A Multi-Channel MAC Protocol for RFID Reader Networks

With RFID technology being very widespread applications, its application becomes more and more network-centric. The design of RFID network hence plays a critical role for RFID applications. Then problems emerge, especially the reader collision and network throughput. Network throughput is an essential factor to the network efficiency and ability. On the other hand, reader collisions prevent the colliding readers from communicating with all of the tags in their respective reading zones. Therefore, the RFID network throughput must be enhanced and reader collision must be avoided to ensure proper and timely communication with all tags. This paper presents a novel multi-channel protocol for enhancing the network throughput and decreasing reader collision. The simulation results show that our protocol significantly increased RFID network efficiency, and data throughput.