Performance Evaluation of a UWB-RFID System for Potential Space Applications

Abstract

This talk presents a brief overview of the ultra-wideband (UWB) RFID system with emphasis on the performance evaluation of a commercially available UWB-RFID system. There are many RFID systems available today, but many provide just basic identification for auditing and inventory tracking. For applications that require high precision real time tracking, UWB technology has been shown to be a viable solution. The use of extremely short bursts of RF pulses offers high immunity to interference from other RF systems, precise tracking due to sub-nanosecond time resolution, and robust performance in multipath environments.

The UWB-RFID system Sapphire DART (Digital Active RFID & Tracking) will be introduced in this talk. Laboratory testing using Sapphire DART is performed to evaluate its capability such as coverage area, accuracy, ease of operation, and robustness. Performance evaluation of this system in an operational environment (a receiving warehouse) for inventory tracking is also conducted. Concepts of using the UWB-RFID technology to track astronauts and assets are being proposed for space exploration.

https://ntrs.nasa.gov/search.jsp?R=20060021505 2020-07-24T00:17:34+00:00Z

1

Perfo

rman

ce E

valu

atio

n of

a UW

B-RF

ID

Syst

em fo

r Pot

entia

l Spa

ce A

pplic

atio

ns

Chau

Pha

nD

icke

y A

rndt

, Pho

ng N

go, J

ulia

Gro

ss, J

ohn

Dus

l, Ji

anju

n (D

avid

)Ni

UW

B S

yste

ms G

roup

/ E

V4

Avi

onic

Sys

tem

s Div

isio

n /E

VN

ASA

Joh

nson

Spa

ce C

ente

r

2

Outli

ne

RFID

Tec

hnolo

gy O

vervi

ewUW

B-RF

ID T

echn

ology

Sapp

hire D

ART

Over

view

Labo

rator

y Tes

ting o

f Sap

phire

DAR

T W

areh

ouse

Tes

ting o

f Sap

phire

DAR

TPo

tentia

l Spa

ce A

pplic

ation

s

3

RFID

Tec

hnol

ogy O

verv

iew

Radio

Fre

quen

cy Id

entifi

catio

n: a t

echn

ology

of id

entify

ing pe

ople

or

objec

ts re

motel

y usin

g rad

io fre

quen

cy si

gnals

. Ca

pabil

ities:

vary

grea

tly fr

om si

mple

pres

ence

detec

tion t

o high

pr

ecisi

on lo

catio

n tra

cking

Basic

Com

pone

nts:

–Ta

gs (c

hip an

d ante

nna)

–Re

ader

s/rec

eiver

s–

Netw

ork (

datab

ase a

nd so

ftwar

e)

Read

er

Softw

are

Analy

tical

Tool

Netw

ork

4

RFID

Tag

s

Pass

ive T

ags

–No

on-b

oard

powe

r sou

rce–

Read

er in

itiates

comm

unica

tion v

ia RF

sign

al tha

t is st

rong

enou

gh to

ener

gize t

he ta

g –

Tag s

ends

its un

ique i

nform

ation

back

to th

e rea

der

–Si

mple,

small

, long

life,

and i

nexp

ensiv

e –

Low

trans

fer da

ta ra

tes

–Sh

ort r

eadin

g dist

ance

of ty

picall

y a fe

w fee

tAc

tive T

ags

–Ba

ttery

powe

red;

oper

ation

al life

depe

nds o

n ope

ratin

g tem

pera

ture a

nd up

date

rate

–Ca

n sen

d its

uniqu

e ide

ntifie

r alon

g with

othe

r sen

sor d

ata su

chas

temp

eratu

re to

the

read

er

–Hi

gher

tran

sfer d

ata ra

tes

–Re

ading

dista

nce c

an be

100 f

t or m

ore

5

RFID

Fre

quen

cies

Lowe

r Fre

quen

cies (

125 –

134 K

Hz or

13.56

MHz

)–

Gene

rally

pass

ive ta

gs

–Go

od pe

rform

ance

in th

e pre

senc

e of m

etals

and l

iquids

–Ba

sic de

tectio

n of ta

g only

, no l

ocati

onHi

gher

Fre

quen

cies (

315 -

930 M

Hz, 2

.45 G

Hz, a

nd 5.

