Identification Efficiency in RFIDtex Enabled Washing Machine

The use of textronic RFID transponders (RFIDtex tags) offers completely new possibilities in designing household appliances. Their implementations in technologies of washing or ironing textiles are very promising. Specific information on maintaining clothes can be stored in the memory of RFIDtex tags that are permanently bound to the products. This information can be read by washing or ironing devices and then can be used to automatically select the best program or mode of machine operation. Since RFID technology is becoming more and more common, the solution seems simple and ordinary. Nevertheless, there are some barriers that prevent the popularization of such applications. Reliability and efficiency of identification are major concerns, especially near surrounding objects, such as other tags, material composition of textiles, and above all, metal drums of washing machines. The main purpose of the presented work is to propose the communication model in the anti-collision dynamic RFID system, dedicated to use in future intelligent industrial and home washing machines. To develop the elaborated idea, the washing machine demonstrator equipped with read/write RFID devices was designed. Moreover, the RFIDtex transponders according to the authors’ conception (restricted under Polish patent, No. PAT.231291) are used in experimental stages. As part of the work, appropriate reading and scanning algorithms were developed to manage multiple data readings from tags inside the drum. Also, measurements were carried out to confirm the identification efficiency in such an Internet of Textile Things (IoTT) system basing on the RFIDtex tags that are placed inside the demonstration washing machine.