Radio Frequency Identification Fundamentals and Applications, Design Methods and Solutions Radio Frequency Identification Fundamentals and Applications, Design Methods and Solutions Edited by Cristina Turcu Intech IV Published by Intech Intech Olajnica 19/2, 32000 Vukovar, Croatia Abstracting and non-profit use of the material is permitted with credit to the source. Statements and opinions expressed in the chapters are these of the individual contributors and not necessarily those of the editors or publisher. No responsibility is accepted for the accuracy of information contained in the published articles. Publisher assumes no responsibility liability for any damage or injury to persons or property arising out of the use of any materials, instructions, methods or ideas contained inside. After this work has been published by the Intech, authors have the right to republish it, in whole or part, in any publication of which they are an author or editor, and the make other personal use of the work. © 2010 Intech Free online edition of this book you can find under www.sciyo.com Additional copies can be obtained from: publication@sciyo.com First published February 2010 Printed in India Technical Editor: Teodora Smiljanic Cover designed by Dino Smrekar Radio Frequency Identification Fundamentals and Applications, Design Methods and Solutions, Edited by Cristina Turcu p. cm. ISBN 978-953-7619-72-5 Preface In January 2009, IN-TECH publisher printed a book entitled “Development and Implementation of RFID Technology”. Approaching a variety of aspects concerning RFID (Radio Frequency IDentification) systems, the book focused on several key issues such as new design solutions for RFID antennas, the typology of readers and tags, ways to maintain security and privacy in RFID applications, the selection of appropriate encryption algorithms, etc. The number of applications for RFID systems has increased each year and various research directions have been developed to improve the performance of these systems. Therefore IN-TECH publisher has decided to continue the series of books dedicated to the latest results of research in the RFID field and launch a new book, entitled “Radio Frequency Identification Fundamentals and Applications, Design Methods and Solutions”, which could support the further development of RFID. Chapter 1 comprises reviews of recent works in current passive UHF RFID systems to provide guidance regarding the RFID system design and deployment. The chapter proposes a variety of issues, problems and solutions such as: UHF RFID radio links using the link budget concept to calculate forward-link and reverse-link interrogation ranges; reader hardware design considerations; phase diversity and quadrature signal combining, phase noise with range correlation effect, and transmitter leakage reduction methods; deployment issues including reader-to-reader interference. Chapter 2 is dedicated to design considerations for the digital core of an EPC Class 1 Gen 2 (C1G2) RFID tag. Chapter 3 proposes a brief introduction to RFID systems, and then focuses on the design of efficient space-filling antennas for passive UHF RFID tags. The fourth chapter introduces the concept of RFID systems and the relevant parameters for proper antenna design. It also approaches the expressions for the phase constants, propagation constants and the characteristic (or Bloch) impedance of a wave propagating down an infinite transmission line to introduce the concept of LH-propagation. Subsequently, the design of several meta-material-based antennas for passive UHF RFID tags is summarized. VI Chapter 5 proposes an in-depth investigation of the requirements for the antenna part of UHF RFID tags, with focus on antenna design, characterization and optimization from the perspectives of both costs involved and technical constraints. A special attention is given to antennas that could be manufactured if one follows more or less standard manufacturing techniques available in the packaging industry. The chapter also presents some new ideas on how to utilize the antenna structure itself as a sensor for measuring different physical properties within the logistic chain. Chapter 6 focuses on the operation theory of the RFID system. The antenna in RFID system is discussed, and the designing considerations of the antennas for RFID applications are presented. Also the design, simulation and implementation of some commonly used antennas in the RFID system are investigated. Chapter 7 deals with the design strategy and process integration for a small on-chip- antenna with a small RFID tag on a chip-area 0.64 x 0.64 mm at 2.45 GHz for communication in near field. Chapter 8 presents some considerations over the design of an RFID tag. Chapter 9 discusses active RFID tags system energy analysis as excitable linear bifurcation system. In Chapter 10, several types of tag antennas which are mountable on metallic platforms are introduced and analyzed. It is generally known that metallic objects