Andrea Dalla Chiara

Anti-spoofing and open GNSS signal authentication with signal authentication sequences

Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) signal authentication is a requirement for a number of applications. GNSS authentication has been proposed with aiding techniques that can be applied to the existing GPS and as a new security function for future GNSS. The paper proposes a concept of a new authentication scheme based on signal authentication sequences that can be integrated in GNSS. The method works on systems that provide an open and encrypted service on the same frequency. The scheme would require minimum impact to the system. The architecture is explained in the different components of ground, space and user segment. A simulation of the architecture has been implemented in Matlab and performances and test results are shown. The paper concludes with suggestions of optimal parameters for an hypothetical implementation, explaining the future research steps.

Experimental analysis of UHF RFID impairments and performance

Radio frequency identification (RFID) is a modern wireless communication technology used for identification purposes. By now, experimental results showing the actual performances reachable by a UHF RFID system, are still missing, together with the problems that can be encountered in practice and the corresponding solutions. In this paper, the performance of an UHF RFID system in real-world conditions are experimentally assessed to experimentally investigate the reliability of UHF RFID systems typical environmental conditions; and to deduce helpful and practical hints in order to efficiently assess and enhance performances of an UHF RFID system.

Performance evaluation and optimization of UHF RFID systems

An experimental study of a modern ultra high frequency (UHF) radio frequency identification (RFID) system is here proposed. Some relationships between the electromagnetic field levels received by the deployed devices and the system overall performance are in particular analyzed. The main purpose is to experimentally analyze the behavior and performance of a real world UHF RFID system underlying the importance of preliminary measurements in the setup and optimization of these systems. Practical rules to improve the system reliability are finally deduced. To this aim, a detailed description of tags operation in near and far field regions of the reader is given, along with meaningful results from experiments conducted on purpose. Experiments have been carried out by using an ad-hoc realized testbed, equipped with a real-life UHF RFID system.

Enhanced use of RSSI-based wireless network nodes for power measurement purposes

Received signal strength indication (RSSI) is a measurement function nowadays widely available in many wireless communication devices. The use of RSSI for radio frequency power measurements is here discussed. In particular, a procedure is proposed for improving the use of RSSI for power measurement tasks. The aim is to show how this function, suitably designed for communication protocol tasks, can even be deployed for power measurement purposes. To this aim, a suitable testbed is arranged and a measurement campaign conducted by using IEEE 802.15.4 compliant wireless network nodes. Experimental results are finally presented proving the effectiveness of the proposed procedure.

Experimental comparison of spectrum analyzer architectures in the diagnosis of RF interference phenomena

Interference and coexistence issues among devices deploying wireless communications are becoming more and more intrusive. The analysis of such phenomena can be carried out employing high frequency Spectrum Analyzers (SA). In this paper, performances of the main architectures of SA are experimentally analyzed and compared, in order to obtain helpful hints to choice the most suitable instrument for diagnosis purposes.