8 GHz

)–

Activ

e or p

assiv

e tag

s–

More

susc

eptib

le to

multip

ath di

stortio

n (sc

atter

ing, r

eflec

tion,

diffra

ction

)–

Trac

k loc

ation

of ta

g but

accu

racy

is lim

ited t

o app

roxim

ately

5ft

Ultra

-Wide

Ban

d (3.1

-10.6

GHz

)–

Activ

e tag

s–

Robu

st pe

rform

ance

in m

ultipa

th en

viron

ments

–Tr

ack l

ocati

on of

tag w

ith hi

gh ac

cura

cy fr

om w

ithin

an in

ch to

1 ft

6

UWB

Feat

ures

Immu

nity t

o inte

rfere

nce f

rom

narro

w ba

nd R

F sy

stems

due t

o ultra

-wide

band

width

Low

impa

ct on

othe

r RF

syste

ms du

e to e

xtrem

ely lo

w po

wer s

pectr

al de

nsitie

sCa

pabl

e of p

recis

e tra

ckin

g du

e to

sub-

nano

seco

nd ti

me r

esol

utio

nRo

bust

per

form

ance

in m

ultip

ath

envir

onm

ents

UWB

Fine T

ime R

esolu

tion

Reso

lving

betw

een d

irect

vs. m

ultipa

th co

mpon

ents

is po

ssibl

e with

extre

mely

narro

w UW

B pu

lses

7

UWB-

RFID

Tec

hnol

ogy

UWB-

RFID

is de

signe

d to t

rack

peop

le an

d high

-value

asse

ts wh

ere

high a

ccur

acy i

s req

uired

Syste

m wo

rks by

crea

ting “

cells

”thr

ough

out fa

cilitie

s or f

actor

ies. E

ach

cell r

equir

es a

minim

um of

4 re

ceive

rs tha

t are

netw

orke

d tog

ether

. Inf

orma

tion f

rom

all ce

lls ar

e inte

grate

d to f

orm

a data

base

Sync

hron

izatio

n amo

ng cu

rrent

comm

ercia

l rece

ivers

withi

n a ce

llis 1

ns

ec(lim

its tr

ackin

g acc

urac

y to 1

ft)Tr

ackin

g tec

hniqu

e is b

ased

on T

DOA

(time d

iffere

nce o

f arri

val)o

r TD

OA co

mbine

d with

AOA

(ang

le of

arriv

al)

8

Sapp

hire

DAR

T(D

igita

l Act

ive R

FID

& Tr

ackin

g) O

verv

iew

Vend

or S

pecif

icatio

ns:

Freq

uenc

y: 5.9

4 to 7

.12 G

HzAc

cura

cy: w

ithin

+/-1

foot

Tag b

atter

y life

: in ex

cess

of 4

year

s (1 H

z rate

) Ta

g rea

d ran

ge: u

p to 1

60 ft

indoo

rsHu

b is c

onfig

urab

le to

acco

mmod

ate va

rious

confi

gura

tions

/cove

rage

s

9

Sapp

hire D

ART

Evalu

ation

Kit P

AL65

1-EK

Evalu

ation

kit:

–On

e pro

cess

ing hu

b–

Four

rece

ivers,

each

with

its ow

n ante

nna

–El

even

tags

, one

for u

se as

a re

feren

ce ta

g–

Four

150 f

t CAT

5E ca

bles

–Ma

nage

ment

softw

are a

nd do

cume

ntatio

n

Trac

king t

echn

ique:

–Sh

ort b

urst

of pu

lses t

rans

mitte

d by t

he ac

tive t

ags a

re re

ceive

d by

rece

ivers

locate

d at th

e per

ipher

y of th

e des

ired c

over

age a

rea

–On

e tag

is de

signa

ted as

a re

feren

ce ta

g and

is us

ed fo

r auto

matic

sy

stem

calib

ratio

n and

sync

hron

izatio

n–

Loca

tion o

f ass

et tag

s is b

ased

on th

e tim

e diffe

renc

es of

the s

ignal

arriv

ing at

mult

iple r

eceiv

ers (

TDOA

tech

nique

)–

Accu

rate

and r

eliab

le 2D

TDO

A tra

cking

requ

ires a

t leas

t 4 re

ceive

rs (3

D wi

ll req

uire a

t leas

t 5 re

ceive

rs)

10

Labo

rator

y Tes

ting o

f Sap

phire

DAR

T PA

L651

-EK

Rx

1

Proc

essi

ng H

ub Ref

eren

ce

Tag

Asse

t Ta

g #

1

Asse

t Ta

g #

2

Rx

2Rx

3

Rx

4

y

x

Cros

s-ov

er

Ethe

rnet

Ca

ble

11

Labo

rator

y Tes

ting R

esult

sPe

rform

ance

in la

bora

tory e

nviro

nmen

t–

Cove

rage

: mini

mum

tested

area

is 12

’ x 12

’ (ven

dor s

pecif

ies 20

’x 20

’) –

Accu

racy

: with

in sp

ecific

ation

(+/-

1 foo

t) –

Robu

stnes

s: tra

cking

perfo

rman

ce is

with

in sp

ecific

ation

in a

multip

ath

envir

onme

nt (n

ear m

etallic

objec

ts or

insid

e ESD

bags

)

