Eye-shaped segmented reader antenna for near-field UHF RFID applications

Abstract

An eye-shaped segmented (ESS) antenna is presented for ultra-high frequency (UHF) near-field radio frequency identification (RFID) applications. The proposed antenna shows in-phase current even though the perimeter of the eye-shaped loop is comparable to the operating wavelength. The ESS antenna is fabricated on a FR4 printed circuit board (PCB) and embedded in a metal cavity with an overall size of 250 × 180 × 50mm3. The measured bandwidth is around 11MHz (860-871 MHz) under the condition of VSWR less than 2.0, which covers the Europe standard (865 MHz-868 MHz) and agrees well with the simulated results. Finally, as a reader antenna in the RFID system, the measured read distance and read width can achieve 16.1 cm and 8 cm, respectively. The ESS antenna is desirable for UHF near-field RFID reader applications.