ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to study several aspects of a software-based Radio frequency identification device (RFID) reader, including experimentation, implementation, and theoretical work. When one hears the litany of reliability and readability woes that plague RFID in the supply chain arena, it is possible to wonder if anyone is making any progress. The problems with RFID range from nonfunctioning tags to environmental conditions, such as temperature, humidity, and radio frequency interference, often from other readers. The software-defined RFID reader was developed to solve the interoperability problem. The chapter presents an overview of two novel applications that can be used to demonstrate the advantages of integrating the software radio into an RFID reader. It demonstrates that a flexible approach to implementation of a software data logging reader using dynamic communication schemes. The chapter is concerned with the design and development of the hardware for a software-based data logging reader. It discusses various considerations that led to its particular design.
