Broadband Circularly Polarized Microstrip Antenna for RFID Reader Applications

Yan Shan Boo#1, Nasimuddin*2, Z. N. Chen*3, and A. Alphones#4

# *

School of EEE, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore RF and Optical Department, Institute for Infocomm Research 1 Fusionopolis Way, #21-01 Singapore
2

yanshan@pmail.ntu.edu.sg nasimuddin@i2r.a-star.edu.sg 3 znchen@i2r.a-star.edu.sg 4 EAlphones@ntu.edu.sg

Abstract A broadband single-feed compact circularly polarized stacked microstrip antenna for radio frequency identification (RFID) reader applications is proposed and investigated. The proposed antenna achieved a gain of more than 5.0 dBic, impedance bandwidth with VSWR less than 2 and a wide 3-dB axial-ratio (AR) bandwidth of more than 12% over ultra-high frequency (UHF) band (840 940 MHz). The overall antenna size is 0.48o 0.48o 0.0984o at 900 MHz. The proposed antenna is attractive for RFID reader applications which require compact size and good circular polarization operation.

agreement. The proposed antenna design and optimization is carried out with IE3D EM simulator. II. ANTENNA GEOMETRY AND DESIGN The geometry of the proposed antenna is as shown in Fig. 1. A coaxial-probe is used as the feeding structure of the antenna. To achieve a wide bandwidth, the upper patch (114.0 mm 104.0 mm) on thin FR4 substrate with foam and the lower patch (86.0 mm 77.5 mm) is fabricated on thick FR4 substrate (r = 4.3, tan = 0.02). The patch is fed at an optimum feed location to radiate wide and good CP waves. The antenna designed dimensions are given in Table I, and all are in mm.

Index terms Circular polarization, RFID, microstrip antenna, UHF I. INTRODUCTION RFID technology utilizes the characteristics of microstrip antennas and is used extensively in service industries, distribution logistics and even transport systems [1, 2]. However, there is a standard UHF range accepted internationally for RFID applications and different countries uses different frequency ranges [3, 4]: 865.5 867.6 MHz in Europe, 920 926 MHz in Australia, 866 869 MHz, 923 925 MHz in Singapore, 902 928 MHz in US/Canada, 910 914 MHz in Korea and 952 955 MHz in Japan. The total frequency span of UHF band used for RFID systems is 840 960 MHz. A RFID reader that is able to accommodate the entire RFID frequency range provides better flexibility and interoperability between devices and a reader antenna with a smaller size reduces the manufacturing cost. However, these two properties are dependent on each other. The drawback to a reduced antenna size is limited bandwidth and gain. Hence, it is necessary to make a trade off between size and bandwidth. In this paper, a single-feed compact broadband circularly polarized stacked microstrip antenna for RFID reader applications is presented. The main patch is fabricated on thick FR4 substrate to enhance the axial-ratio (AR) and impedance bandwidths of the antenna. A broadband circularly polarized stacked microstrip antenna is designed, fabricated and tested. The measured and simulated results are in good

Fig. 1(a). Cross-section view of the proposed antenna.

978-1-4244-2802-1/09/$25.00 2009 IEEE

625

Authorized licensed use limited to: Universitas Indonesia. Downloaded on April 08,2010 at 02:53:35 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.

Table I. Antenna designed dimensions (in mm)

33.58 mm, and yo = 23.51 mm for wide circular polarization radiation as shown in Table II. III. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS Fig. 2 shows the measured and simulated VSWR with frequency of the antenna. The measured bandwidth with VSWR of 2 is around 141 MHz (803 944 MHz). The simulated VSWR bandwidth from IE3D simulator is 138 MHz (805 943 MHz). The measured return loss of the antenna is in good agreement with the return loss results obtained from the simulation.

4.0 3.5 3.0 VSWR 2.5 2.0 1.5 1.0 0.80

Measured Simulated

Fig. 1(b). Fabricated prototype antenna.

Axial-ratio, dB

The challenges of the proposed RFID reader antenna require good impedance matching, wide axial-ratio bandwidth and high gain with compact size and low cost. There are many ways of implementing circular polarization. In this proposed design, circular polarization is achieved by introducing an offset feed in the antenna at an angle around of 45 using a coaxial probe [5]. The exact location of the probe is determined by varying the probe along an arc to locate the optimum point between x-y axes. The coaxial-probe location is first determined as one fourth of the upper patch length. The coaxial-probe location is then simulated along the x-axis to obtain the best impedance matching with the load. Thereafter, the probe location is simulated along the xy-axis with varying angles to find the optimum circularly polarized performance [5] at which the good impedance matching of the antenna within the operating frequency.
Table II: Effects of the probe location on AR and 3dB AR bandwidth.

