A Twisted Loop Antenna to enhance HF RFID detection for different tag positioning

In this paper, a new LF/HF RFID reader loop antenna design is proposed and tested, in order to increase detection areas of the tags. The studied structure is a Twisted Loop Antenna (TLA) which is based on a modified distribution and orientation of the magnetic field lines. Our structure fruitfully uses the complementary antenna principle in a co-planar configuration. This offers more possibilities of tag detection whatever the tag position and orientation. The antenna performances are evaluated by optimizing the equivalent mutual inductance between reader antenna and tag antenna. Results are presented firstly in simulation (MATLAB and HFSS electromagnetic calculator) and secondly by experimental tests at different distances and misalignments, for the two possible tag orientations: parallel and perpendicular

Design of 1cm2 coils for HF RFID instruments tracking with detection range improvement

This paper concerns an application of magnetic coupling RFID technology at 13.56 MHz (HF band) for tracking devices such as instruments. The tag size is defined to be ergonomically small compared to the hand, and fixed inside a maximum surface of 1 cm 2. The case of multiple detections is considered, and consequently the reader surface of control is considered wide enough to include several instruments at the same time during a logistic control process. The use of such a small RFID tag is almost impossible using a large reader loop of 15×30 cm 2, as chosen for the tests. The key idea of the paper is then the addition of a resonator that enables to create the mandatory physical link by means of magnetic coupling between the tag coil and the resonator coil and between the resonator coil and the reader loop. Finally the detection range is highly improved by the presence of this resonator and results demonstrate that it is possible to detect these small RFID “1 by 1 cm 2 tags” at a distance of 1.5 cm to 3 cm, depending on their orientations

2008 Index IEEE Transactions on Control Systems Technology Vol. 16

This index covers all technical items - papers, correspondence, reviews, etc. - that appeared in this periodical during the year, and items from previous years that were commented upon or corrected in this year. Departments and other items may also be covered if they have been judged to have archival value. The Author Index contains the primary entry for each item, listed under the first author\u27s name. The primary entry includes the coauthors\u27 names, the title of the paper or other item, and its location, specified by the publication abbreviation, year, month, and inclusive pagination. The Subject Index contains entries describing the item under all appropriate subject headings, plus the first author\u27s name, the publication abbreviation, month, and year, and inclusive pages. Note that the item title is found only under the primary entry in the Author Index

2009 Index IEEE Antennas and Wireless Propagation Letters Vol. 8

This index covers all technical items - papers, correspondence, reviews, etc. - that appeared in this periodical during the year, and items from previous years that were commented upon or corrected in this year. Departments and other items may also be covered if they have been judged to have archival value. The Author Index contains the primary entry for each item, listed under the first author\u27s name. The primary entry includes the coauthors\u27 names, the title of the paper or other item, and its location, specified by the publication abbreviation, year, month, and inclusive pagination. The Subject Index contains entries describing the item under all appropriate subject headings, plus the first author\u27s name, the publication abbreviation, month, and year, and inclusive pages. Note that the item title is found only under the primary entry in the Author Index

Conductive inkjet printed antennas on flexible low-cost paper-based substrates for RFID and WSN applications

This thesis investigates inkjet-printed flexible antennas fabricated on paper substrates as a system-level solution for ultra-low-cost and mass production of RF structures. These modules are designed for the UHF Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) Tags and Wireless Sensor Nodes (WSN); however the approach could be easily extended to other microwave and wireless applications. Chapter 1 serves as an introduction to RFID technology and its capabilities while listing the major challenges that could potentially hinder RFID practical implementation. Chapter 2 discusses the benefits of using paper as a substrate for high-frequency applications, reporting its very good electrical/dielectric performance up to at least 1 GHz. The dielectric properties are studied by using the microstrip ring resonator. Brief discussion on Liquid Crystal Polymer (LCP) is also given in this chapter. Chapter 3 gives details about the inkjet printing technology, including the characterization of the conductive ink, which consists of nano-silver-particles, while highlighting the importance of this technology as a fast and simple fabrication technique especially on flexible organic (e.g.LCP) or paper-based substrates. Chapter 4 focuses on antenna designs. Four examples are given to provide: i) matching techniques to complex IC impedance, ii) proof of concept of inkjet printing on paper substrate through measurement results, iii) demonstration of a fully-integrated wireless sensor modules on paper and show a 2D sensor integration with an RFID tag module on paper. Chapter 5 concludes the thesis by explaining the importance of this work in creating a first step towards an environmentally friendly generation of "green" RF electronics and modules.M.S.Committee Chair: Dr. Manos Tentzeris; Committee Member: Dr. Gregory Durgin; Committee Member: Dr. Joy Laska

