Robustness Improvement for Chipless RFID Reading Using Polarization Separation

In this article, a novel method to improve the readability of chipless tags is presented. When the EM wave falls upon the tag’s surface at normal incidence or with a known incidence, the proposed approach permits to obtain a higher signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of resonators whose orientation with respect to the normal to the plane in which the tag is positioned is unknown and, thus, to increase the reading distance of the tag. It introduces a technique based on the detection of this tag orientation in relation to the antennas; a projection of the signals will allow correcting this misalignment in order to always be able to decode the tag identifier on a signal that corresponds to an ideal alignment between the tag and the antennas. With this principle, it is also possible to separate the resonance mode of the resonator that is connected to the identifier from other parasitic resonance modes that may appear due to a possible misalignment between the tag and the antenna. This principle is applied to loop resonators commonly used in chipless radio frequency identification (RFID), which can present strong parasitic modes of resonance. Also, this method makes the reading orientation invariant, allowing to read the resonator whatever its orientation with respect to the normal to the plane in which the tag is positioned. Likewise, the proposed method can be also used to sense this resonator orientation. This method requires a dual-polarization antenna and a two-port vector network analyzer (VNA). Results are validated in simulation and with real-environment measurements for a single resonator and multiple resonators, as it is classically used in chipless RFID technology. Measurements in a harsh environment, as well as comparisons with classical techniques, such as time gating (TG), are presented. A study on the improvement of the read range is achieved to highlight the potential of the proposed technique. A reading distance of more than 80 cm was, thus, obtained, which represents 20 cm more than with the classic use of a postprocessor based on time gating. Finally, the principle of the measurement is generalized by applying it to a tag with a ground plane and considering that the antenna is not necessarily placed in normal incidence with respect to the plane of the tag.