A Modular Antenna For UHF RFID Near-Field Desktop Reader: R. Caso, A. Michel, A. Buffi, P. Nepa G. Isola
A Modular Antenna For UHF RFID Near-Field Desktop Reader: R. Caso, A. Michel, A. Buffi, P. Nepa G. Isola
A Modular Antenna For UHF RFID Near-Field Desktop Reader: R. Caso, A. Michel, A. Buffi, P. Nepa G. Isola
Abstract—The combination of a near-field coupling antenna TWA up to a few decimeters from the antenna surface, by
placed in the central area of a UHF RFID desktop reader with a exploiting the radiation of an array of low-gain circularly
low-gain resonating antenna allocated at the reader border is polarized miniaturized patches. The antenna layout is presented
here proposed to obtain a confined detection volume within the in Section II, and simulation results obtained with a full-wave
antenna near-field region (including both the reactive and commercial tool (CST Microwave Studio software) are
radiative near field regions). The antenna layout consists of a presented and discussed in the same section. Antenna
spiral Travelling Wave Antenna (TWA) which series-feeds an performance is shown in Section III, in terms of RSSI
array of two circularly-polarized miniaturized patches. The distributions on the desktop reader surface, together with
spiral TWA geometry allows for exciting an almost homogeneous
readability tests for stacked-tags configuration. Concluding
field on the antenna surface, making the tag detection on the
remarks are drawn in Section IV.
reader antenna (near-field reactive region) almost independent
on tag location and orientation. The low-gain patch array is used
to extend the read range up to the radiative near-field region. II. ANTENNA LAYOUT AND NUMERICAL RESULTS
Good results in terms of read range and RSSI (Received Signal
Strength Indicator) distribution have been checked The geometry of the proposed NF Modular Antenna for
experimentally, also for a stacked tag configuration. UHF RFID desktop readers is shown in Fig. 1. The antenna is
printed on a grounded 1.6mm-thick FR4 (εr=4.4, tgδ=0.025)
Keywords— UHF RFID systems; near field coupling; desktop
reader antenna; planar modular antenna.
dielectric substrate. A 50- coaxial cable feeds a spiral shaped
TWA at the surface center, which in turn series-feeds a
I. INTRODUCTION coplanar array of two miniaturized square patches. The
The antenna near-field (NF) features have been applied to patches are located on the spiral opposite sides and are 194mm
specific short-range radio systems (Near Field apart (corresponding at 0.56λ at the central frequency of the
Communications [1], microwave wireless power transfer [2], ETSI RFID band, 866.5MHz).
Radio Frequency IDentification (RFID) systems [3]-[5]). In
such framework, NF UHF RFID systems for item level tagging
applications have been developed, with the advantages of
higher reading and data rates, and smaller tag antennas, with
respect to HF RFID systems. Reader antenna design requires to
maximize the field in a limited volume close to the reader
antenna surface, while minimizing the field radiated in the far-
field region to prevent false-positives readings. Moreover, an
as homogeneous as possible field distribution is required on the
antenna surface to avoid failed detections when the tag is
arbitrarily located/oriented on the antenna surface. Depending
on the specific application and size constraints, different
antenna technologies can be employed: near-field focused Fig. 1. Top and lateral view of the proposed near-field Modular Antenna for
UHF RFID desktop readers. The main geometrical parameters values are
arrays [6]-[7], segmented loop antennas [8], travelling wave listed in Table I.
antennas [9]-[12].
The authors recently proposed a general scheme for RFID
To limit the overall antenna size, four slits at the patches
desktop reader antennas [13] consisting in a Travelling Wave
Antenna (TWA) which series-feeds a resonating antenna. In corners have been introduced in order to lower the patch
this paper, a specific design of such a Modular Antenna is resonance frequency [14]. The patch slits are asymmetric
presented, together with simulation results. The main goal is to (C=6.2mm, D=2.4mm), in order to radiate a circular
extend the confined uniform field distribution generated by the polarization. The main antenna parameters dimensions are
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shown in Table I for an ETSI band (865-868 MHz) RFID readability of tags arbitrarily oriented. It is also apparent that
reader. the presence of the cuts in the square patches and the small
size of the patches help to get a satisfactory magnetic field
TABLE I. ANTENNA GEOMETRICAL PARAMETERS FOR AN ETSI (865-868 amplitude at the antenna borders as well.
MHZ) BAND RFID READER
A 31 D 2.4
B 33.4 F 194
C 6.2 L 69.7
(c)
Fig. 3. Normalized magnetic field intensity (dB) on the 275×135 mm2
antenna surface, at a distance of 2mm and at the frequency of 865 MHz: (a)
Hx, (b) Hy and (c) Hz.
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dotted line), so showing that the spiral microstrip line is Also, it is possible to observe how the field is well confined
effective to reduce the power level at the array input (as well close to the reader case, thus reducing false positives readings.
as to improve return loss performance).
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Finally, 11 tags have been placed in a stacked configuration tests, the worst performance is observed at the desktop reader
and separated by foam layers. The distance from each other borders, where the reader electronic circuit is placed.
has been set to 2cm, up to an overall height of 20cm (the first
tag has been placed directly in contact with the antenna case).
IV. CONCLUSION
The stacked tags readability has been tested at each of the 9×5
grid cells on the desktop reader surface (27×13 cm2). The total A Modular Antenna configuration consisting of a spiral
number of tags that are detected in a 10s time interval has shaped TWA series connected to an array of two miniaturized
patches has been proposed for NF UHF RFID desktop reader
been recorded, when varying the tag orientation and the stack
applications. Tag detection tests demonstrated that such a
position on the antenna surface. Results are shown in Fig. 8, Modular Antenna configuration allows for the detection of tags
for two different tag orientations. placed in the antenna central area, up to 100cm from the
antenna surface (reader output power equal to 200mW),
regardless of tag orientation.
REFERENCES
Almost all the 11 stacked tags are read in each cell of the
antenna surface grid. As already highlighted in the previous
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