Enhancing Sensor Network Capabilities Through a Cost-Effective RFID Tag for Sensor Data Transmission

The use of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology for the automatic transmission of physical parameters in wireless sensor networks, could undoubtedly pave the way to a large class of attractive applications, ranging from healthcare, automotive, diagnostic systems, robotics and many others. Nevertheless, although some RFID tags capable to transmit sensor-like information are already on the market, only a restrict number of sensors, such as those for temperature or pressure measurement, can be easily miniaturized and embedded in the RFID chip. The integration of more complex sensors, in fact, appears to be complicated and extremely expensive. In this paper, a cost-effective general-purpose multi-ID tag is proposed. It can be connected to generic sensors, and is capable to transmit a proper combination of ID codes depending on the actual value at its input. Such a tag represents the natural evolution of standard RFID technology: neither the digital design nor the cost of the tag is substantially modified.