High Frequency Antenna For Vicinity Coupling Devices
High Frequency Antenna For Vicinity Coupling Devices
High Frequency Antenna For Vicinity Coupling Devices
12-30-2022
Elvis Tamakloe
Department of Computer Engineering, Faculty of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Kwame Nkrumah
University of Science and Technology, Kumasi 00233, Ghana, [email protected]
Part of the Computer Engineering Commons, and the Electrical and Computer Engineering Commons
Recommended Citation
Kommey, Benjamin; Addo, Ernest Ofosu; and Tamakloe, Elvis (2022) "Design and Prototyping of a Low-
Cost High Frequency Antenna for Vicinity Coupling Devices," Makara Journal of Technology: Vol. 26: Iss.
3, Article 3.
DOI: 10.7454/mst.v26i3.1564
Available at: https://scholarhub.ui.ac.id/mjt/vol26/iss3/3
This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Universitas Indonesia at UI Scholars Hub. It has been
accepted for inclusion in Makara Journal of Technology by an authorized editor of UI Scholars Hub.
Makara J. Technol. 26/3 (2022), 103−109
doi: 10.7454/mst.v26i3.1564
Abstract
This paper describes the development of a high frequency (HF) antenna for high output power vicinity coupling devices
(VCDs) operating at 13.56 MHz. Key design parameters, such as RF power level, antenna size, and communication protocol,
and their link to the antenna features and requirements, have been discussed. For efficient reader interrogation, detection,
and recovery of transponder responses, a tuning circuit necessary to adjust the antenna power matching and resonance
characteristics was designed and prototyped. The antenna was fed to an industry standard reader and evaluated for read range
performance with vicinity cards. The designed antenna on the reader achieved a good read range, which demonstrated fair
agreement with the calculated theoretical results.
Keywords: antenna, high frequency, RFID, tuning network, vicinity coupling devices
the EPCglobal Class 1 Gen 2. The standards define key 2. Materials and Methods
radio interface parameters, such as modulation, subcarrier
frequency, bandwidth, and coding [4]. This paper focuses Design considerations. Based on their principle of
on HF-RFID devices that conform to the ISO 15693 operation, antennas for HF-RFID applications are
standards, wherein tags are referred to as vicinity designed as electrically small loops. Loop antennas can
integrated circuit cards (VICCs) and vicinity coupling be designed for appreciable self-inductance required for
devices (VCDs) of readers. The challenge of signal tag–reader inductive coupling. Antennas could be made
reception and processing as experienced by many VICCs from any conductive material, with copper and aluminum
and readers in object identification cannot be overlooked. being the common materials. Construction methods
include the use of tubes and tapes [8–9], wire (insulated
Various attempts toward the development of antennas for or non-insulated) [10], PCB etching [7, 11, 12], and
such devices are detailed in the recent literature. The screen printing [5, 13].
paper in [5] proposes a method for creating large area
antenna structures for VCDs. In that paper, a four- Tube antennas are often bulky despite their easy
element antenna was produced by marking conductive production, while tape antennas lack robustness because
inks on a paper substrate using a stencil process. An input they easily succumb to environmental conditions. PCB
power of 33 dBm produced a maximum recorded read antennas are neat and are suitable for miniature systems.