strongly affect the antenna performance by lowering the efficiency of tags. Therefore tag antennas have to be designed to enable tags to be read near and on metallic objects without severe performance degradation. Chapter 11 also deals with problems raised by the use of RFID technologies in metal environments and proposes various solutions. Thus, the authors explain the basics of the inductive coupling method, the detuning and the shielding effects due to metals. Additionally, a new system that is able to work at ultra-low frequencies (ULF) and through a metallic shielding is proposed. Finally, the properties of the low frequencies and the new ULF systems are compared. Chapter 12 refers to the development of metallic coil identification system based on RFID technologies. This type of system was developed for the supply chain management in the iron and steel industry. Chapter 13 presents a TransCal software-based system design approach for inductively coupled transponder systems. The authors discuss three design examples to show the advantages and limits of their approach. The broad objective of Chapter 14 is to show an integrated process flow for the integration of gas sensors onto flexible substrates together with an RFID transponder to get a Flexible Tag Microlab innovative system for food logistic applications. Chapter 15 gives additional insight into the inks to be used in printing RFID antennas, their properties, their performance, benefits and drawbacks, and future concerns. In addition, some attention was given to adhesives, which are necessary to bond the die or die strap to the antenna. Chapter 16 describes how inkjet printing techniques can be used for the fabrication of conductive tracks on a polymer substrate; these techniques can be applied to manufacture RFID tags. Chapter 17 introduces a Wi-Fi RFID active tag called Tag4M with the functionality of a multifunctional input/output measurement device. This tag offers a combination of Wi-Fi VII radio and measurement capabilities for sensors and actuators that generate output as voltage, current, or digital signal. Tag4M is suitable for prototyping wireless sensor measurements, as well as for educational purposes such as teaching wireless measurement using the existing Wi-Fi infrastructure. The final chapter of this book presents the technology, design and implementation of an inductively-coupled passive 64-bit organic RFID tag, which is fully functional at 13.56 MHz. One of the best ways of documenting in the domain of RFID technology is to analyze and learn from those who have trodden the RFID path. And this book is a very rich collection of articles written by researchers, teachers, engineers, and technical people with strong background in the RFID area. I wish to sincerely acknowledge the efforts of all scientists that contributed to this book. In addition, I would like to express my appreciation to the team at InTech that has fulfilled its mission with the highest degree of dedication again. Editor Cristina TURCU Stefan cel Mare University of Suceava Romania Contents Preface V 1. Hardware Design and Deployment Issues in UHF RFID Systems 001 Byung-Jun Jang 2. Design Considerations for the Digital Core of a C1G2 RFID Tag 013 Ibon Zalbide, Juan F. Sevillano and Igone Vélez 3. Design of Space-Filling Antennas for Passive UHF RFID Tags 037 Benjamin D. Braaten, Gregory J. Owen and Robert M. Nelson 4. Design of Passive UHF RFID Tag Antennas Using Metamaterial-Based Structures and Techniques 051 Benjamin D. Braaten and Robert P. Scheeler 5. RFID Antennas – Possibilities and Limitations 069 Johan Sidén and Hans-Erik Nilsson 6. Antennas of RFID Tags 093 Ahmed M. A. Salama 7. Near Field On Chip RFID Antenna Design 111 Alberto Vargas and Lukas Vojtech 8. RFID TAGs Coil's Dimensional Parameters Optimization As Excitable Linear Bifurcation System 127 Ofer Aluf X 9. Active RFID TAGs System Analysis of Energy Consumption As Excitable Linear Bifurcation System 151 Ofer Aluf 10. RFID Tag Antennas Mountable on Metallic Platforms 165 Byunggil Yu, Frances J. Harackiewicz and Byungje Lee 11. RFID in Metal Environments: An Overview on Low (LF) and Ultra-Low (ULF) Frequency Systems 181 D. Ciudad, P. Cobos Arribas, P. Sanchez and C. Aroca 12. Development of Metallic Coil Identification System based on RFID 197 Myunsik Kim, Beobsung Song, Daegeun Ju, Eunjung Choi, and Byunglok Cho 13. Virtual Optimisation and Verification of Inductively Coupled Transponder Systems 215 Frank Deicke, Hagen Grätz and Wolf-Joachim Fischer 14. Fabrication and Encapsulation Processes for Flexible Smart RFID Tags 237 Estefania Abad, Barbara Mazzolai, Aritz Juarros, Alessio Mondini, Angelika Krenkow and Thomas Becker 15. Conduct Radio Frequencies with Inks 251 Rudie Oldenzijl, Gregory Gaitens and Douglass Dixon 16. Inkjet Printing and Alternative Sintering of Narrow Conductive Tracks on Flexible Substrates for Plastic Electronic Applications 265 Jolke Perelaer and Ulrich S. Schubert 17. Tag4M, a Wi-Fi RFID Active Tag Optimized for Sensor Measurements 287 Silviu Folea and Marius Ghercioiu 18. Organic RFID Tags 311 Kris Myny, Soeren Steudel, Peter Vicca, Monique J. Beenhakkers, Nick A.J.M. van Aerle, Gerwin H. Gelinck, Jan Genoe, Wim Dehaene, and Paul Heremans [...]