RFID multiantenna systems for wireless communications and sensing

Many scientific, industrial and medical applications require the measurement of different physical parameters in order to collect information about the spatially distributed status of some process. Very often this information needs to be collected remotely, either due to the spatial dispersion of the measurement points or due to their inaccessibility. A wireless embedded self-powered sensor may be a convenient solution to be placed at these inaccessible locations. This thesis is devoted to study the analytical relation governing the electromagnetic coupling between a reader and a embeddable self-powered sensor, based on radio frequency identification (RFID) technology, which is capable of wirelessly retrieving the status of physical parameters at a remote and inaccessible location. The physical parameter to be sensed may be the electromagnetic (EM) field existing at that location (primary measurement) or the indirect measurement of other parameters such as the temperature, humidity, etc. (secondary measurement). Given the simplicity of the RFID solution (highly embeddable properties, scavenging capabilities, penetration and radio coverage characteristics, etc.) the measurement can be done at a single location, or it can be extended to a set of measuring locations (an array or grid of sensors). The analytical relation is based on a reciprocity formulation studying the modulation of the scattered field by the embedded sensor in relation with the incident field, and allows to define a set of quality parameters of interest for the optimum design of the sensors. Particular attention is given to the scavenging circuitry as well as to the antenna design relevant to the sensing objective. In RFID tags, the existence of an RF harvesting section is an improvement with respect to conventional scattering field probes since it removes the need of DC biasing lines or optical fibers to modulate the sensor. However, this harvesting section introduces non-linearities in the response of the sensor, which requires a proper correction to use them as EM-field probes, although the characterization of the non-linearities of the RFID tag cannot be directly done using a conventional vector network analyzer (VNA), due to the requirements of an RFID protocol excitation. Due to this, this thesis proposes an alternative measurement approach that allows to characterize the different scattering states used for the modulation, in particular its non-linear behavior. In addittion, and taking this characterization as the starting point, this thesis proposes a new measurement setup for EM-field measurements based on the use of multiple tones to enlarge the available dynamic range, which is experimentally demonstrated in the measurement of a radiation pattern, as well as in imaging applications. The RFID-based sensor response is electromagnetically sensitive to the dielectric properties of its close environment. However, the governing formulation for the response of the probe mixes together a set of different contributions, the path-loss, the antenna impedance, the loads impedance, etc. As a consequence, it is not possible to isolate each contribution from the others using the information available with a conventional RFID sensor. This thesis mathematically proposes and experimentally develops a modification of the modulation scheme to introduce a new set of multi-load scattering states that increases the information available in the response and properly isolate each term. Moreover, this thesis goes a step forward and introduces a new scattering state of the probe sensitive to temperature variations that do not depend on the environment characteristics. This new configuration enables robust environmental sensing in addition to EM-field measurements, and sensing variations of the dielectric properties of the environment

Advanced Radio Frequency Identification Design and Applications

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) is a modern wireless data transmission and reception technique for applications including automatic identification, asset tracking and security surveillance. This book focuses on the advances in RFID tag antenna and ASIC design, novel chipless RFID tag design, security protocol enhancements along with some novel applications of RFID

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

DESIGN, OPTIMIZATION AND IMPLEMENTATION OF AN ORTHO-TAG RFID SYSTEM

There are two major problems with traditional methods of operating an RFID tag embedded on orthopedic implants by wireless transmission: (1) interference with metallic orthopedic implants causes significant signal attenuation around the RFID tag; (2) interference with other medical devices may lead to the failure of their functionality. The creation of a feasible solution to the above two problems is critical to the success of operation of implanted RFID devices embedded on or near metallic implants and in any other situation where wireless interference may occur. The solution proposed in this dissertation is the Ortho-tag RFID system which uses the conductivity of human tissue at radio frequencies for energy and signal transmission. With the viability experiments proving the feasibility of using volume conduction in this research, two present issues have been addressed: (1) the lack of availability of a matching technique between tissue/saline and the RFID device; (2) the lack of an efficiency study on the operation of RFID through tissue/saline with variable thickness. This fundamental work then details the development of a general solution for the above two issues, in a power and communication platform technology for implanted RFID devices. The platform is developed using equipment in the RFID Center of Excellence in which pig skin and saline are used as a medium for in vivo environment as human tissue surrogates. The selection and design of the volume conduction electrodes are discussed and optimized using ANSYS/HFSS. The system optimization focuses on matching the RFID reader and the tag to the tissue/saline based on an equivalent 2-port network model for tissue using Z parameters. Matching networks are designed and optimized so that the tag is matched to the tissue from the internal side, and the tissue is matched to the RFID reader from the external side. For high data rate considerations, two RFID frequencies are utilized for the Ortho-tag RFID system. The frequencies are HF at 13.56 MHz and UHF at 915 MHz. The system is finally prototyped and demonstrated as the proof of concept

Applications of Antenna Technology in Sensors

During the past few decades, information technologies have been evolving at a tremendous rate, causing profound changes to our world and to our ways of living. Emerging applications have opened u[ new routes and set new trends for antenna sensors. With the advent of the Internet of Things (IoT), the adaptation of antenna technologies for sensor and sensing applications has become more important. Now, the antennas must be reconfigurable, flexible, low profile, and low-cost, for applications from airborne and vehicles, to machine-to-machine, IoT, 5G, etc. This reprint aims to introduce and treat a series of advanced and emerging topics in the field of antenna sensors