A Simulation Study Comparing the Performance of Two RFID Protocols

This paper presents a comparison of version 1.0 Protocol Specification for 900MHz Class 0 RFID Tag with that of Class-1 Generation 2 UHF RFID Protocol for Communications at 860 MHz – 960 MHz for large number of tags. Although the Generation 2 protocol has been released for Class 1, it is intended to be used by all classes of RFID tags. Using detailed simulation we compare their performance and security features. If security is a lower priority over speed in cases where one can be sure that the risk of presence of an eavesdropper is low, Class 0 draft protocol should be used as it provides a definite advantage over Generation 2 protocol. In application areas where the risk of consumer identity/privacy theft is high (consumer goods area), Generation 2 provides the security that eliminates the vulnerability of the RFID EPC structure.