Frequency-Scanned Monopulse Antenna for RSSI-Based Direction Finding of UHF RFID Tags

A compact printed-circuit leaky-wave antenna is designed to synthesize frequency-scanned monopulse patterns in the UHF RFID band from 902 to 928 MHz. A high-permittivity ceramic substrate is used to maximize the angular scanning range in such a narrow band. Two operating modes, i.e., narrow-field and wide-field modes, can be chosen by properly selecting the frequency channels and antenna ports. This allows to adapt to different fields of view while maximizing the maximum reading distance, as demonstrated with a fabricated prototype.