range of 11.1 cm using the tag antenna system. Thus, Such antennas might not necessarily require industry-
antennas produced from such a method suffered grade equipment nor processes and can be created by an
remarkably high losses and possessed poor power average skilled handyman. However, etching PCB
transfer to passive tags. The proposed remedy for this antennas involves the use of harmful materials, such as
problem involves applying the conductive ink to an ferric chloride acid. Hence, the manufacturing process
identical position multiple times, which significantly should be performed meticulously and with safety
increases the fabrication complexity and system cost of equipment. Antenna coils could also be realized by
such antennas. In [6], a multiloop antenna structure for screen printing with conductive inks (e.g., silver particle
use in an industrial setting was developed. A model ink) on various substrates, such as paper or PET. Despite
where the antenna is divided into a few finite length the remarkable design flexibility and low-cost
elements to combat the effect of eddy currents produced advantages of this technique, screen printed antennas
in antennas by metallic objects in the antenna have high fabrication complexity. Additionally, these
surroundings is presented in this paper. This model has a printed antennas are plagued with reduced read
maximum recorded read range of 43 cm in disruption- performance (low quality factor and low signal-to-noise
free environment when the tag and reader are in close ratio) and high Joule heating due to their commonly high
proximity at 94 dBμA/m magnetic field. The design DC resistance [14–15]. Wire antennas provide a good
approach in the paper produced antennas which worked balance of the aforementioned pros and cons and are
well near conductive materials; however, these antennas considered in this work.
could not read mid-range tags well and were only useful
for low read distance applications, such as smart Knowledge of the overall RFID system features, such as
shelving. The authors in [7] presented a model for the VCD, RF supply, and possible VICC characteristics,
developing HF-RFID antennas based on the idea of using is crucial to obtain the optimum performance of the
the self-resonance frequency of small multi-turn coils. antenna. VCDs require antennas with their center
Their model sought to optimize the quality factor and frequency tuned to fop and having an input impedance that
provide uniform near-field patterns. However, the matches the interrogator front-end/supply with minimal
approach required intricate printed circuit board (PCB) small reflection loss. The VCD must also possess good
technology, produced substantially low read distances tag response selectivity when the designed antenna is
with a maximum value of 10 cm, and relied on special connected. Another important influence on the design is
substrates for a decent performance. the required maximum reading range dmax. For a given
VCD RF output power, the read distance bears a strong
The current work presents a methodical design of a low dependence on the size of the reader antenna.
fabrication cost RFID antenna, which guarantees a good Considering a square HF loop antenna fed with current I,
detection range and an easy recovery of responses from provided the total loop conductor length D << 0.2λop, the
VICCs present in the interrogation zone of the reader. magnetic field intensity at a distance d along the normal
The main contribution of the paper is to demonstrate the axis of the loop could be accurately estimated using
implementation of an HF antenna for VCDs, which uses Equation (1), where N and s are the turns number and side
a low-cost and less complex construction approach yet dimension of the antenna, respectively [16].
provides a superior performance compared with the
recent state-of-the-art. An antenna prototype was 2√2𝑁𝐼𝑠 2
developed and tested to validate the proposed method. 𝐻(𝑑) ≈ (1)
𝜋√(2𝑑 2 +𝑠 2 )3
Among all shapes of similar perimeter, the antenna coil of the reader antenna Q involves a compromise between
was designed in a square shape because it produces the large dmax and good carrier–subcarrier separation. A high
largest near-field magnetic field required for VCD–VICC Q may conflict with the bandpass response of the reader,
communication [20]. This shape is commonly used and increased signal oscillations could interfere with the
because it is quite simple to construct and performs better protocol parameters of VCD, such as bit timing [18–19].
in practice compared with other shapes. Furthermore, Furthermore, high voltages at resonance can cause
Equation (1) shows that long read ranges are guaranteed insulation breakdown of the coil or conditioning circuit
by large power. However, the RF power or field components depending on the antenna build. The antenna
generated by an antenna has a legal limit, which is 4 W must be damped to mitigate such problems. That is, the
in Europe and the USA based on ETSI and FCC interrogator antenna must be designed such that it has
regulations, respectively [8]. Large antennas may require sufficient bandwidth for the undistorted transmission or
shielding to maintain their operation within these limits. reception of a modulated carrier signal while having
The adoption of large loops could also negatively affect sufficient power to meet the minimum interrogation field
the receiving characteristics of the antenna and increase strength (Hmin criterion of VICCs). Typical values for
coil self-inductance to levels which may make power VICC interrogation H range from 0.075 A/m to 5 A/m.
