RFID systems are disclosed that include at least one RFID receiver system and a distributed exciter architecture. The exciters can be connected via wired and/or wireless connections to the RFID receiver system and the RFID receiver system can control the activation of the exciters to detect the presence of RFID tags within interrogation spaces defined by the exciter topology. In several embodiments, the RFID receiver system performs location estimation to determine the interrogation space in which a specific RFID tag or collection of RFID tags is located. One embodiment of the invention includes an RFID receiver system configured to detect information from RFID tags within a receive coverage area, and a plurality of exciters defining a plurality of interrogation spaces within the receive coverage area of the RFID receiver system. In addition, the RFID receiver system is configured to transmit a control signal that identifies one of the plurality of exciters and includes information indicative of an RFID tag interrogation signal, the plurality of exciters are configured to receive the control signal, and the exciter identified in the control signal is configured to illuminate an interrogation space with the RFID tag interrogation signal.