A New Washable UHF RFID Tag: Design, Fabrication, and Assessment.

Aurelian Moraru,Elena Helerea,Corneliu Ursachi

doi:10.3390/s20123451

Aurelian Moraru, Elena Helerea + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/s20123451

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Abstract

This paper deals with the design and fabrication of durable radio frequency identification (RFID) passive tag with inductive coupling, operating at ultra-high frequencies, dedicated to the identification and monitoring of professional textile products. A reliable architecture for the tag transponder is proposed, featuring a minimal number of galvanic contacts: The two pins of the integrated circuit are connected to the terminals of the inductive coupling loop by using surface mount technology welding. The transponder is encapsulated with an electrically insulating material which is waterproof and resistant to mechanical, thermal, and chemical stress. The antenna is inductively coupled to the transponder through a double loop which substantially reduces the length of the tag and significantly improves the coupling factor, enabling the tag to operate at a low power level. The reliability and flexibility of the tag is obtained by using appropriate materials and manufacturing methods for the ultra-high frequency (UHF) antenna by embroidering a multifilament stainless steel wire on textile support. The washing cycle tests have validated the applicability of this flexible and washable RFID tag, and its electromagnetic performance was experimentally assessed in an independent laboratory.

Highlights

The radio frequency identification (RFID) is one of the wireless technologies that implements the internet of things (IoT) concept and is successfully applied to assure the traceability and monitoring of objects [1,2]
Based on this test and on the bending test, it was established that the model M4 of tag with ultra-high frequency (UHF) embroidered antenna made with multifilament wire is the most suitable UHF RFID tag prototype
Experimental results showed that the RFID tag with such an embroidered antenna responds well to queries at maximum emission power, and that it responds better to queries at low powers

Summary

Introduction

The radio frequency identification (RFID) is one of the wireless technologies that implements the internet of things (IoT) concept and is successfully applied to assure the traceability and monitoring of objects [1,2]. The reader sends a radio signal to the RFID tag, which, after receiving the signal, responds with a signal containing the tag identifier and other data regarding the identified object [3,4,5]. By attaching the RFID tag, each object is assigned a unique identity. This ability to uniquely identify any element of a class of entities and the huge number of identities that can be attributed constitute jointly the conceptual strength of the RFID domain. The ultra-high frequency (UHF) band allows high communication speed at distances up to about 10 m for efficient object tracking in many applications, including localization, monitoring, and control of various items [6,7]

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Discussion

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