In this paper, a novel methodology to design Ultra High Frequency Radio‐Frequency IDentification (UHF RFID) tag antennas with Barcode layout is proposed with the challenging goal of “fusing” both ...technologies in a single device. Specifically, after a brief recall of the well‐known barcode standard, a procedure to design meandered barcode‐shaped UHF RFID tags is introduced and discussed leveraging on electromagnetic evidence. The main steps of the proposed method are described by highlighting the constraints inherited by both the adopted technologies, as well as the useful opportunities to automatise the entire antenna design process after a preliminary simulation campaign through a full‐wave simulator. Different RFID‐Barcode tag antennas are designed, manufactured, and characterised in terms of maximum reading range and tag sensitivity. Obtained results demonstrate the validity of the proposed approach.
A novel wireless sensor for the detection of food quality is presented. The main idea is to transform radio frequency identification (RFID) tags into RFID sensors, owing to a specific design of the ...tag antenna. From knowledge of the variation of the permittivity of food over time through experimental characterisation, it is possible to detect the time from which the food becomes improper for consumption based on the read-range measurement of the designed sensing tags. This low-cost ultra-high frequency (UHF) RFID passive sensor was designed and experimentally tested on plastic-film-wrapped beef meat. The overall agreement between the experimental and simulation results shows the potential of this technique for real-world applications in food traceability.
The industrial sector of cheese production with particular quality protection occupies an important position in the industrial context of the European Union. Compared to conventional casein labels, ...UHF RFID tags can be read at greater distances and can store more information about the product which represents a more reliable solution for traceability. This paper discusses the main challenges of designing UHF RFID tags for the identification of dairy products such as cheese wheels in an industrial environment. Two different realization techniques are presented in this paper, and the performances of the realized prototypes were measured and compared using a professional RFID measurement system and a commercial handheld RFID reader in a real industrial environment.
This paper presents a novel compact scatterer structure for a passive chipless wireless temperature threshold sensor. The structure is based on a single C-scatterer with multiple embedded slots; each ...slot forms a sub-scatterer dedicated to resonating in one regulated band. This structure has the advantage of increasing the data capacity without increasing the number of scatterers, which results in a more compact sensor size. The sensing principle is based on the detuning of the resonance frequency peaks of the backscattered signal from the slotted scatterer due to temperature variations. For the first time, this work demonstrates the design of a passive chipless sensor while at the same time respecting the conventional radio frequency (RF) emission regulations. The sensor only exploits the allowed bands: European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) and Industrial, Scientific and Medical (ISM). Sensitivity measurement results show sensitive characteristics in the order of 10−4 GHz/°C in accordance with the theoretical predictions.
Increasing the coding capacity of chipless RFID tags is a key factor while considering the development of miniaturized tags. A novel hybrid coding technique by combining phase deviation and frequency ...position encoding is proposed here. A coding capacity of 22.9 bits is obtained simply with five resonators within a reduced dimension of 2 cm × 4 cm. The proposed tag is based on 5 `C' like metallic strip resonators having resonance frequency within the band of 2.5 GHz to 7.5 GHz. The tag is potentially low-cost since only one conductive layer is needed for the fabrication. Different tag configurations are designed and validated with measurement results in bi-static configuration. A good agreement between measurement and simulation validates the theoretical predictions.
A new chipless RF identification (RFID) tag design is presented in this paper to ease the detection of items in a real environment. For this purpose, we present multiple scatterers able to depolarize ...the incident wave to create a response in the orthogonal polarization. Measurements in anechoic chamber and in a real environment, when the tags are positioned on dielectric and metal objects, show their higher detection capability. For the first time, a study on the technique to increase the detection area with a simplified calibration step is carried out. This makes possible the detection of the tag on objects of various sizes and compositions, which is required in the majority of RFID applications.
