Study on Analog Front End of Passive UHF RFID Transponder

In this paper, an overview of passive Ultra High Frequency (UHF) Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) is presented. This literature review emphasis on the analog front end part of the RFID transponder based on several published papers conducted by previous researchers. A passive UHF RFID transponder chip design was proposed using 0.18 μm standard CMOS process. It is estimated to have power of 1μW and high efficiency that greater than 32%. This design will work in the range of frequency between 900MHz to 960MHz

Hybrid RFID-Based System Using Active Two-Way Tags

Ultra High Frequency (UHF) Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) is a promising technology that has experienced tremendous growth by revolutionizing a variety of industry sectors and applications, such as automated data management, the tracking of a specified object, highway toll collection, library inventory tracking, multi-level asset tracking, and airport baggage control. For many RFID applications, it is desired to maximize the operating distance or read range. This thesis proposes a design of an analog front-end architecture and the baseband controller for a Class-4 Active Two-Way (C4-ATW) RFID tag in order to maximize or increase the tracking range by implementing a tag-hopping technique. In tag-hopping, C4-ATW RFID tags power their own communication with other C4-ATW RFID tags and existing passive RFID tag while the reader\u27s functionality remains unchanged. The simulation results indicate that the C4-ATW RFID tag can detect a minimum incident RF input power of -20 dBm at a 120 Kbps data rate. For -20 dBm input power; the achieved read range between a reader and tag is 36.7 meters at 4 W of reader power and between two tags, the read range is 2.15 meters at 25 mW tag power. Combined, the analog front end and baseband controller consume 50.3 mW of power and the area of the chip, including pads, is 854 µm x 542 µm

Radio frequency energy harvesting for autonomous systems

A thesis submitted to the University of Bedfordshire in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of PhilosophyRadio Frequency Energy Harvesting (RFEH) is a technology which enables wireless power delivery to multiple devices from a single energy source. The main components of this technology are the antenna and the rectifying circuitry that converts the RF signal into DC power. The devices which are using Radio Frequency (RF) power may be integrated into Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN), Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), biomedical implants, Internet of Things (IoT), Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), smart meters, telemetry systems and may even be used to charge mobile phones. Aside from autonomous systems such as WSNs and RFID, the multi-billion portable electronics market – from GSM phones to MP3 players – would be an attractive application for RF energy harvesting if the power requirements are met. To investigate the potential for ambient RFEH, several RF site surveys were conducted around London. Using the results from these surveys, various harvesters were designed and tested for different frequency bands from the RF sources with the highest power density within the Medium Wave (MW), ultra- and super-high (UHF and SHF) frequency spectrum. Prototypes were fabricated and tested for each of the bands and proved that a large urban area around Brookmans park radio centre is suitable location for harvesting ambient RF energy. Although the RFEH offers very good efficiency performance, if a single antenna is considered, the maximum power delivered is generally not enough to power all the elements of an autonomous system. In this thesis we present techniques for optimising the power efficiency of the RFEH device under demanding conditions such as ultra-low power densities, arbitrary polarisation and diverse load impedances. Subsequently, an energy harvesting ferrite rod rectenna is designed to power up a wireless sensor and its transmitter, generating dedicated Medium Wave (MW) signals in an indoor environment. Harvested power management, application scenarios and practical results are also presented

A low power signal front-end for passive UHF RFID transponders with a new clock recovery circuit.