0.85

0.90 Frequency, GHz

0.95

1.00

Fig. 2.

Simulated and measured return loss.

30 25 20 15 10 5 0 0.80
Measured Simulated

0.85

0.90 Frequency, GHz

0.95

1.00

Fig. 3. Simulated and measured axial-ratio at boresight The x-coordinate of the probe location is determined as 41.0 mm from the origin. The probe location at 35o from the x-axis is chosen as it provided a broader bandwidth compared to the others. The 3-dB AR bandwidth is also wide over the frequency band from 850 MHz to 950 MHz. The final probe location (origin at centre of the patch) achieved is at xo = The AR is measured using spinning linear method where a rotating linearly polarized transmit horn antenna is used to measure the CP performance of the antenna. The measured data is then stored electronically and post-processed to determine the axial-ratio and gain of the antenna. From Fig. 3, the measured 3-dB AR bandwidth is more than 12%. The AR

626
Authorized licensed use limited to: Universitas Indonesia. Downloaded on April 08,2010 at 02:53:35 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.

bandwidth of the antenna is able to cover total UHF RFID band. However, impedance bandwidth (2.0 VSWR) is not able to cover total UHF RFID band. The measured axial-ratio is achieved better than the simulated axial-ratio results from the frequency range of 843 MHz to 950 MHz. There is a slight shift in frequency between the measured and simulated results which could be due to fabrication tolerances.
10 9 8 7 Gain (dBic) 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 0.80 0.85 0.90 Frequency, GHz 0.95 1.00 Measured Simulated

(a)

Fig. 4. Simulated and measured gain at boresight.

Fig. 4 shows the measured and simulated gain at boresight. From the results, the measured maximum gain is around 7.2 dBic at 912 MHz. The measured gain is more than 5 dBic over the frequency range from 840 MHz to 960 MHz. A good agreement is achieved between measured and simulated gain values. The normalized radiation patterns of the antenna at 865 MHz, 900 MHz, 920 MHz and 960 MHz are shown in Figs. 5(a)-5(d), respectively for both x-z and y-z planes. The 3-dB AR beamwidth is more than 100o over the 3-dB axialratio bandwidth.

(b)

627
Authorized licensed use limited to: Universitas Indonesia. Downloaded on April 08,2010 at 02:53:35 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.

(d) Fig. 5. Measured patterns of the antenna; (a) 865 MHz, (b) 900 MHz, (c) 920 MHz and (d) 960 MHz for both planes (x-z and y-z planes).

IV. CONCLUSION A broadband circularly polarized compact stacked microstrip antenna has been investigated for UHF RFID applications. The proposed antenna is able to cover UHF band of 840 850 MHz with VSWR of 2 and less than 3-dB axialratio. The simulated and measured results match well except at few points which are due to the fabrication errors. The antenna can be re-optimized to improve the impedance matching for full UHF RFID frequency band. ACKNOWLEDGMENT The authors wish to thank Mr Tat Meng, for fabrication of the prototype antenna.
(c) [1] [2] [3]

REFERENCES
R. Waterhouse, Microstrip Patch Antennas, Handbook of Antennas in Wireless Communication, edited by Lal Chand Godara, CRC Press, 2002, section 6.1. K. Finkenzeller, RFID Handbook, Wiley, New York, 2003, 2nd edition. H. L. Chung, X. Qing, and Z. N. Chen, A Broadband Circularly Polarized Stacked Probe-Fed Patch Antenna for UHF RFID Applications, International Journal of Antennas and Propagation, 2007, ID76793, 8 pages. Z. N. Chen, X. Qing, and H. L. Chung, A universal UHF RFID reader antenna, IEEE Trans. Microw. Theory Tech., Vol. 57, No. 5, May 2009, pp. 1275-1282. Nasimuddin, Design of wideband circularly polarized stacked microstrip antennas with dielectric cover using single coaxial feed, Microwave and Optical Technology Letters, 49, 3027 3033, 2007.

[4] [5]

628
Authorized licensed use limited to: Universitas Indonesia. Downloaded on April 08,2010 at 02:53:35 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.