designfeature By Peter Sorrells, Microchip Technology Inc

DETERMINING AND IMPROVING THE READ RANGE OF RFID TAGS IS ESPECIALLY IMPORTANT AS THESE TAGS BECOME MORE COMMONPLACE.

Optimizing read range in RFID systems

ncreasingly available, low-cost RFID (radio- to arrive at the baseband clock rate. In asynchronous frequency identification) tags can track and tag systems, you derive the data clock from an on-chip just about any object you can think of. Costs have oscillator. In read/write systems, the reader transmits come down, and performance has risen to the point amplitude-modulated data as well, so the tagging IC that tagging applications that were out of reach only must also peak-detect (or gap-detect in 100%-modtwo years ago are now common. But one of the most ulation systems) the signal to extract the envelope basic questions is how far away the reader can read that contains the command or data (command dedata from these tags. tector in Figure 2b). This article provides a brief tutorial on the facInductively coupled systems, as all passive 125tors affecting read range and a real-time, real-life de- kHz and 13.56-MHz systems are, behave much like sign example. The tutorial and design example are loosely coupled transformers (Figure 3). The magbased on passive, 125-kHz to 13.56-MHz, induc- netic coupling between the primary winding (readtively coupled RFID systems. The article focuses pri- er antenna coil) and secondary winding (tag antenmarily on the interface between tag and reader, be- na coil) conveys power from reader to tag. You use cause a detailed discussion of reader-datapath tuned LC circuits at these frequencies to maximize designs could fill an entire textbookor at least an- coupling between the primary and secondary windother article. ing, because you cannot use an iron core when readIn contact systems, such as reading the data from ing at a distance. a serial EEPROM over a two-wire (I2C) or three-wire A time-variant H-field from the reader, which SPI or Microwire bus, the power, clock, and data current I1 generates and the tag coil intercepts, inlines are connected separately (Figure 1). Passive duces current I2 and voltage across the tag coil. The RFID devices also use a serial bus, but the power, VCC clock, and data are all in the same signal (FigFigure 1 ure 2a). But, other than separating these components into their separate uses on the tagging CLOCK IC, the principles are much the same. You need dc power to bias the CMOS circuits, and binary data DATA IN SERIAL in a memory is clocked out to the communication EEPROM DATA OUT bus serially. The carrier is separated into usable signals in the tagging IC (Figure 2b). For dc power, you rectify the readers carrier signal using any of a number of common rectifier circuits, usually incorporating one or more diodes inside the IC. In synchronous systems, you derive the data clock by dividing the carrier A traditional EEPROM IC requires two contacts for power down through several stages of divide-by-2 blocks and ground and three contacts for data and control.

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designfeature Read range in RFID tags

mere presence of a tuned circuit causes a slight dip in p-p voltage at Node Figure 2 A, just as loading the secondary of a transformer causes a resulting effect in its primary. If you place a switch across the tag coil and close it, then the tag coil is shorted, and it is no longer resonant and is no longer loading the readers coil. Therefore, the voltage at Node A again increases to its prior level. In an RFID tagging IC, the switch is a transistor (Figure 4). Modulation of the switch on and off then provides a corresponding AM envelope at Point A, which circuitry can extract via analog or digital means. After (a) filtering and squaring, the pulse train at Node B looks exactly like the one clocked out of the tag memory at Node C. PRIMARY FACTORS AFFECTING READ RANGE

CLOCK POWER, CLOCK, AND DATA DC

MEMORY

PASSIVE RFID TAG

COMMAND DETECTOR

ENCODE

MODULATION SWITCH

MODULATION ALGORITHM

(b)

An RFID tag must accomplish the EEPROM interface using just one signal path (a). A typical RFID IC encompasses a significant array of functional blocks plus power-recovery functions (b).