Chan, Chi Fat.Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2009.Includes bibliographical references.Abstracts in English and Chinese.Abstract --- p.2摘要 --- p.5Acknowledgement --- p.7Table of Contents --- p.9List of Figures --- p.11List of Tables --- p.14Chapter 1. --- Introduction --- p.15Chapter 1.2. --- Research Objectives --- p.16Chapter 1.3. --- Thesis Organization --- p.18Chapter 1.4. --- References --- p.19Chapter 2. --- Overview of Passive UHF RFID Transponders --- p.20Chapter 2.1. --- Types of RFID Transponders and Design Challenges of Passive RFID Transponder --- p.20Chapter 2.2. --- Selection of Carrier Frequency --- p.22Chapter 2.3. --- Description of Transponder Construction --- p.22Chapter 2.3.1. --- Power-Generating Circuits --- p.23Chapter 2.3.2. --- Base Band Processor --- p.28Chapter 2.3.3. --- Signal Front-End --- p.29Chapter 2.4. --- Summary --- p.30Chapter 2.5. --- References --- p.31Chapter 3. --- ASK Demodulator for EPC C-l G-2 Transponder --- p.32Chapter 3.1. --- ASK Demodulator Design Considerations --- p.32Chapter 3.1.1. --- Recovered Envelope Distortion --- p.32Chapter 3.1.2. --- Input Power Level Considerations --- p.34Chapter 3.1.3. --- Input RF power Intercepted by ASK Demodulator --- p.36Chapter 3.2. --- ASK Demodulator Design From [3-4] --- p.36Chapter 3.2.1. --- Envelope Waveform Recovery Design --- p.37Chapter 3.2.1.1. --- Voltage Multiplier Branch for Generating Venv --- p.39Chapter 3.2.1.2. --- Voltage Multiplier Branch for Generating Vref --- p.41Chapter 3.2.2. --- Design Considerations for Sensitivity of ASK Demodulator --- p.41Chapter 3.2.3. --- RF Input Power Sharing with Voltage Multiplier --- p.44Chapter 3.2.4. --- ASK Demodulator and Voltage Multiplier Integrated Estimations for Maximum RF Power Input --- p.47Chapter 3.2.5. --- Measurement result and Discussion --- p.49Chapter 3.3. --- Proposed Envelope Detector Circuit --- p.52Chapter 3.3.1. --- Sensitivity Estimation --- p.52Chapter 3.3.2. --- Maximum Tolerable Input Power Estimation --- p.53Chapter 3.3.3. --- Envelope Waveform Recovery of the Proposed Envelope Detector --- p.54Chapter 3.4. --- Summary --- p.57Chapter 3.5. --- References --- p.58Chapter 4. --- Clock Generator for EPC C-l G-2 Transponder --- p.59Chapter 4.1. --- Design Challenges Overview of Clock Generator --- p.59Chapter 4.2. --- Brief Review of PIE Symbols in EPC C1G2 Standard --- p.62Chapter 4.3. --- Proposed Clock Recovery Circuit Based on PIE Symbols for Clock Frequency Calibration --- p.64Chapter 4.3.1. --- Illustration on PIE Symbols for Clock Frequency Calibration --- p.64Chapter 4.3.2. --- Symbol time-length counter --- p.72Chapter 4.3.3. --- The M2.56MHZ Reference Generator and Sampling Frequency Requirement --- p.75Chapter 4.3.4. --- Symbol Length Reconfiguration for Different Tari and FLL Stability --- p.80Chapter 4.3.5. --- Frequency Detector and Loop Filter --- p.83Chapter 4.3.6. --- Proposed DCO Design --- p.84Chapter 4.3.7. --- Measurement Results and Discussions --- p.88Chapter 4.3.7.1. --- Frequency Calibration Measurement Results --- p.89Chapter 4.3.7.2. --- Number x and Tari Variation --- p.92Chapter 4.3.7.3. --- Temperature and Supply Variation --- p.93Chapter 4.3.7.4. --- Transient Supply Variation --- p.94Chapter 4.3.8. --- Works Comparison --- p.95Chapter 4.4. --- Clock Generator with Embedded PIE Decoder --- p.96Chapter 4.4.1. --- Clock Generator for Transponder Review --- p.96Chapter 4.4.2. --- PIE Decoder Review --- p.97Chapter 4.4.3. --- Proposed Clock Generator with Embedded PIE Decoder --- p.97Chapter 4.4.4. --- Measurement Results and Discussions --- p.100Chapter 4.5. --- Summary --- p.103Chapter 4.6. --- References --- p.105Chapter 5. --- ASK Modulator --- p.107Chapter 5.1. --- Introduction to ASK Modulator in RFD Transponder --- p.107Chapter 5.2. --- ASK Modulator Design --- p.109Chapter 5.3. --- ASK Modulator Measurement --- p.110Chapter 5.4. --- Summary --- p.113Chapter 5.5. --- References --- p.113Chapter 6. --- Conclusions --- p.114Chapter 6.1. --- Contribution --- p.114Chapter 6.2. --- Future Development --- p.11

