RFID System Based on Fully Printable Chipless Tag for Paper-/Plastic-ltem Tagging

An RFID system, utilizing a chipless RFID tag on a 90 μm thin Taconic TF290 laminate, is presented. The chipless tag consists of two cross-polarized ultra-wideband antennas and a multi-resonating circuit. The data encoding is performed in the multi-resonating circuit, which is composed of multiple stop-band spiral resonators. The chipless tag encodes data into the spectral signature in both the magnitude and phase of the spectrum. The design and operation of two prototype RFID readers is also presented. The RFID readers operate between 1.9 GHz to 2.5 GHz and 5 GHz to 10.7 GHz, and can successfully detect a chipless tag at close range. The tag design can be easily transferred to plastic and paper, making it suitable for mass deployment for low-cost items. It has the potential to replace trillions of barcodes printed each year. The RFID reader is suitable for mounting over conveyor-belt systems.