Analyzing RFID Anti-Collision Protocols: Performance Insights From Recent Research

2025-04-05
NetworkingRFIDResearch
RFID Anti-Collision Protocols

Apr 5, 2025 ・🕒 4 min read

Analyzing RFID Anti-Collision Protocols

Authors: Ayoub HAMMAD, Mohamed SABER
Affiliation: Ibn Zohr University
Emails: ayoub.hammad.69@edu.uiz.ac.ma, mohamed.saber@edu.uiz.ac.ma

Index Terms

  • RFID: Radio-frequency Identification
  • IoT: Internet of Things
  • MCMAC: Multi-Channel Medium Access Control
  • PULSE Protocol
  • OMNeT++

Acknowledgement

This work was done as part of a college assignment. Special thanks to Mr. Hassan Ouahi for the opportunity and guidance which helped shape our understanding of RFID technology.

Introduction

This is a review of the paper “Modeling and Performance Simulation of PULSE and MCMAC Protocols in RFID-based IoT Network Using OMNeT++”. It compares two distributed anti-collision protocols: PULSE and MCMAC. The aim is to analyze their performance in managing reader-reader interference using simulation via the OMNeT++ framework.

The PULSE Protocol

PULSE is based on CSMA and reduces interference by sending control frames on a different frequency. Readers that receive these frames back off for a certain time, reducing collisions.

The MCMAC Protocol

MCMAC uses FDMA, LBT, and CSMA to allow parallel transmissions on distinct channels. It involves subscribing to a control channel and performing a backoff routine if the channel is free.

Results

Scenario 1: Increasing Readers (Fixed Tags)

  • MCMAC shows better throughput and faster tag reading.
  • PULSE performs better only with 9+ readers.
  • PULSE improves spectrum utilization but has higher delays.

Scenario 2: Increasing Tags (Fixed Readers)

  • Both protocols scale linearly with more tags.
  • MCMAC consistently reads tags faster.
  • Proves MCMAC’s strength in high-density environments.

Conclusion

MCMAC is more efficient for reducing delays, while PULSE offers better long-term spectrum efficiency. This work provides benchmarks for future RFID-IoT research using OMNeT++.

References

  • O. G. Olaleye et al., “Modeling and performance simulation of PULSE and MCMAC protocols in RFID-based IoT network using OMNeT++,” IEEE RFID 2018.
  • EPCglobal Gen2 standards and other related work.