A High-Gain Passive UHF-RFID Tag with Increased Read Range

• Main Authors: Simone Zuffanelli, Pau Aguila, Gerard Zamora, Ferran Paredes, Ferran Martin, Jordi Bonache
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2016-07-01
• Series: Sensors
• Subjects: dipole antennas; impedance matching; radio-frequency identification (RFID)
• Online Access: http://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/16/7/1150

In this work, a passive ultra-high frequency radio-frequency identification UHF-RFID tag based on a 1.25 wavelengths thin dipole antenna is presented for the first time. The length of the antenna is properly chosen in order to maximize the tag read range, while maintaining a reasonable tag size and radiation pattern. The antenna is matched to the RFID chip by means of a very simple matching network based on a shunt inductance. A tag prototype, based on the Alien Higgs-3 chip, is designed and fabricated. The overall dimensions are 400 mm × 14.6 mm, but the tag width for most of its length is delimited by the wire diameter (0.8 mm). The measured read range exhibits a maximum value of 17.5 m at the 902–928 MHz frequency band. This represents an important improvement over state-of-the-art passive UHF-RFID tags.