matching remarkably difficult to achieve. Other factors, As recommended in the ISO 15693 standard, the loaded
such as typical tag traveling speed, orientation, and VCD antenna Q, QL, must lie in the range of 15–20 for
transmitted data volume, are also considered in the good performance (Figure 2) [5, 8].
system requirement study [6]. The effect on travel speed
and data transmission, which are remarkably critical in Assuming Ccoil is remarkably small at fop, the antenna is
simultaneous multiple tag identification, could be linked approximately a first-order series resonator with a large
to the VCD, baud rate, and sojourn time of tags in the 𝐿
time constant 𝜏 = 𝑐𝑜𝑖𝑙 . Therefore, the unloaded quality
field. 𝑅𝑐𝑜𝑖𝑙
factor of the antenna, Q0, is given by Equation (4). The
Antenna design. In the reactive near-field region of the high unloaded Q (due to the large τ) could be lowered to
square loop antenna, the power is predominantly a recommended overall value, QL, by loading the antenna
inductive and tends to be real as d increases. Therefore, with a large shunt resistance Rpar to produce an effective
the square loop could be equivalently represented by a anti-resonance with a low-quality factor.
series RL lumped element connection; with distributed
𝑅𝑝𝑎𝑟
capacitance coil between coil turns, the antenna exhibits 𝑄𝑒𝑥𝑡 = , Since Rpar >> Rcoi,
𝜔𝑜𝑝 𝐿𝑐𝑜𝑖𝑙
bandpass filtering properties. At fop and with a core of
magnetic permeability µ, an s-side square loop antenna
QL = Q0||Qext ≈ Qext.
constructed from N turns of a conductor of diameter h and
conductivity σ presents an input resistance Rcoil, which
Therefore, in designing the damping network, a desired
combines its radiation resistance Rrad and ohmic
QL is first selected, and the appropriate shunt resistor
resistance Rloss Equation (2). Additionally, the antenna
value can be determined as Rpar ≈ ωopLcoilQL. This
exhibits a self-inductance Lcoil that could be evaluated by
resistance value could be fine-tuned for optimum
the expression in Equation (3) [17].
performance.
4
4𝑠 4𝑁𝑠 𝑓 𝜇 𝜔𝑜𝑝 𝐿𝑐𝑜𝑖𝑙
𝑅𝑐𝑜𝑖𝑙 ≈ 20𝜋 2 𝑁 2 ( ) + √ 𝑜𝑝 , (2) 𝑄0 = 2𝜋𝑓𝑜𝑝 𝜏 = . (4)
𝜆𝑜𝑝 ℎ 𝜋𝜎 𝑅𝑐𝑜𝑖𝑙
𝜇 2𝑎
𝐿𝑐𝑜𝑖𝑙 ≈ 2𝑁 2 𝑠 ( ) − 0.774. (3)
𝜋 ℎ
𝑓𝑜𝑝
A large quality factor 𝑄 = indicates high output
𝐵𝑊3𝑑𝐵
power for the antenna but narrow half-power bandwidth, Figure 2. Antenna Bandpass Characteristics with Low
BW3dB, and possible stability issues. Therefore, the design and High Q (Addo et al. [22])
antenna at fop was ZcoilM = RcoilM + jXcoilM = 2.187 + for connecting the circuit to the antenna and the reader
j191.282Ω. Therefore, the measured input resistance and supply, respectively. SMD resistors and capacitors as
self-inductance of the antenna were RcoilM = 2.187Ω and well as the connectors were soldered to the copper traces
𝑋𝑐𝑜𝑖𝑙𝑀 to complete the matching circuit. Rpar, C1, and C2 were
𝐿𝑐𝑜𝑖𝑙𝑀 = = 2.245𝜇𝐻, respectively. The increase
𝜔𝑜𝑝 formed with a combination of low-valued devices due to
or deviation of the measured input impedance the unavailability of exact valued discrete components.
