On Error Performance Improvements of Passive UHF RFID Systems via Syndrome Decoding

In this paper, the error performance of the tag-to-reader link of a passive UHF (Electronic Product Code - EPC - Generation 2) RFID system is examined. An error-correcting technique is introduced that is based on the cyclic redundancy check (CRC) bits transmitted by the tag with backscatter biphase-M (or FM0) modulation. The proposed technique uses a look-up table that allows the correction of single errors in the received EPC. Numerical results, using additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) and flat Rayleigh fading channel models, show that a better performance is obtained, in the sense of either reducing the error rate or increasing the distance between tag and reader.