Low-Cost Inkjet-Printed UHF RFID Tag-Based System for Internet of Things Applications Using Characteristic Modes

Abstract

The radio frequency identification (RFID) has emerged Internet of things (IoT) into the identification of things. This paper presents, a low-cost smart refrigerator system for future internet of things applications. The proposed smart refrigerator is used for automatic billing and restoring of beverage metallic cans. The metallic cans can be restored by generating a product shortage alert message to a nearby retailer. To design a low-cost and lowprofile tag antenna for metallic items is very challenging, especially when mass production is required for item-level tagging. Therefore, a novel ultra-high frequency (UHF) radio frequency identification (RFID) tag antenna is designed for metallic cans by exploiting the metallic structure as the main radiator. Applying Characteristics mode analysis (CMA), we observed that some characteristic modes associated with the metallic structure could be exploited to radiate more effectively by placing a suitable inductive load. Moreover, a low cost, printed (using conductive ink) small loop integrated with meandered dipole used as an inductive load, which was also connected with RFID chip. The 3-dB bandwidth of the proposed tag covers the whole UHF band ranging from 860-960 MHz when embedded with metal cans. The measured read range of the RFID tag is more than 2.5 meters in all directions to check the robustness of the proposed solution. To prove the concept, a case study was performed by placing the tagged metallic cans inside a refrigerator for automatic billing, 97.5 % tags are read and billed successfully. This study paves the way for tagging metallic bodies for tracking applications in domains ranging from consumer devices to infotainment solutions, which enlights a vital aspect for the Internet of Things (IoT). Index Terms-Characteristic mode theory (CMT), Internet of Things (IoT), radio frequency identification (RFID) tag antenna, smart refrigerator I. INTRODUCTION he Internet of Things foresees a future in which physical and virtual things can be uniquely identified on a global scale by means of emerging integrated wireless technologies.

Radio Frequency Identification and Sensing Techniques and Their Applications—A Review of the State-of-the-Art

“…For example, Kim et al [27,76] presented a paper substrate silver nanoparticle-based printed sensor fabrication solution and provided two proof-of-concept sensors designs with evaluations: (1) chip-less CNT gas sensor, and (2) UHF dual-tag capacitive haptic sensors (see Figure 9a). Sharif et al [77] presented a low cost, conductive ink printed small loop integrated with meandered dipole used as an inductive load, which was also connected with RFID chip for metallic can measurement in a smart refrigerator system. Borgese et al [78] introduced a chip-less RFID humidity sensor based on finite artificial impedance surface (AIS) inkjet printed on a thin sheet of commercial coated paper, composed of three concentric loops thus obtaining three deep and high-Q nulls in the electromagnetic response of the tag.…”

A Theoretical Model and Business Solutions for Improving 5G+ Transportation Services

“…Further, sensors enhance the monitoring facilities of vehicles' speed and location-based services. To improve road services, traffic light services handled through modern technologies [25][26][27][28][29][30].…”

All-in-One Uhf Rfid Tag Antenna for Retail Garments Using Nonuniform Meandered Lines

“…In recent years, Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID) systems operating at Ultra-High Frequency (UHF) have been significantly adopted for identification and tracking in applications such as human monitoring, health-care, library and inventory management, and Internet of Things (IoT) [1,2]. For UHF RFID systems, various frequency bands have been assigned worldwide, i.e., 866-869 MHz for Europe, 865-868 MHz for New Zealand and India, 908.5-914 MHz for Korea, 902-928 MHz for USA, and 940-943 MHz for China [3].…”

“…For instance, the inductive coupling technique improves impedance matching of a tag antenna; however, it compromises radiation efficiency [8]. Similarly, the T-matching technique [2,9] achieves broadband matching, reduced size, and improved efficiency, but the designs [10,11] do not consider the effect of magnetic locks on the cloth tags. In contrast, cloth tag [12] has wider bandwidth and is designed with a magnetic lock and housing made of Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene (ABS) material, but is not with AMS technology.…”