the coordinate of
all the tags. We then plot the map based on of the obtained tag
locations.
1. Build a map on the base of X-axis:
With the obtained tag locations and distances, we build a
map in increase order of X-axis. Fig. 5 shows this map.
Fig. 5 Map on base of X-Axis
2. Build a map on the base of Y-axis:
Using the tag locations and measurement of the distances,
we build a map in increase order of Y-axis. Fig. 6 shows this
map.
Fig. 6 Map on base of Y-Axis
The results of the simulation study are compared with
the actual coordinates. TABLE II shows that the actual and
estimated position computed by the proposed method is almost
equal.
TABLE II
TAG ID, REAL AND ESTIMATION POSITION
Tag
ID
X:Real
Position
Y:Real
Position
X:Estm
Position
Y:Estm
Position
1 105 379 105 378
2 267 371 267 372
3 277 315 277 315
4 368 322 367 323
5 450 96 450 96
6 237 247 237 248
7 154 171 155 171
8 382 368 382 368
9 182 136 182 137
10 442 151 442 152
VI. CONCLUSION
In this paper, we have presented a passive RFID tag
localization scheme in an indoor environment. This scheme
uses a single antenna which reduces the power consumption
of RFID reader and improves the accuracy. As the robot scan
in X and Y direction, it takes longer time which is a drawback
of this method. Our future plan is to improve the technique to
save time and to adapt into complex environments. Also the
proposed method has some restrictions. We want to exclude
these restrictions. Comparison of proposed method with
existing schemes is under process.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The first author would like to thank Jadavpur University
and Indian Statistical Institute for giving a formal platform to
carry his research work.
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