Radio Frequency Identification and Sensors: From RFID to Chipless RFID

255 Pages·2014·9.498 MB·English

by  Etienne Perret

W766-Perret.qxp_Layout 1 31/10/2014 10:23 Page 1
NETWORKS AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS SERIES
Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) is based on the exchange of E
t Radio Frequency
information carried by electromagnetic waves between a label, or tag, ie
n
and a readerfor the purpose of automatically identifying and tracking n
e
tags attached to objects. This technology is currently in full economic
P
expansion, manifested inits widely backed research activities, some of e Identification
r
which are examined in this book. The rate at which RFID technology is re
t
growing is evident by the multiple annual international conferences
dedicated specifically to this theme. RFID sessions are included in every
and Sensors
conference revolving around microwaves, Radio Frequency systems, or
issues of communication. Due to the versatilityof this approach, it is R
possible to address extremely broad domains ranging from software to a
components. d
i
Today, there are thousands of applications that involve RFID. Cost o
From RFID to Chipless RFID
remains its most important competitive aspect, clearly distinguishing it
F
from other systems such as Bluetooth or ZigBee. In passive ultra-high
r
frequency RFID, the absence of a battery in the tag results in a much e
q
lower cost, and it is possible to obtain disposable tagsfor many of its
u
applications. In our near future, chipless RFID, which also allows for
e
usage via radio frequency but without the need for a chip and hence at Etienne Perret
n
a much lower cost, is likely to substitute current RFID systems.
c
This book is dedicated to current RFID technology, which is be y

discussed in Part I, as well as the future directions of the field with the I
d
development of chipless technology, whose current use and future
e
applications are discussed in Part II. By using specific examples of
n
current usage and discussing the different practicalapproacheswithin
t
which it is expected that the chipless approach might develop, this book i
f
aims to compile the past and present of RFID technology in order to i
c
enlighten its future.
a
t
i
o
n

a
n
Etienne Perret is Professor at the Grenoble Institute of Technology and d
member of the Institut Universitaire de France. His research interests
S
include wireless communication systems, particularly within Radio
e
Frequency Identification.
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Z(7ib8e8-CBHGGJ(
www.iste.co.uk
Radio Frequency Identification and Sensors
To my father

“If you work hard at the small things,
in time you will achieve the great ones”.
Samuel Beckett
Series Editor
Guy Pujolle
Radio Frequency
Identification and Sensors

From RFID to Chipless RFID

Etienne Perret
First published 2014 in Great Britain and the United States by ISTE Ltd and John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of research or private study, or criticism or review, as
permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, this publication may only be reproduced,
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undermentioned address:
ISTE Ltd John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
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UK USA
www.iste.co.uk www.wiley.com

© ISTE Ltd 2014
The rights of Etienne Perret to be identified as the author of this work have been asserted by him in
accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
Library of Congress Control Number: 2014953189