considering the analytical and simulated values could be
mainly attributed to the increase in D and s due to error The component part list is summarized in Table 1 and
during prototyping Equation (2) and (3). For Recoil, Figure 10 shows the fabricated matching circuit.
although Read has a quartic dependence on s, the 1/top
multiplicative factor diminishes the effect of increasing s The antenna matching circuit assembly was measured
because s <a < top. Thus, the increment in Recoil mainly using the VNA and then tuned for optimal matching at
corresponds to the osmic loss increase. However, the fop. The measurement setup is shown in Figure 11.
operation of HF-RFID antennas does not depend on Read
because such systems rely solely on inductive power. By
contrast, the increase in Local is attributed to the rise of the
unloaded Q of the antenna coil Q0 ≈ 87 (Equation (4))
2𝑠
due to𝑠 In ( ), which was more than four times the
ℎ
recommended limit. Designing for a QL =17, a shunt
resistor Rap = ωopLcoilMQL = 3.25kΩ was used as an initial
guess. This resistance value was tuned later for optimum
performance. The capacitance matching technique was
used to transform the damped antenna impedance to RX.
The resonance capacitance Cpar was determined to be = Figure 7. Prototype of the Designed HF Antenna
1
2 = 61.36 pF, whiles C1 and C2 were 70 and 495
𝜔𝑜𝑝 𝐿𝑐𝑜𝑖𝑙𝑀
pF (Equations (5) and (6), respectively). The circuit
representation of the reader antenna connected to a
balanced capacitance matching network was simulated
and tuned in the NI AWR Design Environment. The
optimized damping and matching circuit parameter
values were Rpar = 3.266kΩ, C1 = 70pF, and C2 = 384pF
(Figure 8). As shown in the plot in Figure 9, the
optimized balanced matching circuit resonates at 13.82
MHz and has an input impedance Zin = 50.04 − j0.0768Ω
at fop. The antenna achieved a simulated 68.17 dB return
loss at its input port when connected to the 50Ω port
(coax supply).
Figure 8. Schematic of HF Antenna with the Simulated and
The matching network was fabricated on an FR-4 PCB Optimized Balanced Matching Circuit
with etched copper traces for the easy connection of
circuit components. The PCB was fitted with a terminal
mounting header and an SMA Female PCB Edge Mount
Table 1. Bill of Material for the Matching The RF energy supply of the VCD was activated, and the
noise floor was measured to ensure that the amplitude of
Circuit Optimal interference level was sufficiently low such that tag
Part Number Part Value Quantity
Elements Value responses could easily be identified even at low signal
Rpar 3.266 kΩ RS 123-4452 3.3 kΩ 1 levels. A low noise floor was also an indication of a good
antenna matching circuit and test environment setup.
RS 774-0594 100 pF 2 Differences in maximum and minimum noise levels
C1 70 pF should be less than 20 mV for good reader–tag
RS 106-2893 7–50 pF 2
communication. The average noise level recorded was 6
RS 699-8666 220 pF 1 mV, while differences between extreme levels were 5
mV. Notably, in addition to the losses due to mismatch
C2 384 pF RS 916-3056 150 pF 1 between the cable and the antenna, the reader also drives
varied output currents depending on the antenna
RS 721-5350 6.5–30 pF 1 impedance, resulting in power variance [21]. A 50 Ω load
draws approximately 0.3 A of current. No current flows
when the output is open, and the current is limited to 1.0
A in the event of a short circuit.
2
𝑁𝐼𝑠 2 3 𝑠 2
𝑑𝑚𝑎𝑥 ≈ √( ) − ( ) ≈ 0.52𝑚 (7)
𝜋𝐻𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑁𝑋𝑃 2
Table 2. Comparison of the Presented Work to the State- in this work produces superior read performance while
of-the Art using a simple construction approach.
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