Applications of fast-moving RFID tags in high-speed railway systems

Abstract

RFID technology has been widely utilized for the tracking and identification of numerous stationary and moving objects. One of the most challenging RFID applications has to do with the improvement in reliability, scheduling and efficiency of large-scale transportation infrastructure. As an example, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology in Ultra High Friency (UHF) frequencies (840-845MHz and 920-925MHz) is one of several technologies currently being utilized in China to monitor and regulate the railway system. Despite the very successful performance of ATIS RFID-based system for conventional trains with speeds up to 150kph, numerous challenges have to be resolved for the extension of this technology to modern high-speed and ultra high-speed railway systems with speeds up to 500kph. This paper identifies these issues, such as collision and insufficient reading time, and proposes various ways to alleviate their effect in UHF-RFID enabled railway systems.