Effects of orientation and obstacles on the RFID performance

The impact of environmental configurations on the characteristics and performance of Radio Frequency IDentification (RFID) passive Ultra High Frequency (UHF) tags was presented. Orientation and obstacle effects on the performance of an RFID system were investigated. The range detection sensitivity, the tag orientation sensitivity, as well as the RFID system reliability to the presence of obstacles have been evaluated and reported. Improved system reliability and range of detection were achieved in the absence of obstacles (free space) and degraded exponentially in the presence of such obstacles, with zero detection for metallic films. A tag orientation of 90° increased the sensitivity range by two folds while the same reliability was maintained.