RFID systems and methods for automatically detecting and/or directing the physical configuration of a complex system

A radio-frequency identification (RFID) configuration detection system for detecting and/or directing a configuration of a complex system having a set of one or more types of mateable components, comprising:

• at least one mateable RFID tag associated with each mateable component in the set of mateable components and having an antenna electrically connected to an integrated circuit (IC) chip, the IC chip being adapted to store information that includes information relating to its associated mateable component, wherein the at least one mateable RFID tag is arranged relative to its associated component such that mating two mateable components causes the corresponding at least one mateable RFID tag associated with the two mateable components to mate electrically and exchange the information stored therein, and to communicate information regarding their mated status via at least one wireless RFID tag signal;
• at least one RFID reader adapted to receive the at least one wireless RFID tag signal from each mated pair of components;
• and
• an information processing system operably connected to the at least one RFID reader and adapted to receive therefrom and process said mated status information to determine the complex system configuration.

A radio-frequency identification (RFID)-based method of detecting and/or directing a configuration of a complex system having a set of one or more types of mateable components, comprising:

• providing each mateable component in the set with at least one mateable RFID tag that includes information about its associated mateable component, including arranging the at least one mateable RFID tag so that when two mateable components mate, the corresponding mateable RFID tags mate and exchange information about their respective mateable components;
• mating a number of mateable components so as to cause the corresponding mateable RFID tags to mate electrically and exchange information about their respective mateable component;
• for each pair of mated components, generating at least one RFID tag signal that includes information relating to the mated components;
• and
• receiving and processing the at least one RFID tag signal from each pair of mated components to determine the complex system configuration.