History of RFID

 In 1935, Sir Robert Alexander developed an “Identify Friend or Foe (IFF)” system
using radar. The IFF system was used in WorldWar II to detect and differentiate
between friendly and enemy aircraft.
 In the 1960s, electronic article surveillance (EAS) systems were developed for
merchandise anti-theft purposes . EAS tags are 1-bit tags that can be in either an
“on” or “off” state. When attached to merchandise, they can indicate whether an
item of merchandise has been legitimately sold.
 In the 1980s, full implementation of RFID systems for various applications took
place. Due to the advancement of CMOS integrated circuit technology, smaller
RFID tags with more functionalities were able to be produced.
 In 1999, Auto-ID Center at Massachusetts Institute of Technology was established
for utilizing RFID to track and identify every object in supply chains down to an item
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level.
 RFID System

Ethernet
RFID
Reader

RFID Tag RF Ante nna Network Works tation

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 RFID Types and Frequencies
LF HF UHF Microwave
Freq. Range 125 - 134KHz 13.56 MHz 866 - 915MHz 2.45 - 5.8 GHz

Read Range 10 cm 1M 2-7 M 1M

Market 74% 17% 6% 3%

share
Coupling Magnetic Magnetic Electro magnetic Electro magnetic

Existing 11784/85, 14223 18000-3.1, EPC C0, C1, 18000-4

15693,14443 A, C1G2, 18000-6
standards
B, and C
Application Smart Card, Small item Transportation Transportation
Ticketing, animal management, vehicle ID, vehicle ID (road
tagging, supply chain, Access/Security, toll),
Access, Laundry Anti-theft, large item Access/Security,
library, management, large item
transportation supply chain management,
supply chain

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A Passive Tag

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 Type of RFID tags

 Active tags
• contain an on-board power source.
• can communicate with less powerful interrogators and can transmit information over much
longer ranges.
• Are larger, complex and expensive than active tags.

 Passive Tags
• derive power to transmit data from the signal sent by the interrogator.
• effective range of passive tags is much shorter than that of active tags.

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Advatages over Barcodes

 Barcode readers require a direct line of sight to the printed barcode; RFID readers
do not require a direct line of sight to either active RFID tags or passive RFID tags.
 Greater Reading Range
 Read/write capability
 Completely Automated. No Labor required once system is up.

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 Tag Block Diagram

Antenna

Power Supply
Memory
Control Logic Cells
Tx Modulator (Finite State
machine)
Rx
Demodulator

Tag Integrated Circuit (IC)

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RFID Communication

 Host manages Reader(s) and issues Commands

 Reader and tag communicate via RF signal
 Carrier signal generated by the reader
 Carrier signal sent out through the antennas
 Carrier signal hits tag(s)
 Tag receives and modifies carrier signal
 “sends back” modulated signal (Passive Backscatter – also referred
to as “field disturbance device”)
 Antennas receive the modulated signal and send them to the
Reader
 Reader decodes the data
 Results returned to the host application

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Operating Principles

 In 1935, Sir Robert Alexander developed an “Identify Friend or Foe (IFF)” system
using radar.

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Standard RFID Tag Limitations

 I

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Collision Issues in RFID

 I

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Existing Solutions not Applicable

 I

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PULSE Protocol

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Platform Independent Tag Antennas

 PEC- It induces a phase change of -180 on reflection. E.g copper

ground plane etc. Used as a ground plane in Microstrip antennas and
PIFA antennas.
 PMC- Do not cause any phase change when waves strikes it. Ideal
surfaces for use as a ground plane. But,PMC,s do not exist in nature.
 Artificial Magnetic Condutors have to be used which are a class of
Electromagnetic Band Gap(EBG) metamaterials which can be designed
to act as AMC ground plane over a desired frequency range.
 The EBG structures consists of periodic metallic objects that have
passbands and stopbands.

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AMC Shapes

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