With all these ideas in mind, then, what factors would you expect to conIn PSK and FSK systems, tribute or detract from read highs and lows in the AM Figure 3 TAG READER range? First, consider power. The modulation do not represent reader must generate energy in a manner binary data. Instead, in PSK AIR I2 that meets government limits, such as the systems, 0 or 180 phase shift I1 A FCC (Federal Communications Comrepresents a binary bit (1 or 0) mission) in the United States, the ETSI during the entire bit time; in (European Telecommunications StanFSK systems, two different dards Institute) in Europe, and the MPT subcarrier frequencies repre(Ministry for Post and Telecommunica- The transfer of signals and power between the reader and sent 1 or 0. However, in a pastions) in Japan. This energy must be cou- tag and vice versa is conceptually similar to the simple case sive system, the tag does not pled from the reader to the tag, and the of a pair of loosely coupled transformer windings. transmit anything, so there is tag must use it efficiently. Therefore, no true subcarrier, only varimaximum reader power output, the cou- sumption, the tags quality factor (Q), the ations of AM. Therefore, your use of pling of the energy from reader to tag, tags tuning, the readers antenna aper- checksums or CRCs and the range factors and tag power consumption are all im- ture, and the tags antenna aperture. Sec- mentioned affect read range so dramatportant factors of the design. At these ondary considerations include the tags ically that any benefit you gain by using carrier frequencies, available voltage is modulation depth, the readers SNR, the FSK or PSK is usually insignificant. falling off as 1/r3 (inverse cube of the dis- tags power-conversion efficiency, the The application environment can also tance from the reader), and power is readers antenna tuning and carrier ac- affect read range. Key factors include the falling off as 1/r6 (Figure 5). curacy, the readers filter quality, how well proximity of the metal to the tag or Next, the tag must speak loudly the readers driver matches the antenna, reader antennas, the presence of inenough for the reader to hear it. Al- the microcontrollers speed and code ef- band noise sources, whether the tag and though this factor relates to modulation ficiency, and the tags data rate. reader are stationary or moving, and the depth, it also depends on the amount of Sometimes, the modulation type also angle of the tag with regard to the readperturbation the tag can cause in the affects read range. PSK (phase-shift-key- ers H-field. Another environmental facreaders local magnetic field. The pertur- ing) and FSK (frequency-shift-keying) tor is whether the system is enclosed; a bation is related to coupling of energy be- systems are inherently more immune to system in a shielded tunnel, for examtween the two coils, which the antenna noise than ASK (amplitude-shift-keying) ple, can use more power than one in the aperture (diameter) and Q affect. Final- systems, because PSK and FSK systems open air. ly, the reader must listen well. This fac- use a subcarrier that noise cannot easily tor relates to the quality of the readers duplicate. In ASK systems, any suffi- DEVICE SELECTION ALSO CRITICAL noise rejection, SNR, filtering, and pro- ciently wide noise spike can look like data Tag power consumption, turn-on voltcessing. and corrupt a bit, so you must use check- age, and modulation depth vary dramatWhen designing for optimum read sums, parity schemes, or CRC (cyclic-re- ically from model to model and manurange, you should primarily consider the dundancy checking) to counteract the facturer to manufacturer. For example, readers power, the tags power con- noise. the 13.56-MHz MCRF355 and MCRF-

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designfeature Read range in RFID tags

