RFID localization for interactive systems

Abstract

Position-tracking is a useful primitive in a wide variety of domains, but positioning at the intersection of robust, accurate, and cheap has remained elusive. Radio-based techniques offer the potential to determine position reliably without relying on line-of-sight visibility or integration methods. Recent work has demonstrated the feasibility of passive UHF RFID tags as cheap tracking targets but has yet to prove its worth for interactive applications. In this thesis, I explore the possibility of RFID localization for interactive systems that require high throughput and low latency. I contribute an SDR-based localization system and its characterization, a library that abstracts away protocol-level details, and two interactive applications that demonstrate the system's capabilities.