Design and Characterization of Non-planar 3D-printed Passive UHF-RFID Tag

Abstract

This paper presents the design and preliminary characterization of a novel 3D passive UHF-RFID tag. The prototype is fabricated using additive manufacturing techniques: 3D printing and copper electroplating. The design, manufacturing process and measurement set-up are presented and discussed in detail. We propose a biconical antenna design with helical strips in the cones to provide compactness without breaking the symmetry of the component and to improve bandwidth. The antenna is matched to a commercial UHF-RFID integrated circuit. The good agreement between results and simulations allows us to validate the whole process.