UHF tag antenna prototypes built using natural rubber substrates

this paper presents the use of natural rubber as a substrate in the design of UHF RFID tag antenna. Prototype meander dipole antenna was simulated using CST Microwave Studio to operate at 921 MHz, using natural rubber as the substrate and copper as the conductor. The overall dimension of the tag is 63 × 63 × 1.3 mm
³
. Experimental studies on the effects of NR properties are done to facilitate efforts of flexible antenna design in achieving desired system requirement. This paper focuses on the effect on the tag antenna return loss, radiation patterns and the read range. Our encouraging findings imply that rubber-based RFID tag antennas can be used in the industry with the added facility of enhancing the antenna characteristics simply by adjusting the properties of rubber.