A Novel Displacement and Tilt Detection Method Using Passive UHF RFID Technology

• Main Authors: Xiaozheng Lai, Zhirong Cai, Zeming Xie, Hailong Zhu
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2018-05-01
• Series: Sensors
• Subjects: displacement; tilt angle; ultrahigh frequency (UHF); radio frequency identification (RFID); antenna polarization
• Online Access: http://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/18/5/1644

The displacement and tilt angle of an object are useful information for wireless monitoring applications. In this paper, a low-cost detection method based on passive radio frequency identification (RFID) technology is proposed. This method uses a standard ultrahigh-frequency (UHF) RFID reader to measure the phase variation of the tag response and detect the displacement and tilt angle of RFID tags attached to the targeted object. An accurate displacement result can be detected by the RFID system with a linearly polarized (LP) reader antenna. Based on the displacement results, an accurate tilt angle can also be detected by the RFID system with a circularly polarized (CP) reader antenna, which has been proved to have a linear relationship with the phase parameter of the tag’s backscattered wave. As far as accuracy is concerned, the mean absolute error (MAE) of displacement is less than 2 mm and the MAE of the tilt angle is less than 2.5° for an RFID system with 500 mm working range.