volume | PIER Journals

Abstract

A novel embeddable miniature near-field reader antenna is designed for Ultra-High Frequency (UHF) Radiofrequency Identification (RFID) applications in the healthcare sector. The antenna spans 45 mm (length) x 20 mm (width) x 1.6 mm (thick) in size. The antenna is tuned for UHF RFID region-2 frequencies, 902 to 928 MHz. The antenna's -15 dB return loss bandwidth is 140 MHz. The antenna has very low far-field gain, and thus false reads of undesired tags are eliminated. The antenna can read both near-fields, and far-field tags as its magnetic field distribution on its surface are uniform with no dead zones. This miniature, light weight antenna is easy to embed and suitable for niche applications like surgical instrument tracking, dental instrument inventory, etc. The antenna's immunity towards proximity metal assets makes it more suitable for healthcare applications.

1. Parthiban, P., "Fixed UHF RFID reader antenna design for practical applications: A guide for antenna engineers with examples," IEEE Journal of Radio Frequency Identification, Vol. 3, No. 3, 191-204, 2019.
doi:10.1109/JRFID.2019.2920110

2. Lalkota, M., G. Gupta, V. K. Pandit, and A. R. Harish, "UHF reader antenna system for near and far-field RFID operation," IEEE Journal of Radio Frequency Identification, Vol. 3, No. 1, 14-24, Mar. 2019.
doi:10.1109/JRFID.2018.2884935

3. Wang, D., J. Hu, and J. Wu, "An HF passive RFID tag IC with low modulation index ASK demodulator," IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics, Vol. 66, No. 3, 2164-2173, Mar. 2019.
doi:10.1109/TIE.2018.2840514

4. Parthiban, P., B. Seet, and X. J. Li, "Display frame UHF RFID antenna for museums," 2018 IEEE Asia-Pacific Conference on Antennas and Propagation (APCAP), 532-533, Auckland, 2018.

5. Gu, X. and W. Geyi, "Design of a near-field RFID antenna array in metal cabinet environment," IEEE Antennas and Wireless Propagation Letters, Vol. 18, No. 1, 79-83, Jan. 2019.
doi:10.1109/LAWP.2018.2880965

6. Hsiao, A., C. Chao, C. Yang, and C. Tsai, "Near-field antenna design for UHF RFID system," 2018 IEEE International Symposium on Antennas and Propagation & USNC/URSI National Radio Science Meeting, 317-318, Boston, MA, 2018.

7. Zeng, Y., Z. N. Chen, X. Qing, and J. Jin, "A directional, closely spaced zero-phase-shift-line loop array for UHF near-field RFID reader antennas," IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, Vol. 66, No. 10, 5639-5642, Oct. 2018.
doi:10.1109/TAP.2018.2860619

8. Liu, W. E. I., Z. N. Chen, E. N. K. Yin, Y. Zeng, and X. Qing, "An inductive perforated ground backed thin electrically large zero-phase-shift line loop antenna for UHF near-field RFID reader," 2018 IEEE International Conference on Service Operations and Logistics, and Informatics (SOLI), 123-126, Singapore, 2018.

9. Huang, C., C. Wang, J. Zhu, and W. Tang, "Electrically large segmented dipole array antenna with reflectors for UHF near-field RFID applications," IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, Vol. 67, No. 6, 4280-4285, Jun. 2019.
doi:10.1109/TAP.2019.2907597

10. Parthiban, P., B. Seet, and X. J. li, "Scalable near-field fed far-field UHF RFID reader antenna for retail checkout counters," 2019 IEEE International Conference on RFID (RFID), 1-6, Phoenix, AZ, USA, 2019.

11. Parthiban, P., B. Seet, and X. J. Li, "Low-cost scalable UHF RFID reader antenna with no surface dead zones," 2016 IEEE Asia-Pacific Conference on Applied Electromagnetics (APACE), 24-29, Langkawi, 2016.

12. Parthiban, P., B. Seet, and X. J. Li, "Low-cost low-profile UHF RFID reader antenna with reconfigurable beams and polarizations," 2017 IEEE International Conference on RFID (RFID), 81-87, Phoenix, AZ, 2017.

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Dr. Prabakar Parthiban