Path following with passive UHF RFID received signal strength in unknown environments

Abstract

We present a novel approach incorporating a combination of Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID) and odometry information into the motion control of a mobile robot for the purpose of path following in unknown environments. Our method utilizes RFID measurements as landmarks and makes the mobile robot autonomously follow a path that was previously recorded in a manual training phase. The approach needs no prior information about RFID sensor models, the distribution and positioning of the tags nor does it require a map of the environment. Particularly, it is adaptive to different reader power levels and various tag densities, which have a major impact on RFID performance. Extensive experiments with a SCITOS G5 robot in different environments like a library, a supermarket and hallways confirm the effectiveness of our algorithm.