Coverage-Based Placement in RFID Networks: An Overview

Radio Frequency IDentification (RFID) is a wireless technology that promises to facilitate many identification and tracking solutions. The placement problem, i.e. choosing the optimal locations for RFID readers, tags or both in a given RFID layout, is reviewed in this paper. Placement approaches are generally coverage-driven and vary according to the system´s scopes and constraints. RFID coverage is associated with readers´ interference, which requires applying redundancy elimination algorithms. In this paper, we propose a coverage-based categorization of RFID placement schemes based on the span of the readers´ field. We also provide a comparative analysis of placement schemes based on their performance objectives, constraints, and potential applications. We finally discuss some open issues regarding RFID placement in terms of alternative objectives and systems´ specifications.