Towards the Optimal Design of an RFID-Based Positioning System for the Ubiquitous Computing Environment

Positioning technology is a core component of the ubiquitous computing environment. Radio Frequency IDentificaiton (RFID) is recognized as a powerful means of replacing not only barcodes for product identification but also conventional positioning systems in unfavorable situations such as indoor and obstacle-laden sites. The objective of this study was to determine the design parameters of an RFID-based positioning system and to conduct a series of simulations in order to evaluate the impact of individual parameters on positional accuracy according to RMSE. The conclusions drawn from the experimentation are that (1) geometric distribution (triangular or square) of RFID tags is not a determining factor; (2) multiple-level ranging of reference tags can significantly improve positional accuracy; (3) the detection rate is the most significant factor in positional accuracy; (4) a smaller-percent standard deviation accompanies a larger fluctuation of positional accuracy; and (5) the detection range over the neighboring nodes is sufficient to achieve a reasonable accuracy.