Proposal for a Low-Cost Reader for Chipless RFID Tags Using PLUTOSDR

Chipless RFID systems are an emerging technology, and there is little published literature on the use of software-defined radio (SDR) to make an RFID reader, specifically for tags chipless. In this article, we propose the Adalm-Pluto platform for the implementation of the functions of a chipless RFID system reader. The main contribution of this work is to prove that replacing the dedicated hardware used by expensive classic readers is possible. Thus, we developed a program for Adalm-Pluto, a low-cost generic platform, using the GNU Radio software development toolkit and coupled it to a laptop to design a kit capable of replacing an RFID reader without a chip. Specifically, the program creates and modulates "the interrogation signal" to be transmitted through the TX antenna and receives the "response signal" from the chipless tag on the receiving antenna of the Adalm-Pluto. The main advantage of the proposal is the system control through software, where an SDR module can interrogate the chipless RFID tag and identify its encoding, operating in a wide frequency range, without the need to use other hardware. A more advantage is that the proposed kit has the potential for use in engineering education.