12

War

ehou

se T

estin

g of S

apph

ire D

ART

PAL6

51-E

K

A se

ction

of ap

prox

imate

ly 25

ft x 1

50 ft

in the

back

of bu

ilding

421 r

eceiv

ing w

areh

ouse

is

being

used

to ev

aluate

the p

erfor

manc

e of R

FID

track

ing (2

aisle

s of s

torag

e goo

ds an

d eq

uipme

nt sta

cked

on m

etal s

helve

s) Ini

tial re

sults

show

perfo

rman

ce is

with

in sp

ecific

ation

whe

n tes

t are

a is s

quar

e (x a

nd y

dimen

sions

are a

ppro

ximate

ly eq

ual) b

ut er

rors

are l

arge

if on

e dim

ensio

n is l

onge

r

y x

13

Conc

lusion

s

The t

ests

cond

ucted

to da

te ha

ve pr

ovide

d use

ful in

forma

tion o

n the

ca

pabil

ity of

comm

ercia

l UW

B-RF

ID pr

oduc

ts Ex

cept

in lim

ited t

est c

onfig

urati

ons,

the S

apph

ire D

ART

syste

m do

es

not a

ppea

r to h

ave t

he ac

cura

cy w

ithin

1 ft a

s clai

med b

y the

vend

or’s

spec

ificati

ons

Sync

hron

izatio

n amo

ng m

ultipl

e rec

eiver

s nee

ds to

be le

ss th

an 1

nsec

to ac

hieve

the t

rack

ing re

solut

ion be

tter t

han 1

ftOn

e tec

hniqu

e to o

verco

me th

is sy

nchr

oniza

tion p

roble

m is

to us

e1

rece

iver w

ith a

cluste

r of a

ntenn

as de

velop

ed at

JSC.

Tra

cking

ac

cura

cy ca

n be i

mpro

ved t

o sub

-inch

leve

l usin

g JSC

deriv

ed

techn

ique

14

Futur

e Wor

k

Sapp

hire D

ART

Syste

m –

Inves

tigate

effec

ts of

uneq

ual d

imen

sions

on tr

ackin

g per

forma

nce

–Ex

tend t

he tr

ackin

g dim

ensio

n fro

m 2D

to 3D

with

addit

ional

rece

ivers

–Ex

tend t

he co

vera

ge ar

ea w

ith ad

dition

al re

ceive

rs–

Extra

ct ra

w da

ta to

impr

ove a

ccur

acy a

nd op

timize

perfo

rman

ce–

Addin

g use

r-defi

ned g

raph

ics to

map

the o

pera

tiona

l env

ironm

ent

–Int

egra

te UW

B-RF

ID ta

gs w

ith ad

dition

al se

nsor

s suc

h as t

empe

ratur

e or p

ress

ure

JSC/

UWB-

RFID

using

TDO

A Tr

ackin

g Sys

tem–

Perfo

rm ad

dition

al sim

ulatio

n and

testi

ng to

deter

mine

the c

apab

ility o

f JSC

trac

king

techn

ique f

or R

FID

appli

catio

ns

15

Poten

tial S

pace

App

licati

ons

Comp

lemen

t the I

nven

tory M

anag

emen

t Sys

tem (b

arco

de da

ta ma

nuall

y sca

nned

whic

h is t

ime c

onsu

ming

and l

abor

inten

sive)

onthe

Int

erna

tiona

l Spa

ce S

tation

to im

prov

e ass

et tra

cking

–Ca

pable

of au

tomate

d pre

cise l

ocat

ion

track

ing (u

nlike

othe

r inve

ntory

syste

ms)

–Tr

ack i

tems t

hat a

re be

ing m

oved

betw

een b

ags,

rack

s, or

shelv

es

16

Poten

tial S

pace

App

licati

ons

Loca

tion s

ensin

g for

Rob

onau

tapp

licati

ons

–La

b exp

erim

ent h

as sh

own a

ccur

acy t

o with

in an

inch

can b

e ach

ieved

using

the

JSC/

TDOA

shor

t ran

ge te

chniq

ue

R0

R3

R2

R1

17

Poten

tial S

pace

App

licati

ons

Astro

naut

Trac

king f

or Lu

nar S

urfac

e Exp

lorati

on U

sing U

WB-

RFID

Te

chno

logy

Rov

er T

rack

ing

Bas

e S

tatio

n (U

WB

Rad

io)

Rov

er T

rack

ing

Are

a (U

WB

Rad

io)

Ast

rona

ut T

rack

ing

Are

a (U

WB

RFI

D)

Rov

er #

1

Ast

rona

uts

Rov

er #

2

Ast

rona

uts

Ast

rona

ut T

rack

ing

Are

a (U

WB

RFI

D)