Each device (1a, 1b, 1c) comprises a processing circuit connected to a first antenna (4), designed to be coupled to an external antenna (3, 5), and a second antenna (5) designed to be coupled to an antenna (4) of a higher-ranking device (1). The system comprises a reading unit and devices (1) having a predetermined ranking. The first antenna (4a) of the rank one device (1a) is coupled to an antenna (3) of the reading unit. Addressing by the reading unit of a device (1c) ranking higher than one is performed by means of the associated lower-ranking devices (1a, 1b). A device (1a1) of predetermined ranking is associated with a sub-set (8a) of higher-ranking devices (1b11, 1b12) so as to form a hierarchical tree structure.