Search for a needle in a haystack: An RFID-based approach for efficiently locating objects

In real life, looking for a misplaced object like a key in the room can be usually like searching for a needle in a haystack. In this paper, we propose a novel solution to accurately locate the specified objects attached with RFID tags in indoor environments, by efficiently leveraging the RFID technology. By making a number of novel observations regarding the tag reading performance, we obtain several regularities to depict how various parameters including the reader's power and the antenna's scanning angle affect the reading performance. Based on the regularities, we have designed very efficient algorithms to maximize the accuracy and the time-efficiency for localization. Without the help of any anchor nodes, our solution can rapidly navigate to the target object from a specific initial position. We have implemented a system prototype to evaluate the actual performance in realistic applications. The realistic experiment results show that our solution can restrict the average localization error within 49 cm and reduce the total navigation time by 33% compared to the baseline solutions.