... from 10 uW (-20dBm) to 50uW ( -13 dBm) (Karthasu & Fischer, 2003) The modulation depth, m , is chosen to be an average value between 0 .1 and 0.9 4 Radio Frequency Identification Fundamentals and Applications, Design Methods and Solutions 30 Tag received power [dBm] 20 10 0 -10 FIR -20 -30 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 Tag-reader distance [m] 7 8 9 10 Fig 2 Forward link budget of an UHF RFID system with center frequency. .. Symposium Digest, pp .11 77 -11 80, ISSN 014 9-645X, June 2006 Leong, K S.; Ng, M L & Cole, P H (2006) Positioning Analysis of Multiple Antennas in a Dense RFID Reader Environment, Proceedings of International Symposium on Applications and the Internet Workshops, pp 23-27, ISBN 0-7695-2 510 -5, Jan 2006 12 Radio Frequency Identification Fundamentals and Applications, Design Methods and Solutions Nikitin, P... the finite state machine and the integrated additional features define the complexity and functionality of the whole tag Finally, a transmitter controls the load modulator of the front-end and backscatters the answer to the reader 14 Radio Frequency Identification Fundamentals and Applications, Design Methods and Solutions Fig 1 Architecture of a passive RFID tag The C1G2 standard (EPC Global, 2005)... (t ) − θ LO (t − Δt ) and θ LO (t ) is the phase noise of the LO signal The term in parenthesis embodies the range correlation effect on the baseband spectrum Assuming that the typical values for r and f o are 8m and 16 0kHz, respectively, the value 8 Radio Frequency Identification Fundamentals and Applications, Design Methods and Solutions of r Δf c / c will be on the order of 10 -3 So the range correlation... 10 Hz, the phase noise is reduced by 13 0dB -60 Phase Noise [dBc/Hz] -80 -10 0 -12 0 typical LO(θLO(t)) -14 0 LO w/ range correlation (Δθ(t)) samsung(2007) Intel(2007) Analog Devices(2007) ETRI(2006) Microelectronics(2007) -16 0 -18 0 1 10 2 10 3 4 10 10 Offset Frequency (Δ fc) [Hz] 5 10 6 10 Fig 7 LO phase noise as a function of offset frequency In addition, the phase noise may affect the symbol-error-rate... to the sensitivity of the receiver and its interrogation range In detail, the low noise amplifier 9 Hardware Design and Deployment Issues in UHF RFID Systems 0 10 -1 Symbol Error Rate 10 -2 10 FM0-BPSK(±π/8) FM0-BPSK(±π/4) -3 10 Analysis,AWGN Analysis, θLO(t), Analysis, Δθ(t) Simulation,AWGN Simulation,θLO(t), -4 10 Simulation,Δθ(t) -2 0 2 4 6 8 10 SNR [dB] 12 14 16 18 20 Fig 8 SER performance of FM0-BPSK... amplifiers the LO signal to achieve a high power level The amplified Fig 4 Architecture of an UHF RFID system and block diagram of a reader and a tag 6 Radio Frequency Identification Fundamentals and Applications, Design Methods and Solutions signal feeds into the reader antenna via the circulator and then radiates into the air The reader antenna simultaneously receives the backscattered signals from the... reader-to-tag interference happens when a tag is located at the intersection of two or more reader 10 Radio Frequency Identification Fundamentals and Applications, Design Methods and Solutions interrogation ranges and the readers attempt to communicate with the tag simultaneously This can cause a tag to behave and communicate in undesirable ways Multiple reader-totag interference can be solved simply by.. .1 Hardware Design and Deployment Issues in UHF RFID Systems Byung-Jun Jang Kookmin University, Seoul Korea 1 Introduction Recently, radio frequency identification (RFID) have created emerging applications for tracking, sensing, and identifying various targets in wide-ranging areas such as supply chain, transportation, airline baggage handling, medical and biological industry, and homeland security... (2008) Antennas and propagation in UHF RFID systems, Proceedings of 2008 IEEE International Conference of RFID, pp 277-288, ISBN 978 -14 244 -17 11- 7, Apr 2008 Yoon, H & Jang, B -J (2008) Link budget calculation for UHF RFID systems, Microwave Journal, Vol 51, No 12 , Dec 2008, pp 78-77, ISSN 019 2-6225 2 Design Considerations for the Digital Core of a C1G2 RFID Tag Ibon Zalbide, Juan F Sevillano and Igone Vélez . Radio Frequency Identification Fundamentals and Applications, Design Methods and Solutions Radio Frequency Identification Fundamentals and Applications, Design Methods and Solutions. (3). For example, at an offset frequency of 10 Hz, the phase noise is reduced by 13 0dB. 10 1 10 2 10 3 10 4 10 5 10 6 -18 0 -16 0 -14 0 -12 0 -10 0 -80 -60 Offset Frequency ( Δ f c ) [Hz] Phase. receiver and its interrogation range. In detail, the low noise amplifier Hardware Design and Deployment Issues in UHF RFID Systems 9 -2 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 10 -4 10 -3 10 -2 10 -1 10 0 Symbol