A 48 μW, 8.88 × 10−3 W/W batteryless energy harvesting BCC identification system

A BCC identification system which is fully compatible with previous radio frequency identification (RFID) systems is proposed in order to reduce power consumption, avoid security breaches, and enhance convenience via an intuitive interface. The BCC identification system is composed of a reader and a tag. The reader sends an RF wave to the tag, receives an identification code, and analyzes the received code. The tag harvests energy from the RF wave transmitted by the reader, and transfers the identification code to the reader. The energy harvester in the BCC identification tag increases power conversion efficiency (PCE) by up to 12% by adaptively changing the number of rectifier stages depending on input power. In addition, a transformer reusing an on-off keying (OOK) BCC transmitter is proposed to inform the reader of completion of energy harvesting of the tag by changing load impedance. As a result, a 48 μW, 8.88×10^-3 W/W Figure-of-Merit (FoM) BCC identification system is implemented. This system can generate sufficient power in the tag with lower transmitted power from the reader compared to previous RFID systems.