450 RFID tagging devices from Microchip Technology Figure 4 Inc power-up at 4V p-p RFID TAG RFID READER and typically draw 7 A, whereas the companys 125- to 134CLOCK MEMORY POWER OSCILLATOR AMPLIFIER kHz MCRF200 powers up at 9V p-p and draws 10 A. C Power-consumption differs A widely for systems operating at C DC ENCODE 13.56 MHz, because CMOS deB vices consume more current proportionally as their clocking FILTERING, PEAK AMPLIFYING, frequency increases. This freDETECTOR MODULATION SHAPING ALGORITHM quency-dependent consumption is not a problem in synchronous tags operating at 125 MODULATION FET kHz; however, a tag that is deriving its clock from a 13.56MHz carrier has at least one gate An on/off switch, built from a MOSFET, acts as the amplitude-modulating element in an RFID tagging IC. that consumes 100 times more current than its counterpart in the 125- quirements are also important; some ap- does not necessarily double the read kHz tag. The rest of the divider chain plications require only a few inches or range. You can see this by modeling the draws as much or more than the fastest centimeters, whereas others may need flux lines around the readers antenna 3m. Designers should also decide coil (Figure 6). The smaller the aperture, gate. You can see the result in two similar whether signal directivity or maximum the shorter the flux lines, because they 13.56-MHz devices. The MCRF450 con- reading volume is more important in an wrap back around the coil. A larger disumes 16.7 W from dc through the VCC application because increasing one de- ameter allows the flux lines to extend furpin and 28 W p-p through its coil pads. creases the other. ther in the Z direction before wrapping A competitive device consumes 200 W; Regulatory agencies express limits in around, providing both distance and documentation does not specify whether power or voltage levels at distances of more flux density for the tags antenna to this figure is p-p or dc. tens of meters from the source, and pas- intercept. The power-consumption advantage of sive tags in this frequency range generalThis approach also has limits, because the MCRF355 translates into a read- ly can be read at a distance of only 1 to beyond a certain diameter, the flux lines range improvement of at least 30%, 2m. This difference exists because the are no longer additive. This situation ocwhich third parties tested using similar regulatory limits relate to the electric- curs when the flux density in the center tag apertures and reading on the same field component of the generated EM of the coil and its projection into the tags third-party multiprotocol reader. Be- carrier, whereas the inductively coupled antenna aperture decrease; therefore, cause the device has an asynchronous de- tag requires a significant magnetic field. range also decreases. At this point, insign, its low-power, on-chip oscillator has Some reader manufacturers use creative creased power may enhance read range. to switch only at the baseband frequen- design techniques to maximize the magA good rule of thumb is that the maxcy of 70 kHz instead of 13.56 MHz. Such netic field near the reader while cancel- imum read range in a low-frequency, inswitching at 1/200th the frequency ing the electrical field farther away to op- ductively coupled, passive, back-scatter means that at least a few gates consume timize read range in the near field but RFID system is one to two times the read1/200th the current. minimize emissions in the far field. er antennas diameter. Exceptions to this Within these limits, you can enhance rule can occur with clever design techREADER CONSIDERATIONS ALSO COUNT the range by increasing the power, which niques, antenna shape, or signal processReader designs are as diverse as the requires increasing the current drive into ing, but a basic reader has these limits. items they tag. Prices for readers range the tuned LC circuit and improving the One way to increase range in a spacefrom less than $100 for a short-range, impedance match between the driver and constrained application requiring a small low-performance unit to more than antenna. But there is a limit to the im- reader antenna is to wind the reader an$1000 for long-range, high-speed ver- provement you can achieve in this way, tenna around a ferrite rod. This approach sions. RFID-reader designers must con- because the aperture, or diameter, of the makes the reader more directional but sider the regulatory agencies maximum reader antenna coil and the quality of the increases its range along the axis of the allowable limits on radiated energy. They detection circuit affect range more than ferrite by concentrating the magnetic should also consider physical constraints, reader power level does. flux in one direction. including dimensions, weight, and powFor example, doubling the aperture diOnce you select a device, you still must er sourcewhether an ac line or a 9V ameter of the tag or reader can double design the tag antenna for your applicabattery, for example. Read-range re- the read range, but doubling the power tion. The primary factors you must con-

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designfeature Read range in RFID tags