This article presents a new chipless RFID tag operating in the frequency span 2 to 4 GHz. In particular the tag does not require any ground plane and it is made of 20 scatterers giving 20 b as coding ...capacity, for a compact size of 70 25 , compatible with a credit-card format. Its fabrication process is potentially very cheap because it needs only one conductive layer, so that it can be fully printed directly on the product. To overcome the detuning effect inherent to a single layer tag and make this design robust to the environment versatility, a simple compensation technique is introduced and experimented for the first time. Measurements have been performed frequency domain, using amplitude and the group delay response. The exploitation of group delay appears to be very reliable and promising way to retrieve the coded information.
•Multiple independent arms that give the antenna higher flexibility.•A higher number of arms improves the antenna’s input impedance matching.•A higher number of segments per arm increases the antenna ...efficiency.•Having a diverse number of segments per arm gives the topology higher flexibility.
In this paper, a novel multi-arm crooked wire antenna designed with a multi-objective genetic algorithm (MOGA) is presented. The proposed topology offers a small size, lightweight, and a wideband −10 dB impedance matching. Its fully metallic nature preserves a high radiation efficiency. The multi-arm topology is discussed, and the impact of the number of arms and segments is studied. A proof of concept is optimized, fabricated, and tested. It occupies a volume less than 0.11 λ× 0.13 λ× 0.14 λ, where λ is the wavelength at the lowest operating frequency and covers the entire Global Navigation Satellite System services frequencies with a bandwidth of 503.5 MHz which represents 35.56%, without any matching network. The antenna’s fully metallic structure results in a radiation efficiency higher than 98% and a gain of 8.66 dBi. Measurement results agree with simulations and are elaborated around the frequencies of the lower (1164–1300 MHz) and upper (1559–1610 MHz) bands of the L-band spectrum. A realization-friendly fabrication technique is proposed to realize the 3-D multi-arm wire antennas with high accuracy. The rigid fully metallic structure makes the antenna very suitable to operate in harsh environments, as in aerospace and military applications where substrate-based antennas are unqualified.
Billions of Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID) passive tags are produced yearly to identify goods remotely. New research and business applications are continuously arising, including recently ...localization and sensing to monitor earth surface processes. Indeed, passive tags can cost 10 to 100 times less than wireless sensors networks and require little maintenance, facilitating years-long monitoring with ten's to thousands of tags. This study reviews the existing and potential applications of RFID in geosciences. The most mature application today is the study of coarse sediment transport in rivers or coastal environments, using tags placed into pebbles. More recently, tag localization was used to monitor landslide displacement, with a centimetric accuracy. Sensing tags were used to detect a displacement threshold on unstable rocks, to monitor the soil moisture or temperature, and to monitor the snowpack temperature and snow water equivalent. RFID sensors, available today, could monitor other parameters, such as the vibration of structures, the tilt of unstable boulders, the strain of a material, or the salinity of water. Key challenges for using RFID monitoring more broadly in geosciences include the use of ground and aerial vehicles to collect data or localize tags, the increase in reading range and duration, the ability to use tags placed under ground, snow, water or vegetation, and the optimization of economical and environmental cost. As a pattern, passive RFID could fill a gap between wireless sensor networks and manual measurements, to collect data efficiently over large areas, during several years, at high spatial density and moderate cost.
A novel dual-band ultrahigh-frequency (UHF) radio frequency identification (RFID) sensor tag, designed to operate on metallic surfaces, is proposed. This particular UHF RFID sensor tag is capable of ...operating in both the main RFID frequency bands of the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) and the Federal Communication Commission (FCC). The dual-band operation of the UHF RFID sensor tag is based on a very simple concept; by flipping the UHF RFID sensor tag on a metallic surface, it can operate either in the ETSI or FCC RFID frequency bands. The impedance and radiation characteristics of the UHF RFID sensor tag are presented with an extensive analysis of the effects of the metallic surface on the UHF RFID sensor tag. In addition, an equivalent model of the UHF RFID sensor tag, which includes the effects of the metallic surface on the sensor tag, is proposed. The UHF RFID sensor tag has a small form factor and presents a satisfying read range of around 3 m for both the operating frequency bands in a metallic environment as well as a read range of 1.4 m when operating in free space.
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