RFID - Application in logistics

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RFID

1. Terms, Structure
2. Distinguishers
3. Application fields of logistics
4. Ubiquitus Computing

Gliederung2 1
RFID
1. Term, Structure

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Radio frequency identification (RFID) is first generic and generally describes the
identification of objects or organisms under use of high frequency radio waves.

o each radio-based system for identification => RFID

o in the stricter sense transponder-based systems
o for transponders numerous and different technologies
o “the” RFID technology does not exist

Term RFID
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• An RFID tag is a very simple computer, usually
associated with a physical object
• Tags communicate with a powerful reader over a
wireless link
• Tags can be active or passive
• … can be inductively or radiatively coupled, and
work in a variety of operating frequencies
• Have various levels of computing power
• EPC tags: passive tags, radiatively
coupled, 900MHz, read/write memory

A Taxonomy of RFID Tags

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RFID is a category of Automatic Identification & Data Capture
(AIDC) Technologies

Feature Extraction Technologies Data Carrier Technologies

(Vision, Speech recognition & Biometric Systems)

Optical Storage Magnetic Storage Electronic Storage

Magnetic MICR
Magnetic
Stripe
Resonance Charge
RFID
Touch injection
Transponder
Memory Memory
Card

Bar Matrix Optical Optical

Optical
Code Codes Character Memory
Mark
Recognition (magneto- Smart
Reading
(OCR) optic) Card
(OMR)
Linear Stacked (or
multirow)
Contactless Smart
Full Matrix Card

Composites Dot Codes

Codes

RFID Technologies
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 As Sokymat says…
But sometimes
very low range

Mainly valid for

high frequency tags

Depends of
the material
Not all tags have
this functionality
Only valid for low
frequency tags

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RFID Advantages
• The reader has a powerful antenna and an external
power supply
• The reader surrounds itself with an electromagnetic
field
• The tag is illuminated by this field

Reader

Tag
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ReaderTag Data Exchange
• The reader sends commands to the tag via
pulse amplitude modulation
• The tag sends responses to the reader via
backscatter modulation

Reader

Tag
ReaderTag Data Exchange
• The reader sends commands to the tag via
pulse amplitude modulation
• The tag sends responses to the reader via
backscatter modulation

Reader

Tag
ReaderTag Data Exchange
 Wireless ID and tracking Reader

 Captures information on:

 Identity
 Location
 Time

 Unique identification
 Passive (no batteries)

What is RFID
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 Wireless identification and tracking tag time location
 Information on: t 1 A
 Identity t 2 B
 Location t 3 C
 Time … … …

A B C

RFID
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 GPS-enabled
(logarithmic)
Cost of tag

active tags
active tags
bar passive tags
codes

Consumer Cases Pallets Trucks Ships / Trains

Item

RFID Tags – A Wide Variety

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 “The amount of the bugs should not
(obviously) exceed the number of bytes”
[Author unknown]

Transponder
Sensor
Term Transponder (Chip, Tag,
system
Smart-Label) comes from
satellite technology => consists
Logic/ of Transmitter + Responder!
Antenna

RF-Modul Micro-
processor

Memory

Structure Transponder
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Reader

Usually a microcontroller-based unit with a wound output

coil, peak detector hardware, comparators, and
firmware designed to transmit energy to a tag and read
information back from it by detecting the backscatter
Modulation.

Definitions
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Tag

An RFID device incorporating a silicon memory chip

(usually with on-board rectification bridge and other RF
front-end devices), a wound or printed input/output coil,
and (at lower frequencies) a tuning capacitor.

Definitions
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„ If considers, how many errors make the computers,
then you can call them the most expensive
nincompoops of the world.“
[Renzo Favall]

RFID-Chip
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Considerations:

1. Foil size and

location.
2. Encode HF tags
3. Test RFID label
before printing.
4. Verify RFID label
after printing.

RFID label printer

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 Computers are the so far most ingenious product of
the human putridness !
[Anonymous]

A RFID system usually consists of a collection

of a reader and a transponder, which are
attached as a tag (label) at the object which
can be identified.
Communication between both components
takes place by electrical fields. In passive
systems, the energy for the operation of the
transponder is also transmitted through the
field.

Structure for a read only transponder

Structure RFID-System
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Carrier

A Radio Frequency (RF) sine wave generated by the

reader to transmit energy to the tag and retrieve data
from the tag. In these examples the ISO frequencies of
125 kHz and 13.56 MHz are assumed; higher frequencies
are used for RFID tagging, but the communication
methods are somewhat different. 2.45 GHz, for
example, uses a true RF link. 125 kHz and 13.56 MHz,
utilize transformer-type electromagnetic coupling.

