Frequency Division Multiple Access Extension of Standard UHF RFID Systems for Multiple Tags Inventory With Successive Interference Cancellation

Abstract

As the use of ultrahigh frequency (UHF) radio-frequency identification (RFID) increases in various fields requiring the rapid identification of a large number of tags, research has shifted toward improving the access capacity of RFID systems. This article proposes a frequency division multiple access (FDMA) extension of conventional time division multiple access (TDMA) RFID systems by modulating tag signals to different Miller-subcarrier frequencies, achieving a theoretical throughput limit value of 0.9135 average successfully read tags per slot, which is 2.48 times that of the usually referred dynamic frame-slotted Aloha algorithm. The power spectral density (PSD) of Miller-modulated subcarrier (MMS) sequences is derived to uncover the tag interference caused by the modulation signal sidelobe power within each subchannel. After that, a successive interference cancellation (SIC) scheme is employed in a four-tag signal reception situation, enhancing the simultaneous tag replies interference suppression and achieving a small performance deterioration if compared with a conventional TDMA system. An experimental analysis is also described to show the feasibility of the proposed FDMA extension of TDMA-based UHF RFID systems.