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 978-1-84821-766-9
Contents
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix
LIST OF ACRONYMS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi
INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xv
PART 1. RADIO-FREQUENCY IDENTIFICATIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION TO RFID . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.1. General introduction to RFID . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.2. The RFID market . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
1.3. Issues in RFID . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
1.3.1. Robustness of reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
1.3.2. Tag prices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
1.3.3. From identification toward sensor function . . . . . . . . . . 17
1.4. Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
1.5. Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
CHAPTER 2. ANTENNA DESIGN FOR
UHF RFID TAGS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
2.1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
2.2. Essential RFID parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
2.2.1. Putting into equation of
reader-tag links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
2.3. Discussions about the two
chip impedance states Zi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
c
vi Radio Frequency Identification and Sensors
2.4. Rules of design for RFID antennas:
classic design approach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
2.4.1. Classic antenna design approach
for passive UHF RFID tags . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
2.5. Robust RFID antenna design methodology . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
2.5.1. Context of study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
2.5.2. Description of principle applied . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
2.5.3. Principle of co-simulation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
2.5.4. Taking into account of the
environment, design of robust tags . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
2.5.5. Use of the cosimulation principle
in the optimization process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
2.5.6. Generation of antenna forms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
2.5.7. Application of the automated
design tool via an example . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
2.6. Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
2.7. Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
CHAPTER 3. NEW DEVELOPMENTS IN UHF RFID . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
3.1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
3.2. Wireless measurement technique
for antenna impedance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
3.2.1. Characterization of RFID chips and
measurement of the two impedance states . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
3.2.2. Theoretical approach to input
impedance extraction from a small
antenna based on the use of an RFID chip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
3.3. Toward the use of RFID as a sensor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
3.3.1. Taking into account of
downlink – increase of delta RCS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
3.3.2. Example of an RFID sensor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
3.4. Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
3.5. Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
PART 2. CHIPLESS RFID . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
CHAPTER 4. INTRODUCTION TO CHIPLESS RFID . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
4.1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
4.2. Operating principle of chipless RFID . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
Contents vii
4.2.1. Description of the principle
of chipless RFID . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
4.2.2. Example of C-shaped tag . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
4.3. Positioning of chipless RFID . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
4.3.1. Latest developments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
4.3.2. Frequential tag and temporal
tag: definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
4.3.3. Applicative positioning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
4.4. Advantages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
4.4.1. Different ideas to take into
consideration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
4.5. Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
4.6. Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
CHAPTER 5. DEVELOPMENT OF CHIPLESS RFID . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
5.1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
5.2. Coding capacity and density
of chipless RFID tags . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
5.2.1. Performances of resonant patterns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
5.2.2. Information coding techniques . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
5.2.3. Transmission and reception
standards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
5.3. Improvement of the robustness of
detection of chipless RFID tags . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
5.3.1. REP approach (frequency domain) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
5.3.2. Temporal approaches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
5.4. Practical application of chipless
RFID technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
5.4.1. Design of chipless RFID tags
compatible with regulations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
5.4.2. Cost of tags . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
5.4.3. Production of a reader for
chipless technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
5.4.4. Chipless RFID at THz – the
THID project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
5.5. Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178
5.6. Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
viii Radio Frequency Identification and Sensors
CHAPTER 6. PERSPECTIVES ON
CHIPLESS RFID TECHNOLOGY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
6.1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
6.2. Securing of information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186
6.3. Multiple readings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
6.4. Chipless sensors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190
6.4.1. Humidity sensors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190
6.4.2. Deformation sensor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
6.5. Reconfigurable chipless . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208
6.5.1. Operating principle of CBRAM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
6.5.2. Example of a reconfigurable
chipless tag . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211
6.6. Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216
6.7. Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
CONCLUSION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223
INDEX. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227
Acknowledgments
This project was completed at the Laboratory of Conception and
Integration of Systems (LCIS) at the Grenoble Institute of
Technology, in the ORSYS group.
Special thanks go to Hamza Chaabane, Arnaud Vena and Raji
Sasidharan Nair, whom I supervised during their PhD degree; the
principal results of which are discussed in this book. I extend my
warm friendship and gratitude to them.
I would also like to thank all of the master’s, doctoral and post-
doctoral students with whom I have worked over the past few years
and who contributed to the completion of this book. Particular thanks
go to Emna Bel Kamel, Maxime Bernier, Ayslan Caisson Noroes
Maia, Mossaab Daiki, Thaïs Luana Vidal, Maher Hamdi, Olivier
Rance, Taranjeet Singh, Paul Slomianny, Raphael Tavares De Alencar
and Deepu Vasudevan Nair. Both the quality and the relevance of this
book owe a great deal to their assiduous work, and I am well aware of
being in their debt.
Warm thanks to my colleagues Frédéric Garet and Lionel
Duvillaret, with whom I have had many fruitful discussions, notably
as part of the THID project. I would like to express my appreciation
for all their help and for the time they most kindly spared for me. I
also give thanks to Thierry Barron, Patrice Gonon and Christophe