Algorithmic Solutions for RFID Tag Anti-Collision Problem in Supply Chain Management

Abstract

The Radio Frequency IDentification (RFID) is a wireless communication technology that enables automatic identification, tracking and data collection from any tagged object in a supply chain operating environment. A simple RFID system uses radio signals to transmit data via a tiny portable device, called a tag, which is read by an RFID reader and processed by the corporate information system (IS) to meet the needs of business management. One of the important performance issues in this system is to resolve RFID tag collision. Tag collision happens when two or more tags reflects-back their individual identification radio signals to the reader at the same time thus confusing the reader identification process. Different algorithmic solutions on tag collision are available. They are generally in two main categories of anti-collision problems: ALOHA-based solutions and tree-based solutions. However, ALOHA-based algorithms suffer from a time-related starvation problem. The well-known tree-based algorithms are Binary Tree (BT) and Query Tree (QT). In addition, QT algorithms are very efficient in memory utilization in comparison to other algorithmic solutions. This paper presents simulation-based experimental results on the performance of some well-known BT-based algorithms: simple Binary Search Algorithm (BSA), Dynamic Binary Search Algorithm (DBSA), and Backtrack Binary Algorithm (BBA).