Super-Distributed RFID Tag Infrastructures 

Juergen Bohn and Friedemann Mattern Institute for Pervasive Computing, ETH 
Zurich {bohn|mattern}@inf.ethz.ch 


Abstract 

With the emerging mass production of very small, cheap Radio Frequency 
Identification (RFID) tags, it is becoming feasible to deploy such tags on a 
large scale. In this paper, we advocate distribution schemes where passive 
RFID tags are deployed in vast quantities and in a highly redundant fashion 
over large areas or object surfaces. We show that such an approach opens up a 
whole spectrum of possibilities for creating novel RFID-based services and 
applications, including a new means of cooperation between mobile physical 
entities. We also discuss a number of challenges related to this approach, 
such as the density and structure of tag distributions, and tag typing and 
clustering. Finally, we outline two prototypical applications (a smart 
autonomous vacuum cleaner and a collaborative map-making system) and indicate 
future directions of research.