Definitions
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Modulation

Periodic fluctuations in the amplitude of the carrier

used to transmit data back from the tag to the reader.

Definitions
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• Systems incorporating passive RFID tags operate in
ways that may seem unusual to anyone who already
understands RF or microwave systems.

• There is only one transmitter – the passive tag is not

a transmitter or transponder in the purest definition
of the term, yet bidirectional communication is taking
place.

Definitions
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 Coupling
unit
RFID-
RFID- Transponder
Reader

RFID-
Command

Transponder
Data

RFID-
Transponder

Computer/Application
Components RFID-System
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 Applications

Network Data Management

Infrastructure System

RFID Tags RFID Reader Reader Antenna

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4421307986351726801# Elements RFID-System

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Reader

Elements RFID-System
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RFID Readers

Elements RFID-System
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• “Pizza box” readers with ~2-8
antennas
• Typically used in supply chain
applications
– Dock doors and conveyor belts

Fixed RFID Readers

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• Wide range of system capabilities
– Similar to home gateway or wireless access point
• Processors:
– Low-end 16-bit to mid range (~266MHz) 32-bit processor plus DSP
(Digital signal processor) or FPGA (Field-programmable gate
array) for signal processing
• Operating Systems:
– Proprietary, embedded, WinCE or Linux
• Networking:
– Stand-alone TCP/IP network nodes running DHCP, HTTP, Telnet
(or SSH), NTP, SNMP and proprietary API and/or control protocol

Fixed Reader Systems

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• Single antenna with
integrated reader capability

Integrated Reader/Antenna
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• Wide range of system capabilities
– Very low-end access control point to higher-end “smart
antennas”
• Processors:
– DSP only to low-end 16-bit CPU (digital signal processor)
• Operating Systems:
– Proprietary or embedded
• Networking:
– Low-end: no standard networking, proprietary control system
perhaps based on RS-232 or USB
– High-end: Stand-alone TCP/IP node, might user Power over
Ethernet (PoE), DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol),
proprietary control protocol

Reader/Antenna Systems
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• Handheld systems with integrated RFID
reader and antenna
• Sometimes integrated into
an existing barcode
scanner product

Handheld Readers
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• Handheld RFID scanner built into a handheld PC
• Processors:
– Low-end to mid-range 32-bit processor plus DSP or FPGA (Field
Programmable Gate Array) for signal processing
• Operating Systems:
– Typically WinCE
• Networking:
– Wireless TCP/IP network nodes that use DHCP (Dynamic Host
Configuration Protocol) and connect to servers (perhaps
intermittently) using proprietary data transfer applications (

Handheld Reader Systems

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• “Credit Card-sized” module, used to add
RFID to a special-purpose device
• Examples: RFID
printer/encoders, package
sorters and POS terminals
(AKA cash registers, )
(aka: Point of Sale Software)

Embedded Readers
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• Embedded reader is hosted in a special-purpose device
• Processors:
– No general purpose CPU -- DSP or FPGA for signal processing
– Host system provides general purpose CPU
• Operating Systems:
– None.
• Networking:
– None. Accessed via USB, Serial interface or PCMCIA (Personal
Computer Memory Card International Association-Standard)
– Host processor may have networking capability

Embedded Reader Systems

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• Networking configuration similar to any end-node
infrastructure device
– DHCP, configuration and firmware downloads
• Small amount of persistent RFID-specific and
device-specific configuration
– Power level, active antennas, possibly some protocol
and search settings
– Set/get administrative status
(DHCP) - Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol is an auto
configuration protocol used on IP networks

Configuration Requirements
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• Minimal system requirements
– Lower-end “smart antennas” may not have much
processor or memory available
• Needs to be configurable as a stand-alone device
or as an entity within another device
– Printer, cash register, handheld PC, etc.
• Good fit for an SNMP MIB (Simple Network
Management Protocol Management Information
Base)?
– Minimal agent system requirements
– Subagent and Entity MIB allow configuration of an
RFID “device within a device”

RFID Configuration Challenges

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• Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) is an "Internet-standard protocol for
managing devices on IP networks. Devices that typically support SNMP include routers,
switches, Servers, workstations, printers, modem racks, and more.
• SNMP itself does not define which information (which variables) a managed system
should offer. Rather, SNMP uses an extensible design, where the available information
is defined by management information bases (MIBs). MIBs describe the structure of the
management data of a device subsystem;

RFID Configuration Challenges

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• Monitoring of network connectivity similar to any
other infrastructure device
• Monitoring of RFID-specific parameters
– Operational status
– Antenna connection faults
– RF problems/interference
– Perhaps some thresholding on read counts or other
parameters?

