A system and method for monitoring and characterizing various sources of RF interference within an RFID environment, and for adjusting the operational characteristics of an array of RFID readers within the system based on these interference characterizations. The system examines the received transmissions from readers in the network by controlling a calibration cycle or while they are operating as interrogators to determine interference parameters, and to verify the operation of the readers in the array. The system also examines outside sources of interference, and signal dependent interference. The interference characterization can also be estimated from a combination of calculations and co-monitoring.