PATL: A RFID Tag Localization based on Phased Array Antenna

In RFID systems, how to detect the position precisely is an important and challenging research topic. In this paper, we propose a range-free 2D tag localization method based on phased array antenna, called PATL. This method takes advantage of the adjustable radiation angle of the phased array antenna to scan the surveillance region in turns. By using the statistics of the tags’ number in different antenna beam directions, a weighting algorithm is used to calculate the position of the tag. This method can be applied to real-time location of multiple targets without usage of any reference tags or additional readers. Additionally, we present an optimized weighting method based on RSSI to increase the locating accuracy. We use a Commercial Off-the-Shelf (COTS) UHF RFID reader which is integrated with a phased array antenna to evaluate our method. The experiment results from an indoor office environment demonstrate the average distance error of PATL is about 21 cm and the optimized approach achieves an accuracy of 13 cm. This novel 2D localization scheme is a simple, yet promising, solution that is especially applicable to the smart shelf visualized management in storage or retail area.