Antenna Design for Semi-Passive UHF RFID Transponder with Energy Harvester

A novel microstrip antenna which is dedicated to UHF semi-passive RFID transponders with an energy harvester is presented in this paper. The antenna structure designed and simulated by using Mentor Graphics HyperLynx 3D EM software is described in details. The modeling and simulation results along with comparison with experimental data are analyzed and concluded. The main goal of the project is the need to eliminate a traditional battery form the transponder structure. The energy harvesting block, which is used instead, converts ambient energy (electromagnetic energy of typical radio communication system) into electrical power for internal circuitry. The additional function (gathering extra energy) of the transponder antenna causes the necessity to create new designs in this scope

Passive UHF RFID Tag with Multiple Sensing Capabilities

This work presents the design, fabrication, and characterization of a printed radio frequency identification tag in the ultra-high frequency band with multiple sensing capabilities. This passive tag is directly screen printed on a cardboard box with the aim of monitoring the packaging conditions during the different stages of the supply chain. This tag includes a commercial force sensor and a printed opening detector. Hence, the force applied to the package can be measured as well as the opening of the box can be detected. The architecture presented is a passive single-chip RFID tag. An electronic switch has been implemented to be able to measure both sensor magnitudes in the same access without including a microcontroller or battery. Moreover, the chip used here integrates a temperature sensor and, therefore, this tag provides three different parameters in every reading.This work was partially funded by the Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia under Projects CTQ2009-14428-C02-01 and CTQ2009-14428-C02-02 and the Junta de Andalucía (Proyecto de Excelencia P10-TIC-5997), Spain. This project was partially supported by European Regional Development Funds (ERDF)

Structural Health Monitoring from Sensing to Processing

Providing the best availability of aircrafts is a key driver in aeronautics industry. Monitoring system able to detect signs of failure before they happen, thanks to sensors and diagnosis/prognosis algorithms, is key for improving aircraft operability. Since a suspension system is connecting the engine to the aircraft, after hard landing, aircraft companies need to know if the suspension system is safe or could have been damaged. This chapter presents an autonomous wireless load sensing recorder development that will enable maintenance operators to make a relevant diagnosis of the suspension system by measuring the load level seen after a hard landing by connecting a portable device near the embedded sensor system. The sensor integrates energy harvesting and RFID communication modules that have been developed for this application. Data acquisition is performed by an embedded microcontroller connected to sensors. The paper is firstly dedicated to the different energy sources available in the project application (engine pods). The second part gives a presentation of the various devices developed for converting ambient energy into electric power and SHM system. The last part presents real measurement of ambient energy level from real tests in comparison to the energy needed to power the system

Baseband-processor for a passive UHF RFID transponder

This paper describes the design of a digital processor targeting the Class-1 Generation-2 EPC Protocol for UHF RFID transponders, and proposes different techniques for reducing its power consumption. The processor has been implemented in a 0.35μm CMOS technology process using automatic tools for both the logic synthesis and layout. Post-layout simulations confirm the fully functionality of the prototype and predict a worst-case power consumption of only 2.9μA at 1.2V supply.Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia TEC2006-03022, TEC2009-08447Junta de Andalucía TIC-0281

Design and Development of Smart Brain-Machine-Brain Interface (SBMIBI) for Deep Brain Stimulation and Other Biomedical Applications

Machine collaboration with the biological body/brain by sending electrical information back and forth is one of the leading research areas in neuro-engineering during the twenty-first century. Hence, Brain-Machine-Brain Interface (BMBI) is a powerful tool for achieving such machine-brain/body collaboration. BMBI generally is a smart device (usually invasive) that can record, store, and analyze neural activities, and generate corresponding responses in the form of electrical pulses to stimulate specific brain regions. The Smart Brain-Machine-Brain-Interface (SBMBI) is a step forward with compared to the traditional BMBI by including smart functions, such as in-electrode local computing capabilities, and availability of cloud connectivity in the system to take the advantage of powerful cloud computation in decision making. In this dissertation work, we designed and developed an innovative form of Smart Brain-Machine-Brain Interface (SBMBI) and studied its feasibility in different biomedical applications. With respect to power management, the SBMBI is a semi-passive platform. The communication module is fully passive—powered by RF harvested energy; whereas, the signal processing core is battery-assisted. The efficiency of the implemented RF energy harvester was measured to be 0.005%. One of potential applications of SBMBI is to configure a Smart Deep-Brain-Stimulator (SDBS) based on the general SBMBI platform. The SDBS consists of brain-implantable smart electrodes and a wireless-connected external controller. The SDBS electrodes operate as completely autonomous electronic implants that are capable of sensing and recording neural activities in real time, performing local processing, and generating arbitrary waveforms for neuro-stimulation. A bidirectional, secure, fully-passive wireless communication backbone was designed and integrated into this smart electrode to maintain contact between the smart electrodes and the controller. The standard EPC-Global protocol has been modified and adopted as the communication protocol in this design. The proposed SDBS, by using a SBMBI platform, was demonstrated and tested through a hardware prototype. Additionally the SBMBI was employed to develop a low-power wireless ECG data acquisition device. This device captures cardiac pulses through a non-invasive magnetic resonance electrode, processes the signal and sends it to the backend computer through the SBMBI interface. Analysis was performed to verify the integrity of received ECG data

