Performance Characterization of a Battery-less NFC Sensor for Museum Artifact Monitoring

This paper presents the performance of a battery-less near field communication (NFC) sensor for museum artifact monitoring. The radio frequency (RF) receiver sensitivity of the NFC sensor was measured using a commercial Tagformance measurement system. To respond to read commands, the NFC sensor requires a minimum magnetic field strength of 67.8 mA/m in free space, and 87.6 mA/m after integration within an archive box typically used for cultural heritage artifact storage. The integrated NFC loop antenna has a -3 dB bandwidth of 1.16 MHz in free space and 1.14 MHz bandwidth when integrated within the archive box. These measured RF sensitivity and -3 dB bandwidth values are in close agreement with the ISO/IEC 15693 standard. This work demonstrates a DC power consumption of 597 µW which is shown to be the lowest value compared to the state-of-the-art literature. In addition, the wireless communication range of approximately 5 cm was achieved which compares favourably with the maximum read ranges reported in literature. The developed NFC sensor has been deployed in European museums for wireless monitoring of valuable artifacts.