sider are aperture, Q, and tuning. You may also need to consider oth9 10 3 er issues, such as flexibility, me8 10 3 chanical robustness, thinness, permeability to water or 7 10 3 Figure 5 chemicals, shape, and size, 6 10 3 but those requirements affect read range only if they affect aperture, 3 POWER 5 10 Q, or tuning. 4 10 3 The tags antenna aperture relates to read range almost linearly. 3 10 3 In other words, doubling the tags 2 10 3 coil diameter may double read range to as much as twice the read1 10 3 ers antenna diameter, as noted pre0 viously, as long as Q and conduc50 cm 60 cm 70 cm 80 cm 90 cm 1m tor surface area remain relatively RANGE constant. However, if you use the same wire gauge for a 4-in. (10cm)-diameter tag as for a 2-in. (5- Available RF power rapidly falls off with the tag-to-reader distance, proportional to the inverse sixthcm)-diameter tag, the Q suffers be- power of the distance between them. cause of increased resistance of the windings. You should use a larger diam- is in line with the readers antenna axis. even stacked on top of one another. OpQuality factor, Q, is the ratio of stored timizing read range in that application, eter wire to keep Q constant or even improve it. Similarly, a tag implementation energy to dissipated energy. It is also re- then, involves controlling, not maximizusing conductive traces rather than wire actance divided by resistance, so a high- ing, the read range. By intentionally limhas the same problem. The traces need to er resistance of the coil winding corre- iting the Q of the tags, you effectively limbe wider to maintain the same Q when sponds to a lower quality factor. Q also it each tags read range. However, you also relates to the 3-dB corners of the transfer limit their effect on one another by limyou expand a tag to a larger diameter. Increasing the tags antenna diameter function of the LC circuit in the tag. It is iting the amount of power loss due to increases read range because a larger di- therefore a double-edged sword: The tuning shift caused by the proximity of ameter allows the tag to intercept more higher the Q of the tags tank circuit, the other inductors. Some applications require the tagging lines of flux from the readers antenna; longer the read range, because the highthese intercepted lines develop current in er Q allows the extraction and storage of of metallic objects, which can be a probthe tag coil. Note that at these frequen- more energy from the readers field. But, lem for any passive tag at any frequency cies, you are using a tuned-LC circuit, not because high Q also means a narrower if you dont know about the metal betransfer function, it causes the tag to be forehand. Metal causes detuning due to a fractional-wavelength antenna. eddy currents in the case of the ferrous For applications that require tags with more sensitive to changes in tuning. less than 1/2-in. (1-cm) aperture, you These changes can result from manu- metal.You cannot enclose a passive tag or must wind the tag antenna around a fer- facturing tolerances on the coil and ca- any other RF device with which you want rite rod. This approach concentrates the pacitor or the tags environment, such as to communicate inside an enclosed conavailable lines of flux into the tags an- a tag that is directly on top of another tag ductive container; no electromagnetic tenna, effectively magnifying or focusing or near a metallic surface. The environ- energy can enter or leave such a containthe lines of flux through the coil so that mental changes result when the two in- er or Faraday shield. they can generate current in the coil. This ductors in close proximity to each other Depending on the orientation of the situation highlights the fact that power- create a mutual inductance LM which tag to the reader and their orientation to ing up the tag is the primary barrier to causes the tuned frequency of both tags the metallic objects to be tagged, you can to shift. Even a metallic surface can cause control or compensate for the resulting maximizing read range. Such rods are available in many com- a tuning shift because the resulting eddy effects. If you know the objects to be binations of length, diameter, and per- currents also look like a nearby inductor. tagged beforehand, you can pretune the meability and are common in 125- The tuning shift is the same for low Q and tags such that their open-air tuning is offkHz tags used for animal tagging and high Q tags but results in dramatic dif- set from the carrier frequency, yet their key-fob applications. You can also use ferences in the resulting received power tuned frequency, when attached to the ferrite rods for 13.56-MHz systems, but and, therefore, the read range for each metallic objects, is precisely centered on you must choose them with the carrier tag. (Figure 7). the carrier. If you do not know the obSome applications do not require a jects, then you must solve the problem frequency in mind. A winding around a ferrite rod makes the tag directional, long read range but may need to read with more reader power, perhaps in a with its best range where the ferrites axis many tags in close proximity, possibly shielded tunnel, and reduce the Q of the

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designfeature Read range in RFID tags

