An innovative animals tracking system based on passive UHF RFID technology

The adoption of solutions based on Radio Frequency IDentification (RFID) technology in a large number of contexts is a matter of fact. In many situations, such as the tracking of small living animals, the straightforward use of commercial systems does not guarantee adequate performance. Consequently, both the RFID hardware and the control software platform should be tailored for the particular application. In this work, the specific requirements of Near Field (NF) Ultra High Frequency (UHF) RFID reader antennas suitable for small animal localization and tracking are individuated and a control system based on NI LabVIEW has been designed. Afterwards, both hardware and software solutions have been implemented and validated by using a living laboratory approach. Finally, the set-up of a first working prototype involving six built-in-lab NF antennas has been completed and tested. The achieved results are impressive and demonstrate the appropriateness of the proposed approach.