RFID-enabled Target Tracking and Following with a Mobile Robot Using Direction Finding Antennas

RFID-enabled Target Tracking and Following with a Mobile Robot Using Direction Finding Antennas

Kim et al

Uses RFID tracking to guide a mobile robot to a target. Using an RFID transmitter on the target and 2 perpendicularly mounted RFID antennas, the tangent to angle of the target can be computed as the ratio of the voltages induced in the antennas. This can be used to control the direction of the robot, orienting it on the target, and allowing it to follow the target. Rather than simply monitoring the voltage ratios, the robot turns the antenna array to maintain a constant ratio of 1 between the two antenna (orienting the array so it points at the target) then turn the robot so that it is aligned with the antenna.

Discussion
Only tracks in essentially 1D, though this could be increased to 2D with an additional antenna. Could be used for hand tracking in 2D, but posture determination would still need a glove, or tracking multiple transmitters which would be bulky when placed on the finger.

Reference Kim, M., Chong, N.Y., Ahn, H,-S., and W. Yu. 2007. RFID-enabled Target Tracking and Following with a Mobile Robot Using Direction Finding Antennas. Proceedings of the 3rd Annual IEEE Conference on Automation Science and Engineering Scottsdale, AZ, USA, Sept 22-25, 2007