Precise-Optimal Frame Length Based Collision Reduction Schemes for Frame Slotted Aloha RFID Systems

An RFID systems employ efficient Anti-Collision Algorithms (ACAs) to enhance the performance in various applications. The EPC-Global G2 RFID system utilizes Frame Slotted Aloha (FSA) as its ACA. One of the common approaches used to maximize the system performance (tag identification efficiency) of FSA-based RFID systems involves finding the optimal value of the frame length relative to the contending population size of the RFID tags. Several analytical models for finding the optimal frame length have been developed; however, they are not perfectly optimized because they lack precise characterization for the timing details of the underlying ACA. In this paper, we investigate this promising direction by precisely characterizing the timing details of the EPC-Global G2 protocol and use it to derive a precise-optimal frame length model. The main objective of the model is to determine the optimal frame length value for the estimated number of tags that maximizes the performance of an RFID system. However, because precise estimation of the contending tags is difficult, we utilize a parametric-heuristic approach to maximize the system performance and propose two simple schemes based on the obtained optimal frame length-namely, Improved Dynamic-Frame Slotted Aloha (ID-FSA) and Exponential Random Partitioning-Frame Slotted Aloha (ERP-FSA). The ID-FSA scheme is based on the tag set estimation and frame size update mechanisms, whereas the ERP-FSA scheme adjusts the contending tag population in such a way that the applied frame size becomes optimal. The results of simulations conducted indicate that the ID-FSA scheme performs better than several well-known schemes in various conditions, while the ERP-FSA scheme performs well when the frame size is small.