Impact of Ambient Temperature, Tag/Antenna Orientation and Distance on the Performance of Radio Frequency Identification in Construction Industry

Construction industry has been utilizing the RFID technology in various applications such as increasing productivity, enhancing safety, and improving quality, mostly through the analysis of the received signal-strength index (RSSI) readings. However, RSSI readings are directly influenced by environmental factors which can decrease the effectiveness of the RFID technology. This study evaluates the effects of environmental factors on RSSI readings. Evaluated environmental factors include: (1) relative orientation between tags and antennae, (2) temperature of the environment, (3) distance between tags and antennae. A series of tests were conducted in an educational building and RSSI readings collected from the tests were evaluated by statistical analysis to quantify environmental effects on RFID performance. The results show that orientation and distance between tags and antennae had significant effects on RSSI readings. Moreover, very weak effects on RSSI readings were observed under varying indoor temperatures.

[1]  James Sommerville,et al.  RFID based 3D buried assets location system , 2008, J. Inf. Technol. Constr..

[2]  Gaetano Borriello,et al.  Location Systems for Ubiquitous Computing , 2001, Computer.

[3]  Paramvir Bahl,et al.  RADAR: an in-building RF-based user location and tracking system , 2000, Proceedings IEEE INFOCOM 2000. Conference on Computer Communications. Nineteenth Annual Joint Conference of the IEEE Computer and Communications Societies (Cat. No.00CH37064).

[4]  D. Linden.  Handbook Of Batteries , 2001 .

[5]  David H. Nguyen,et al.  Proactive displays & the experience UbiComp project , 2002, SIGG.

[6]  Anu Pradhan,et al.  Technological Assessment of Radio Frequency Identification Technology for Indoor Localization , 2009 .

[7]  James Sommerville,et al.  Model for the 3D Location of Buried Assets Based on RFID Technology , 2009 .

[8]  Christine Julien,et al.  Comparative evaluation of Received Signal-Strength Index (RSSI) based indoor localization techniques for construction jobsites , 2011, Adv. Eng. Informatics.

[9]  Paul M. Goodrum,et al.  The application of active radio frequency identification technology for tool tracking on construction job sites , 2006 .

[10]  Rainer Mautz,et al.  Overview of current indoor positioning systems , 2009 .

[11]  Kostas E. Bekris,et al.  On the feasibility of using wireless ethernet for indoor localization , 2004, IEEE Transactions on Robotics and Automation.

[12]  Burcu Akinci,et al.  Tracking Components and Maintenance History within a Facility Utilizing Radio Frequency Identification Technology , 2007 .

[13]  A. J. Motley,et al.  Radio coverage in buildings , 1990 .

[14]  Chi-ming Lai,et al.  Combination of radio frequency identification (RFID) and field verification tests of interior decorating materials , 2008 .

[15]  Ioannis Brilakis,et al.  On-Site 3D Vision Tracking of Construction Personnel , 2008 .

[16]  Chimay J. Anumba,et al.  RFID-facilitated construction materials management (RFID-CMM) - A case study of water-supply project , 2011, Adv. Eng. Informatics.

[17]  J. Landt,et al.  The history of RFID , 2005, IEEE Potentials.

[18]  Yu-Cheng Lin,et al.  Dynamic mobile RFID-based supply chain control and management system in construction , 2007, Adv. Eng. Informatics.

[19]  E. Lehmann.  Testing Statistical Hypotheses , 1960 .

[20]  Chien-Ho Ko.  RFID-based building maintenance system , 2009 .

[21]  Diana Twede,et al.  Radio frequency identification (RFID) performance: the effect of tag orientation and package contents , 2006 .

[22]  Chun-Jung Lin,et al.  Application of intelligent agent and RFID technology fo indoor position: Safety of kindergarten as example , 2010, 2010 International Conference on Machine Learning and Cybernetics.

[23]  Jorge Vanegas.  Computing in Civil Engineering , 1996 .