Real time locating with RFID: Comparison of different approaches

This paper focuses on radio frequency identification (RFID) based 3D real-time locating systems aiming to compare different approaches utilizing passive or active transponders with or without reference nodes. An active approach given by Chong Wang et al. is compared against an passive approach given by Chong Wang et al. and the STAR system from the company Mojix. The details of the three compared systems are analyzed as there are: operating frequency, locating method, target, accuracy, reliability, covering area, reference nodes, response time, items to be located at once, cost of the tags and the effort to install the system. The different systems all have their advantages e.g. accuracy ranging from approx. 1 m to 7 cm going along with different efforts to install the system. It has to be carefully chosen which system is suitable for a specific application, which this paper aims to help with and presents several selection criteria.