Long Range Ranging and Positioning

Summary

This project explores the use of Tunneling RFID tags as ultra-precise, centimeter-scale ranging and positioning sensors for long, non-line-of-sight distances. Tunneling RFID tags and the positioning technique developed through this project allowed to achieve ranging estimates average errors of only 2.1% and 1.6% in LoS and NLoS environments, respectively while reaching tens of meter ranges with only 10.5 dBm of EIRP.

A highly accurate wireless positioning system could revolutionize smartphone applications, augmented reality experiences, and autonomous vehicle navigation, as well as adding an entirely new dimension of functionality to emerging internet-of-things (IoT) devices.

Published Work

More publications coming soon

C. Qi, F. Amato, B. Kihei and G. D. Durgin, "Fine-Scale Phase-Based Ranging Through Walls and Obstructions Using Tunneling RFID Tags," in IEEE Journal of Radio Frequency Identification, vol. 5, no. 4, pp. 397-406, Dec. 2021, DOI: 10.1109/JRFID.2021.3096221

C. Qi, F. Amato, M. Alhassoun and G. D. Durgin, "A Phase-Based Ranging Method for Long-Range RFID Positioning With Quantum Tunneling Tags," in IEEE Journal of Radio Frequency Identification, vol. 5, no. 2, pp. 163-173, June 2021, DOI: 10.1109/JRFID.2020.3041419

C. Qi, F. Amato and G. D. Durgin, "A Real-time RFID Positioning System Using Tunneling Tags," 2021 IEEE International Conference on RFID (RFID), 2021, pp. 1-6, DOI: 10.1109/RFID52461.2021.9444327.

C. Qi, F. Amato, Y. Guo, Y. Zhang and G. D. Durgin, "A Backscatter Channel Sounder Using Tunneling RFID Tags," 2021 IEEE International Conference on RFID (RFID), 2021, pp. 1-7, DOI: 10.1109/RFID52461.2021.9444368.

C. Qi, F. Amato, B. Kihei, G. D. Durgin “Fine-scale Through-Wall Positioning Using Tunneling RFID Tags,” 2020 IEEE International Conference on RFID (RFID), Orlando, FL, USA, 2020, pp. 1-7, DOI: 10.1109/RFID49298.2020.9244871.

C. Qi, F. Amato, M. Alhassoun and G. D. Durgin, “Breaking the Range Limit of RFID Localization: Phase-based Positioning with Tunneling Tags,” 2019 IEEE International Conference on RFID (RFID), Phoenix, AZ, USA, 2019, pp. 1-8, DOI: 10.1109/RFID.2019.8719276.