Instant collision resolution for tag identification in RFID networks

In this paper, we approach the problem of identifying a set of objects in an RFID network. We propose a modified version of Slotted Aloha protocol to reduce the number of transmission collisions. All tags select a slot to transmit their ID by generating a random number. If there is a collision in a slot, the reader broadcasts the next identification request only to tags which collided in that slot. Besides, we present an extensive comparative evaluation of collision resolution protocols for tag identification problem in RFID networks. After a quick survey of the best performing RFID tag identification protocols, both deterministic and probabilistic, we present the outcome of intensive simulation experiments set up to evaluate several metrics, such as the total delay of identification process and the bit complexity of reader and tags. The last metric is strictly related to energy constraints required by an RFID system. The experiments point out that our protocol outperform all the other protocols in most cases, and matches them in the others. 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.