Monitoring Requirements
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• RFID market is in early stages, so there
hasn’t been much time for de facto
standardization
– Readers (even within a single category) have
significantly different hardware/software
capabilities

Monitoring Challenges
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• Most readers do not change roles regularly
– Examples of reader roles:
• A reader continuously reads a fixed set of protocols
• A reader is set to read a fixed set of protocols, in a fixed cycle
whenever the dock door is open (detected via GPIO - General
Purpose Input/Output)
• A reader reads a fixed set of protocols for a defined time period
whenever an electric eye is triggered
• Challenge is not in controlling reader search parameters,
it is in collecting, parsing and collating RFID data from
multiple read points
– A standard way to collect RFID “reads” from multiple readers
would be useful

Control Requirements
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• Applications are needed to control the RFID reader, but at
what level of abstraction?
– Individual read cycle vs. set and forget?
• Where are the applications hosted?
– May be hosted on workstation (reached over network), on a fixed
reader, on a handheld PC or on the host processor for an
embedded reader
• Are there any “real-time” requirements?
– Regulatory requirements demand real-time (sub-millisecond)
control over RF functions
– Control at a higher levels may not be real-time at all

Control Requirement Questions

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• Reader Configuration
– De facto standard set of DHCP options with bootfile and
configuration file download mechanisms emerging due to
network vendor/system integrator efforts
• Reader Monitoring
– EPC Global Reader Management Group
• Defining MIBs for reader monitoring and RFID-specific configuration
• Reader Control
– EPC Global Reader Protocol Group
• Defining an XML/Web Services interface for reader control
See: http://www.epcglobalinc.com

Ongoing Related Efforts

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Antenna

Elements RFID-System
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Equipment :
• VSWR meter
• LCR meter
• Antenna analyzer
• Oscilloscope
• Test tags/test
software

Antenna Design
44 1
A full theory of electrodynamics, including the
effects of dielectric and magnetic materials,
must be based on the four field vectors:
– Electric field vector E
– Magnetic field vector H
– Electric flux density vector D
– Magnetic flux density vector B

The Field Vectors

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D  0E  P

B  0 ( H  M )

Material state vectors

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 B
 E  -
t
D
 H  J 
Vortex

t
D  
B  0
Source

Laws in differential forms

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• Gauss’s law
– Electric flux deposits
charge
– Electric field cannot just
go past a conductor, it
must turn and meet it at
right angles B
+
V_

• Faraday’s law
– Oscillating magnetic flux
induces voltage in a loop
that it links
The basic laws: how they work
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Electric current creates a vortex of magnetic field
Magnetic field creates a vortex of electric field

Electric field creates a vortex of magnetic field

Propagation

Electromagnetic propagation
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• They propagate with the velocity of light
– (Light is an electromagnetic wave)
• Velocity c is 300,000,000 m/s
• Wavelength - frequency relation is
c = fl
• Simple examples:
10 MHz, 30 m; 1000 MHz 300 mm
• But not all electromagnetic fields are propagating
waves; some are just local energy storage fields

Electromagnetic waves
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 Electric field

Charge

Conducting surface

Boundary Condition: electric field

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Magnetic field

or
displacement
current

Conducting plane

Boundary Condition: magnetic field

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Electric field launched by an electric dipole

There is also a magnetic field not shown

Near and far field distributions

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 j 3 M  2 2 j   j r
Hr    e
3 
cos 
4  (  r)
2
(  r) 

j M
3
 j 1 j   j r
H     e sin 
3
4  (  r) (  r) (  r) 
2

j M
3
 j 1   j r
E    e sin 
4  (  r) (  r)
2
 (oh dear)

Fields of a Magnetic Dipole

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• The far field is an energy propagating field
• Appropriate measure of strength is 0.5 h H2
(power flowing per unit area)
• The near field is an energy storage field
• Appropriate measure of strength is reactive
power per unit volume 0.5 w 0H2
• Near field - far field boundary is l/2
• Examples 100 kHz 500m; 10 MHz 5m; 1000 MHz
50mm
Near and Far Fields
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Note that doubling the power only increases range 15 to 20%

HF Power vs. Range

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Antennas are designed for
coupling energy in a transformer
type fashion to the tag.
New ISO tags sensitivity of
aprox. 98’s DBuA/m.
Due to skin effect, for large
antennas use 1/2 in. pipe or
tape.
Consider Multiplexing antennas

HF Antenna Patterns
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HF Antenna Patterns
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HF Antenna Patterns
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UHF Antenna 60
types
UHF ANT Polarization
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UHF multipath
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• Active or passive

• Operating frequency

• Electric or magnetic fields

• Material or microelectronic

• Focus on passive systems

• Active for the future?

