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This example, creates a commercially available RFID tag operating at 915 MHz. The
planar antenna is drawn and meshed using PDE Toolbox. The meshed structure is
then imported into Antenna Toolbox and solved for its EM properties.
This example requires the following product:
Partial Differntial Equation Toolbox
Contents
RFID Antenna
Drawing the Antenna Geometry
Meshing the Antenna
Creating a Custom Antenna
Impedance of the RFID Antenna
Radiation Pattern of the RFID Antenna
RFID Antenna
Below is a commercially available RFID antenna. These tags are typically used on
boxes for inventory tracking. The main requirement for these tags is that they should be
cheap to manufacture and have a very narrow band. The antenna below has an overall
dimension of 22mm x 22mm.
load RFIDtag
ant = customAntennaMesh(p, t);
The feed can be created by using a GUI or by specifying the two points across which
the feed is defined. We will look at both these approaches in this example. Calling
createFeed with just the antenna as the input parameter opens the feed creating GUI.
createFeed(ant)
Pick a gap in the metal to feed the antenna. The interactive figure, allows to select two
triangles across the gap. Click the pick button which provides a cross hair to pick the
two triangles. The figure below shows the way to select the first triangle. Bring the
cross hair over the triangle as shown below and press the left mouse button.
Repeat the process for the second triangle across the gap. Once the two feed triangles
are selected the figure will update to show the feed with green triangles as shown
below. The red dot shows the feeding edge. To change the feed location, click the
undo button and start again.
The other way to create the feed is by specifying the two points between which the
feed needs to be created as shown below. Use the show function to visualize the
antenna.
show(ant);
view(2);
Impedance of the RFID Antenna
The custom antenna can now be solved by calling all the analysis functions of the
Antenna Toolbox. We are interested in the operation of the RFID tag at 915 MHz.
z = impedance(ant, 915e6)
z =
7.3653e-01 + 2.9269e+02i
The impedance values above indicate that the antenna is highly inductive with a small
resistance value. This is typical for RFID tags. A matching network at 915MHz need to
be designed for successful operation of the tag.
More information on designing a matching network can be obtained in the following
demo. Impedance Matching of a Non-resonant(Small) Monopole.
Radiation Pattern of the RFID Antenna
The directivity of the RFID antenna is shown below. The tag has a null at the zenith but
good coverage in the x-y plane and a maximum value of about 1.5dBi. This shows that
the antenna is operational over a short distance from the reader, which is a
requirement for an RFID tag.
pattern(ant, 915e6);