Wireless sensor system for infrastructure health monitoring

In this thesis, radio frequency identification (RFID)-based wireless sensor system for infrastructure health monitoring (IHM) is designed and developed. It includes mountable semi-passive tag antenna integrated sensors capable of measuring critical responses of infrastructure such as dynamic acceleration and strain. Furthermore, the system is capable of measuring structural displacement. One of the most important parts of this system is the relatively small, tunable, construction material mountable RFID tag antenna. The tag antenna is electronically integrated with the sensors. Leading to the process of developing tag antenna integrated sensors having satisfactory wireless performance (sensitivity and read range) when mounted on concrete and metal structural members, the electromagnetic performance of the tag antenna is analyzed and optimized using both numerical and experimental procedures. Subsequently, it is shown that both the simulation and the experimental measurement results are in good agreement. The semi-passive RFID-based system is implemented in a wireless IHM system with multiple sensor points to measure dynamic acceleration and strain. The developed system can determine the natural frequencies of infrastructure and identify any state changes of infrastructure by measuring natural frequency shifts. Enhancement of the spectral bandwidth of the system has been performed under the constraints of the RFID hardware. The influence of the orientation and shape of the structural members on wireless power flow in the vicinity of those members is also investigated with the RFID reader-tag antenna system in both simulation and experiments. The antenna system simulations with a full-scale structural member have shown that both the orientation and the shape of the structural member influence the wireless power flow towards and in the vicinity of the member, respectively. The measurement results of the conducted laboratory experiments using the RFID antenna system in passive mode have shown good agreement with simulation results. Furthermore, the system’s ability to measure structural displacement is also investigated by conducting phase angle of arrival measurements. It is shown that the system in its passive mode is capable of measuring small structural displacements within a short wireless distance. The benchmarking of the developed system with independent, commercial, wired and wireless measurement systems has confirmed the ability of the RFID-based system to measure dynamic acceleration and strain. Furthermore, it has confirmed the system’s ability to determine the natural frequency of an infrastructure accurately. Therefore, the developed system with wireless sensors that do not consume battery power in data transmission and with the capability of dynamic response measurement is highly applicable in IHM

Analysis of Current State of The Art of RFID IC Chips

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) is a constantly developing technology particularly in the ultra-high-frequency (UHF) band for its long operating range, power efficiency, and maintenance-free characteristics. It has been successfully developed for many applications already, that includes identification, sensing, tracking, monitoring, etc. In terms of tag, the integrated circuit (IC) or chip play an essential part in the functionality of the tag, where logical information is programmed into. Nowadays, the chips come in a variety of memory options, sensitivity, supported protocols, with an optional battery-assisted mode, additional commands, and features. There are various methods that are followed to fabricate RFID tags, i.e. inkjet-printing, painting, 3D printing, etching, etc. On the way of completion of these procedures, some of the methods involve the use of chemicals, producing waste, which is unfavorable in respect of the cost, and as well as the environment. In addition, the substrate impacts tag’s performance. If the tag is going to be attached for instance, on a metal surface the radiation properties of the tag antenna would experience changes, as the electromagnetic waves will reflect on the metal surface, which will basically degrade tag’s performance. Maintaining multiple applications on a single chip has become common to a certain extent. It requires additional power than usual, which is an issue for passive tags. In order to overcome this hurdle, energy harvesting system is required, which is going to suffice the need for a power source. In this paper, the functionalities and applications of the RFID chips have been reviewed and some suggestions have been proposed on how RFID can be commercially manufactured, in terms of fabrication methods, supplying enough power for applications, and ensuring security of the tagged object