Issues in RFID Design

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• Concept can be applied from 10 MHz to 10,000 MHz
• Low propagation loss points to coupling using the far field
• Low power consumption requires a low frequency microcircuit
• Reply is by modulation of the interrogation frequency

Junction capacitance D.c. supply line

Label
antenna Control
micro
circuit

Resonant circuit Switchable load

Microelectronic Backscatter
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• Near and far fields
• Energy storage in the near field
• Energy propagation in the far field
• Radian sphere (r=l/2p) is the boundary
• Directivity in the far field of 1.5
• No far field radiation in the polar direction
• Plenty of near field on the polar axis

Interesting features
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• Magnetic field – free space
• Magnetic field against metal
• Electric field – free space
• Electric field against metal
• Electromagnetic field

• Very small antennas respond to either the

electric field or the magnetic field
• Somewhat larger antennas respond to both

Label antennas
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Planar printed 67coil
 ir
 er 
1  N ( ir  1)

Ferrite cored solenoid

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Electric field bow69 tie
Electric field box structure
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 Effective area

l/2

Effective area of a far field receiving antenna

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• Focus on energy storage fields
• Full electromagnetic theory not needed
• Resonance will enhance power transfer
• Versions for electric or magnetic fields
available
• Figure of merit for an interrogator will be an
energy density per unit volume
• Figure of merit for a label antenna will be a
volume
Near field coupling theory
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 For a planar coil  0 A2
Vc 
L
For a long air cored solenoid

Vc  its volume

For a long ferrite cored

solenoid Vc is increased by

ir
 er 
1  N ( ir  1)

Some coupling volumes

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For a pair of air cored parallel
electrodes Vc= volume enclosed

A dielectric if present reduces

the coupling volume by r 

For a bow tie, there is no

physical volume but there is
a Vc depending on the self
capacitance and the
electric flux collecting area

Some coupling volumes

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Self capacitance Current injection

Field configurations for bow tie antenna

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Box antenna field configurations
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• Common feature: a label driving field is created, how much
signal can be extracted?
• In the near field of the interrogator, the driving field is mostly
energy storage, and the amount radiated does not affect the
coupling, but does affect the EMC regulator.
• Various techniques to create energy storage without radiating
are then applicable.
• Some theorems on optimum antenna size are of interest.
• In the far field of the interrogator, the relation between what is
coupled to and what is regulated is more direct, and such
techniques are not applicable.

Near and far field coupling theories

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• Coupling volumes for well shaped planar electric and magnetic
field labels are size dependent and similar
3 3
L 2L
Magnetic Vc  Electric Vc 
2 3
• Radiation quality factors for both types of label formed within a
square of side L are size dependent and similar

40 13
Magnetic Qr  Electric Qr 
 β L 3
 β L 3

• These are calculated results for sensibly shaped antennas

Significant conclusions
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The optimum frequency for operation of an RFID
system in the far field is the lowest frequency for
which a reasonable match to the radiation
resistance of the label antenna can be achieved, at
the allowed size of label, without the label or
matching element losses intruding.

Optimum operating frequency

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• Electromagnetic ducting
– Waveguides beyond cut off
– Field shapes therein

• Electromagnetic absorption
– We are mostly water
– Other materials

Further issues
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The RF field
generated by a tag reader (the energy transmitter) has three purposes:

1. Induce enough power into the tag coil to

energize the tag. Passive tags have no battery
or other power source; they must derive all
power for operation from the reader field.
125 kHz and 13.56 MHz tag designs must
operate over a vast dynamic range of carrier
input, from the very near field (in the range of
200 VPP) to the maximum read distance (in the
range of 5 VPP).

RF Field
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2. Provide a synchronized clock source to the tag. Many RFID tags divide the carrier
frequency down to generate an on-board clock for state machines, counters, etc., and
to derive the data transmission bit rate for data returned to the reader. Some tags,
however, employ onboard oscillators for clock generation.

RF Field
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3. Act as a carrier for return data from the tag.
Backscatter modulation requires the reader to
peak-detect the tag's modulation of the reader's
own carrier.

RF Field
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This terminology refers to the communication method used by a passive
RFID tag to send data back to the reader. By repeatedly shunting the tag coil
through a transistor, the tag can cause slight fluctuations in the reader’s RF
carrier amplitude. The RF link behaves
essentially as a transformer; as the secondary winding (tag coil) is
momentarily shunted, the primary winding (reader coil) experiences a
momentary voltage drop.
The reader must peak-detect this data at about 60 dB down (about 100 mV
riding on a 100V sine wave) as shown in page.

BACKSCATTER MODULATION
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RFID Family Tree
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