The Potential for Location-Based Services with Wi-Fi RFID Tags in Citywide Wireless Networks

Active radio frequency identification (RFID) tags that comply with IEEE 802.11 standards are currently used within indoor real-time location systems (RTLS) in several niche markets. With the rapid deployment of citywide wireless networks, outdoor location-based services (LBS) have become an important research area. Such services are believed to have a considerable business potential in citywide wireless networks. Wi- Fi RFID tags can be used to take advantage of such a potential. However, very limited testing has been carried out in order to examine the performance of the Wi-Fi RFID technology in outdoor environments. In this paper, the authors present results from the testing of Wi-Fi RFID tags within the citywide wireless network deployment Wireless Trondheim (Tradlose Trondheim). The location-based solution used in the deployment has explicitly no support for determining location in outdoor environments. Still, it is important to survey the current performance of the Wi-Fi RFID technology in order to identify the potential for commercial services. The results presented in this paper indicate several limitations with this technology in citywide wireless networks. These limitations constrain the current possibilities for commercial services based on Wi-Fi RFID tags in Wireless Trondheim.