Enhancement of RFID Reliability in Cabinet Environments Using Dual-Band Operation

Radio-frequency identification (RFID)-based asset tracking in cabinet environments often encounters unpredictable detection caused by multipath fading, metal-induced interference, and tag placement sensitivity, which can render single-band systems unreliable under real-world conditions. This paper proposes a dual-band detection approach combining 915 MHz and 2.45 GHz to address these challenges through frequency diversity. Unlike designs confined to closely spaced UHF bands, this method uses a larger spectral gap to benefit from uncorrelated fading and distinct propagation properties. Theoretical analysis shows that dual-band detection significantly reduces joint failure probability under independent fading. The proposed framework is implemented using commercially available passive UHF tags at 915 MHz and an active RFID tag/reader at 2.45 GHz. The two systems are operated sequentially along the same guided scan path, and their detected tag-ID sets are combined offline using an OR-fusion rule without hardware-level synchronization. Across trials with varied scan speeds, power levels, reader distances, and tag placements, single-band detection fell below 50% under double-speed scanning at 200 cm, while the dual-band method remained above 70% and, in many cases, reached 100% reliability. Performance trends are further analyzed across individual scenarios, showing that 2.45 GHz links are less affected by metallic shadowing at close range, whereas 915 MHz links maintain more stable detection at longer distances. These findings are discussed in terms of deployment feasibility, indicating that the additional hardware and configuration requirements are offset by the measurable improvement in detection consistency, making the approach applicable for inventory tracking in logistics, warehousing, and industrial automation.