Test Platform for Developing Processes of Autonomous Identification in RFID Systems with Proximity-Range Read/Write Devices

The subject of a distributed RFID system with proximity-range read/write devices (RWD) is considered in this paper. Possible work scenarios were presented in the scope of industrial implementations and were then tested in a dedicated laboratory set. The development system is based on a high-frequency RWD integrated with a Wi-Fi microcontroller unit to create an Internet of things connected with a server (for data exchanging, user interface, etc.) via a wireless local area network. In practical applications, in order to increase the interrogation zone (IZ), there is a tendency to use one RWD with significant output power equipped with a multiplexer for managing several antennas located in the operational space. Such a solution is often economically unprofitable and even impossible to implement, especially in the case of the need to create the large IZ. Responding to market demand, the authors propose a distributed system developed on the basis of several cheap RFID reader modules and a few freely available hardware/software tools. They created the fully functional RFID platform and confirmed its usefulness in static and dynamic systems of object identification.