Design of a novel high-efficiency UHF RFID antenna on flexible LCP substrate with high read-range capability

Abstract

In this paper, the design and development of a unique high read-range high-efficiency (95%) radio frequency identification (RFID) antenna for the 915 MHz UHF band is discussed. The RFID exceptional characteristics are investigated in terms of antenna-IC matching and radiation efficiency. This 915 MHz passive tag is a 3" times 3" omnidirectional tag and yielded a read range of 31 feet compared to a 4" times 4" leading commercial design of 26 feet tested range in lab. This tag also possesses higher read power range (-7 dBm to 30 dBm) than the leading commercial design (-5 dBm to 30 dBm). The proposed RFID antenna was fabricated on 50.8 micron thick liquid crystal polymer (LCP) and the read range of the proposed RFID tags was experimentally verified