tags to minimize the power drop due to frequency shift. A DESIGN EXAMPLE ILLUSTRATES CONCEPTS
d2 There is no typical item-level tagging application, and each application has differentsometimes dramatically differentrequirements. A medium-range apd1 plication shows how you might approach the problem if the requirements were different. This sample application Figure 6 requires a tag measuring 2.5 cm in diameter and 25 mm thick and a reader measuring 20 20 4 cm. The required read range is 40 cm, and the application d1 requires 760 bits of rewritable memory. Only 25 tags can be in the readers field at any time, and the application involves _ NOTE: RANGE OF USABLE POWER~d UP TO d2 water and chemicals, but no metal. 2d, WHERE d=APERTURE DIAMETER. Because the read range is twice the maximum aperture for the reader an- A model of the field-flux lines shows how antenna aperture (diameter) is directly related to potentenna and the tag diameter is small, a tial read range. high-Q tag is the best choice. It is easier to manufacture a high-Q tag at 13.56 several available conductive inks rather tries in which either 13.56-MHz noise is MHz than 125 kHz, because a 13.56 MHz than metal windings for the antenna. present or government regulations siga tag requires only four to five windings Conductive inks have much higher re- nificantly limit radiated power in this compared with 200 to 300 windings for sistance and, therefore, low Q. You could band, you can use the MCRF355 and 125 kHz. The high bit count and need to also make the devices into low-Q tags by MCRF450 at another carrier frequency, update information further limit your se- using small-diameter wire in the wind- such as 3, 6, or 22 MHz. Their asynchrolection. One device, the MCRF450, holds ings or by connecting a discrete or thick- nous design means that the device uses as much as 1 kbit of data, some of which film resistor across the LC circuit. the carrier only for power, not for timing. are in its unique ID Code and other conThis example does not specify read As long as the LC-circuit is tuned for the trol registers, but still leaving 864 bits of speed. For applications requiring high new frequency, both devices operate coruser-rewritable, user-write-protectable speed, such as a conveyor belt moving at rectly. The trade-off, though, is that if you memory. Because the role of the 760 bits 400 ft (130m)/minute, a TTF (Tag-Talk- use a lower frequency, you may need to is unspecified, the engineer may have in- First) device, such as the MCRF355, use more windings to achieve the higher tended to include a serial number in might be necessary, but the memory re- inductance the tag requires, or you may these bits. If that were the case, it would quirement would have to decrease be- need to use a larger capacitor. reduce the required number of user bits. cause the MCRF355 has only 154 bits of The requirements for this design exThe MCRF450 also includes an advanced user space. This difference highlights ample do not specify tag spacing. If the anticollision algorithm, which enables it what is essentially a trade-off between the 25 tags in the reader field are lateral with to address more than the required 25 tags central-database and the distributed- respect to one another or spaced at least in the reader field. database schools of thought. The one diameter apart in any direction, then You have several options. For example, MCRF355 holds a serial number and so a high-Q tag would work. But if the tags you could use a 125-kHz device if you acts as a pointer, similar to a bar code, are stacked on top of each other, then uscould make its Q high enough and turn- into a central database; the MCRF450 has ing a high-Q tag would be a detriment on power levels sufficient for reading at much deeper memory, so you can use it due to detuning, or mutual-inductance, 40 cm. If the tags were to come in contact as a distributed database. effects. In that case, consider a low-Q dewith a lot of metal surfaces in this appliYou could use a printed bar code for sign, which you can implement by movcation, 125 kHz might be a better choice less nasty environmental conditions re- ing to 125 kHz or by using one of the than 13.56 MHz, because of their lower quiring the reader to read the tags one at techniques mentioned. Note that reducQ which makes them a little more im- a time. A 2-D bar code holds plenty of in- ing Q also reduces read range, because pervious to tuning shift. formation for a distributed database. The trade-offs always exist. In that case, however, the read-range design example has no cost requirerequirement would have to decrease be- ments, but a ruggedized and protected PACKAGING cause a low Q would be mandatory. In- industrial bar code can meet the needs of Due to the rather harsh environment, cidentally, you can make 13.56-MHz de- lists with severe cost requirements. you cannot use an open, label-type tag in vices into low-Q tags by using one of For installations in regions or coun- this application. Instead it requires a wa-

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designfeature Read range in RFID tags

