Propagation modelling of RFID systems for road monitoring applications

Monitoring of vehicles on roads and tunnels is performed with the use of RFID tag technology. Unfortunately, the reliability of the current RFID-based approaches is lacking. This paper explores the possible reasons for this by performing a propagation study using two scenarios. The first scenario is a gantry based tag reading system as is typically used in tolling applications, and the second is an in-road reader scenario. The second scenario mitigates a majority of the propagation problems experienced by the first scenario. By reducing these propagation problems, lower cost RFID tags can be used for road monitoring applications. Deploying such a system which is both lower in cost and higher in reliability can allow for more ubiquitous monitoring which in-turn can allow more informed decisions to be made on future road, bridge and tunnel infrastructure.