Design of a Low-Cost Passive UHF RFID tag in 0.18um CMOS technology

The work addresses the design of a passive UHF Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID) tag. In order to realize a product able to be competitive in the RFID expanding market, a cost reduction policy has been applied in the design: a general purpose digital technology has been employed, resorting to specific techniques in order to overcome the limitations due to the lack of process options. Such solutions are accurately described, and every block composing the transponder analog frontend is analyzed, highlighting advantages and disadvantages of the proposed architectures with respect to the ones present in literature. The circuits theory is validated through simulations and experimental data.Il lavoro di tesi è imperniato sul progetto di un tag passivo per l'Identificazione a Radio-Frequenza (RFID) operante nelle bande UHF. Per il progetto è stata applicata una politica di riduzione dei costi, così da proporre un prodotto in grado di essere competitivo nel fiorente mercato dell'RFID: è stata scelta una tecnologia digitale general-purpose, e specifiche tecniche di progettazione sono state utilizzate per superare le limitazioni dovute alla scarsità di opzioni di processo. Le soluzioni adottate sono descritte accuratamente, ed è riportata l'analisi di ogni singolo blocco componente il frontend analogico, evidenziando vantaggi e svantaggi delle architetture proposte rispetto a quelle presenti in letteratura. La validità della teoria alla base dei circuiti è stata verificata tramite simulazioni e dati sperimentali

Energy Transmission for Long-Range Passive Sensor Transponders

Drahtlose Energieübertragung ermöglicht den Betrieb von mikroelektronischen Transpondern (sog. „Tags“) ohne Batterie oder Solarzellen. Eine Basisstation sendet ein elektromagnetisches Feld zur Übertragung von Energie und Daten an einen oder mehrere Transponder. Diese bestehen in der Regel aus einer integrierten Schaltung und einer Antenne. Passive Sensor Transponder ermöglichen die Erfassung von physikalischen Umgebungsgrößen wie z.B. Druck oder Temperatur. Da induktive Systeme in ihrer Reichweite stark beschränkt sind, wird in dieser Arbeit der Ansatz der Energieübertragung über elektromagnetische Wellen im UHF Bereich betrachtet. Das Antennensignal wird im Chip in eine Gleichspannung zur Versorgung der integrierten Schaltungen umgewandelt. Die Effizienz des Systems wird im Wesentlichen von der unvermeidlichen Freiraumdämpfung und der Effizienz des Gleichrichters bestimmt. In großem Abstand zur Basisstation hat die Antennenspannung eine geringe Amplitude, und die Implementierung eines effizienten Gleichrichters stellt weiterhin eine Herausforderung dar. Die Modellierung und Analyse dieser Schaltung, sowie die Erarbeitung neuartiger Topologien, bilden den Kern dieser Arbeit. Das erste Ziel ist in diesem Zusammenhang die analytische Beschreibung des Gleichrichters unter Berücksichtigung der parasitären Eigenschaften realer Bauelemente in einem standard CMOS Prozess. In existierenden Arbeiten wurden Schaltungsmodelle für die Villard-Schaltung mit Schottky Dioden erstellt. Diese Arbeit erweitert diese Modelle um eine Berechnung des Gleichrichters mit Transistoren und Arbeitspunkt-Einstellung zur dynamischen Kompensation der Schwellenspannung. Speziell wird der komplexe Zusammenhang zwischen Eingangsleistung, Ausgangsspannung und Laststrom des Gleichrichters mathematisch beschrieben. Das aufgestellte Modell beschreibt den Einfluss der Parameter der verwendeten Bauelemente auf das eingangs- und ausgangsseitige Verhalten der Schaltung und erleichtert somit den systematischen Schaltungsentwurf. Es werden neue Schaltungstopologien erarbeitet. Diese Gleichrichter benötigen keine zusätzlichen Prozessschritte und erreichen dennoch eine hohe Ansprechempfindlichkeit. Im verwendeten 0,35µm Prozess wird die Sensitivität gegenüber der herkömmlichen Villard Schaltung um bis zu 5 dBm verbessert. Im Rahmen der Arbeit wurde ein ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit) mit einem vollständigen analogen Front End für einen Sensor Transponder mit einer Reichweite von über 4 Metern entwickelt. Neben der Funktionalität zur Spannungsversorgung, Takterzeugung und Datenübertragung werden außerdem temperatur- und prozessstabile Referenzspannungen und eine temperaturabhängige Spannung erzeugt.Wireless energy transmission is frequently used as a power supply for transponder systems without batteries or solar cells. A base station transmits an electromagnetic field to send data and energy to one or several transponders (“tags”). Each tag typically comprises an integrated circuit and an antenna. Passive sensor transponders detect physical values such as temperature or pressure. Inductive energy transmission systems achieve only a limited range of less than one meter. In this work, UHF (Ultra High Frequency) electromagnetic waves are used for energy- and data transmission. The antenna signal is rectified to serve as a voltage supply for the chip. The power efficiency of the system is mainly determined by the free-space transmission as well as rectification losses. The amplitude of the antenna signal is very low at a large distance from the base station. Therefore, the rectifier is the critical circuit block concerning power efficiency. This work focuses on the analysis and the modelling, as well as the design of novel topologies for this circuit block. The first goal is to derive a rectifier analysis that takes into account the properties and parasitics of CMOS (Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor) devices. The Villard circuit with Schottky diodes has been modelled in several previous works. These models and analyses are extended to include rectifier circuits with dynamic threshold-voltage cancellation techniques. The mathematical relation between input power, output voltage and load current is derived analytically. The resulting model predicts the influence of device parameters on the input and output behaviour of the circuit. This leads to a systematic circuit design approach. Two novel circuits are presented. These rectifiers achieve a high sensitivity and not require additional masks or process modifications. All circuits were fabricated in a 0.35µm CMOS process. The sensitivity is improved by 5 dBm compared to the conventional Villard Circuit. The complete analog front-end of a passive UHF sensor transponder with a range of more than 4 m was designed and fabricated. The ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit) manages data transmission, supply voltage, and clock generation. In addition to this functionality, the chip also generates temperature- and process-independent supply and reference voltages, as well as a temperature dependent sensor signal

