Signal-to-noise ratio measurements and statistical characterization in Gen2 RFID

In this paper, we present measurements of the optimum signal-to-noise ratio distribution recorded by RFID reader based on software radio. The measurements are conducted in an indoor environment while maintaining an RFID setup that does not deteriorate the tag responsiveness. The analysis shows that, although non-linear in nature, the RFID system signal-to-noise can be characterized through the scale parameter of lognormal distribution, independent of the transmitting power and propagation environment. This approach can be exploited, for example, to analyze the capture effect in real environments, as well as an input to a localization technique.