RFID System On-line Testing Based on the Evaluation of the Tags Read-Error-Rate

Abstract

10International audienceRFID systems are complex heterogeneous systems, consisting of analog and digital hardware components and software components. RFID technologies are often used into critical domains or within harsh environments. But as RFID systems are only based on low cost and low-performance equipments, they do not always ensure robust communications. All these points make the on-line testing of RFID systems a very complex task. This article proposes a new on-line testing approach allowing the detection of tags defects to enhance system reliability and availability. This approach is based on the characterization of a statistical system parameter, the tag Read-Error-Rate, to perform the on-line detection of faulty RFID components. As an introduction to RFID tags on-line testing, a Failure Modes and Effects Analysis first describes the effects of the potential defects on these systems. Second, a SystemC model of the RFID system is proposed as a way to evaluate the proposed test solutions. Then, our solution to enhance system reliability is presented. Finally, validation of our on-line test approach using system-level simulation is discussed

Aggregation of Risk Management and Non-Parametric Models to Rank Failure Modes of Radio Frequency Identification Systems

“…There are limited failure mode analyses within the RFID field, primarily focusing on either the tags [43] or the readers [54]. However, in a specific study [52], the authors delved into examining 12 failure modes associated with the tag, reader, and link layers. It is important to note that in these referenced studies, the use of FMEA was not aimed at ranking the failures but rather at identifying them.…”

“…Under the same scope, different errors between readers and RFID tags were mentioned in [49][50][51]. FMEA was applied to assess the analog part of the RFID system, presuming faultlessness in the digital segment, as indicated in [52]. Additionally, the FMEA methodology was utilized to scrutinize failure modes within the RFID middleware [53] and to investigate user misconfigurations [54].…”

SafeRFID-MW: a RFID Middleware with runtime fault diagnosis

“…• Read Error Rate (RER) of a reader [23]: is the number of erroneous reads during one inventoryprocess 2 • Read Error to Total Reads (RETR) [7]: is the number of erroneous reads over the total read attempts of a given reader (usually within several inventories).…”

“…-The number of software failures that have visible effects on the system (Halstead measures). -The number of hardware failures that have visible effects on the system;it can be computed by performing a Failure mode and effect analysis (FMEA) on the reader such as the one proposed in [29]. -The number of software execution paths;it can be computedby using the source code of the software.…”