UHF-HF Integrated RFID Sensor: A Novel Information Interface for Industrial Integration

The itemized product identification, sensing and data integration are critical building blocks for the efficiency, flexibility, and potential intelligence of the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT). The product sensing and data integration solutions usually suffer from the sophisticated sensor devices and their inflexible integration with the industrial processes, which may restrict the performance of industrial systems. To maintain an information link for convenient product data integration, this investigation presents a surface mountable dual-mode Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) sensor as a wirelessly powered information interface for simultaneous product identification, sensing, and data integration. The focus of this investigation includes: (1) the theory and hardware/software scheme for sensor-augmented RFID integrating Ultra-High Frequency (UHF) and High Frequency (HF) with Commercial-off-the-Shelf (COTS) devices; (2) integration of the UHF and HF energy and data interfaces to support both UHF and HF powering and sensing; (3) a data integration method supporting sensor data transmission using common UHF and HF readers without extra hardware or software cost; (4) proposal of a model for industrial integration with the proposed dual-mode RFID sensor. The experimental studies and exemplar application demonstrate the feasibility of the presented techniques for industrial integration.