RFID tag readability around white wine bottles

RFID technology has been proposed as an alternative to barcode in applications as food traceability, due to its inherent radio characteristics of distance readability and automatic management. However, many food packagings are not made of radio electric friendly materials: they contain different metallic elements, or they are surrounded by ice or water, etc. The case of wine bottles is of especial interest, as the wine is an added value product that could allow the use of RFID tags to provide information to the final user. The study of the performance of different tag models attached to wine bottles is the aim of this paper. In all cases, propagation results are better in the tests performed with empty bottles than in the ones with full bottles. Another interesting result is the changes in the pattern shape obtained with the measurements made around the bottles.