NFC Reader Antenna Design and Considerations for Automotive Applications

This paper presents antenna design and packaging consideration for near field communication (NFC) system that is being used in automotive security systems, and, more specifically, to an NFC reader for obtaining access to, and controlling activation of, a transportation vehicle such as a motor vehicle. Various important studies for automotive applications were performed in this work such as a magnetic wall method. This magnetic wall method can prevent the reduction in NFC reading range caused by proximity to body sheet metal. It provides a unique and superior magnetic shielding effect as compared to ferrite sheets because it is not temperature dependent and can be implemented with minimal cost and complexity. The proposed design can be easily fabricated on the back face of the NFC reader antenna PCB using conventional PCB techniques.