Beyond Traditional RFID: Unveiling the Potential of Wi-Fi, 5G,
Bluetooth, and Zigbee for Backscatter Systems
Abstract
Traditional RFID systems rely on dedicated readers, often expensive and
bulky, hindering their widespread deployment. This paper proposes an
alternative RFID system that leverages ubiquitous radio sources –
Wi-Fi, 5G, Bluetooth, and Zigbee – to replace dedicated readers. Our
system employs backscatter communication, where RFID tags modulate
reflected signals from these readily available sources to transmit data.
We investigate the feasibility and performance of this approach through
Matlab simulator. Our results show that 802.11ax at 2.45 GHz exhibits
the best Symbol Error Rate (SER), followed by 802.11n at the same
frequency. However, 5G, Bluetooth, and Zigbee signals demonstrate lower
performance even at high Signal-to-Noise Ratios (SNRs). To address this,
we introduce error correction coding techniques (BCH and RS) that
significantly improve communication reliability. Utilizing these codes,
our system achieves a communication range of up to 1 meter. This finding
highlights the potential of ubiquitous radio sources as a viable
alternative to dedicated RFID readers, opening doors for various
applications.