ter-tight, chemical-resistant seal, such as an HIGH Q LOW Q epoxy, PVC, or Figure 7 plastic disk. A number of manufacturers provide this SMALL CHANGE IN RECEIVED POWER type of packaging in a DRAMATIC CHANGE IN RECEIVED POWER variety of shapes and sizes, such as Cross Technology, Amatech USA, MC Davis, and Checkpoint Systems. You can make the FC FC windings inside the tag using on airwound copper coil, Q factor causes a trade-off. Although higher Q improves energy recovery and read range, it makes the system more senetched aluminum or sitive to manufacturing tolerances and to external factors, such as proximity to metallic surfaces. copper, or deposited conductive ink. Because this read range you would use a parallel LC circuit be- you make a simple, single-loop antenna requires high Q, you should use heavy- cause its impedance goes to infinity at which can be etched on the readers pc gauge copper wire or etched copper in- resonance. You achieve tuning for both board. In this case you choose the inlet in this application. ductors dimensions before you choose circuits by: If the environmental conditions would the capacitor. 1 allow, you could use a less expensive laTo maximize the read range, you must f= . (1) bel-type tag. In this approach, you etch use all the available circumference on the 2 LC or deposit a four- or five-turn coil onto readers pc board. Once you solve for L a thin, flexible dielectric. Both single- and For the tag, it is usually best to start using Equation 3, you calculate C using double-sided processes result in paper- with a readily available production val- Equation 1. The equation for this simthin, flexible inlets, which you can bond ue of C and then calculate and wind L ac- pler antenna is more complex than Equainside a human-readable label or bar- cording to this equation. For this exam- tion 2, which you use for a multiturn, code label or attach directly to an object. ple, you choose 100 pF for the capacitor. wire-wound inductor. Manufacturers of this type of inlet in- Solving for L yields L=1/(22 2Cf2) 1.38 L 0.0467aN2(log10(2a2/(t w)) H. clude Checkpoint Systems, Poly Flex, (3) log10(2.414a)) 0.02032aN2 Winding a spiral inductor, you use: Leema Pharmed and Cool Tech. (0.914 ((0.2235/a)(t w))), If read range were not an issue and the size constraints were more severe, you (aN)2 (2) where a is the length of one side of the L= . square loop in inches, t is the thickness of could use a glass-encapsulated tag the (8a + 11b) the material in inches, N is the number size of a grain of rice. This would include a wound-ferrite core antenna, which can where a is the distance from the center of turns, w is the width of the trace in work with 125-kHz and 13.56-MHz sys- of the coil to the center of the windings inches, and L is in microhenries. Using the dimensions of your pc in centimeters, b is the width of the windtems. ings in centimeters, N is the number of board and assuming some margin for LC-CIRCUIT DESIGN the case, use a 7 in., w 0.25 in., turns, and L is in microhenries. Solving for N using a 1 cm and t 0.002 in. (2-mil-copper-clad board), All inductively coupled, passive RFID tagging systems need good coupling and b 0.5 cm, which will fit the tag-dimen- and N 1. Then solving for L, L 0.576 H. Solving for C in Equation 1, you maximum energy transfer from reader to sion limits, you find that N 4.3 turns. tag. For these reasons, they use parallel This equation changes when you use a find C 239 pF. Note that 220 pF is a LC-circuits in the tag antenna and series flat conductor, such as an etched or de- standard capacitor value; adding 22 pF LC circuits in the reader antenna. To gen- posited inlet. The antenna almost always in parallel gives 242 pF total, which, solverate the maximum H field from the involves some trial and error due to the ing for f, yields 13.48 MHz, close to your reader, the design should achieve maxi- spacing of the windings, and it is diffi- target of 13.56 MHz. L is not exactly acmum coil current at the resonant fre- cult to make the last turn equal 0.3 turn, curate because of the inductance of conquency, because current through a coil but this equation is a good starting nection points, detours around assembly bosses, separation of the two connection generates the magnetic field, which is the point. The reader design often involves some points, and tolerance in manufacturing, reason you use a series LC circuit, whose impedance is zero at resonance. Con- special techniques to maximize local so you often need a variable capacitor or versely, you want to maximize the volt- magnetic field and minimize electrical- selected value of capacitor for tuning in age gain at resonance in the tag. Thus, field emissions at 30m. In this example, production.

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designfeature Read range in RFID tags

You could use a flat rather than a wound inductor for the tag coil. In this case, you would use Equation 3 for a square inductor or Equation 2 for a round one. Alternatively, you could use a wire-wound coil for the reader antenna instead of a copper trace on the pc board. Because of the inductance and resistance of a large loop of wire, this frequency still usually limits you to using only one turn. Equation 4 represents a single-turn, circular-loop antenna: L 0.01257a(2.303log10(16a/d-2)),
(4)

WHEN USING AN RFID TAG AND READER, OPTIMIZING FOR READ RANGE IS A SYSTEM ISSUE.
length. For this reason, you must carefully choose the material, considering all the application requirements. STEP BACK AND REASSESS When designing an RFID tag and reader, remember that optimizing for read range is a system issue; no single component determines the entire read range. A tagging IC has no read range; it can only maximize or minimize its part of the system. Only a total system can have a read range. Also, keep in mind the different semiconductor devices, materials, and techniques available for use in RFID tags and systems, because careful selection by application is critical. And, although optimizing read range is more

complicated than you imagine, optimizing read range is simpler than you imagine if you use these hints, guidelines, and equations. References 1. 13.56 MHz RFID System Design Guide, DS 21299, Microchip Technology Inc. 2. 125 kHz RFID System Design Guide, DS 51115, Microchip Technology Inc. 3. Lee, Youbok, Antenna Circuit Design, Application Note 710, Microchip Technology Inc. Authors bio graphy Peter Sorrells is marketing manager for Memory and RFID products at Microchip Technologys Microperipheral Products Division (Chandler, AZ), where he has worked for more than eight years. He received a BSEE from the University of Arizona (Tucson, AZ). His spare-time interests include playing the guitar and raising three boys.

where a is the mean radius of the loop in centimeters, d is the wire diameter in centimeters, and L is in microhenries. Note that Equation 4 does not calculate Q for coil and capacitor values, because resistivity, which controls Q, is independent of the reactive parameters in the tuning equations. However, the materials you select for the windings dramatically affect Q, because every material has a characteristic resistance per unit

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