A low-power hybrid ARQ scheme for the RFID system

Abstract

The RFID (Radio-Frequency Identification) system consists of RFID tags and readers for contactless identification. Since RFID tags rely on limited energy, low-power design is very important for the RFID system. Also, the error rates tend to be high, because the link between the reader and the RF tag is wireless and RFID tags and readers could have mobility. To solve these two problems at the same time, we propose a hybrid ARQ (Automatic Repeat Request) scheme with energy efficiency for the RFID system. In our proposed scheme, the BCH channel coding is used together with the optimal packet length in order to minimize the energy consumption. From the results of performance evaluation, the proposed hybrid ARQ scheme can maximize energy efficiency compared to the ARQ scheme or channel coding alone, while satisfying the link reliability.