Energy Harvesting for Self-Powered Wireless Sensors

A wireless sensor system is proposed for a targeted deployment in civil infrastructures (namely bridges) to help mitigate the growing problem of deterioration of civil infrastructures. The sensor motes are self-powered via a novel magnetic shape memory alloy (MSMA) energy harvesting material and a low-frequency, low-power rectifier multiplier (RM). Experimental characterizations of the MSMA device and the RM are presented. A study on practical implementation of a strain gauge sensor and its application in the proposed sensor system are undertaken and a low-power successive approximation register analog-to-digital converter (SAR ADC) is presented. The SAR ADC was fabricated and laboratory characterizations show the proposed low-voltage topology is a viable candidate for deployment in the proposed sensor system. Additionally, a wireless transmitter is proposed to transmit the SAR ADC output using on-off keying (OOK) modulation with an impulse radio ultra-wideband (IR-UWB) transmitter (TX). The RM and SAR ADC were fabricated in ON 0.5 micrometer CMOS process. An alternative transmitter architecture is also presented for use in the 3-10GHz UWB band. Unlike the IR-UWB TX described for the proposed wireless sensor system, the presented transmitter is designed to transfer large amounts of information with little concern for power consumption. This second method of data transmission divides the 3-10GHz spectrum into 528MHz sub-bands and "hops" between these sub-bands during data transmission. The data is sent over these multiple channels for short distances (?3-10m) at data rates over a few hundred million bits per second (Mbps). An UWB TX is presented for implementation in mode-I (3.1-4.6GHz) UWB which utilizes multi-band orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (MB-OFDM) to encode the information. The TX was designed and fabricated using UMC 0.13 micrometer CMOS technology. Measurement results and theoretical system level budgeting are presented for the proposed UWB TX