Compact tag antenna for metal-mountable applications in the UHF RFID passbands

Choe, Siu Kit (2025) Compact tag antenna for metal-mountable applications in the UHF RFID passbands. Final Year Project, UTAR.

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Abstract

This report presents the theoretical background, methodology, configuration of the proposed tag antenna, performance analysis and challenges encountered in developing the tag antenna. The aim is to design a compact and high performance metal mountable tag antenna for omnidirectional radiation applications in the UHF RFID passbands. This project focuses on patch antenna structure that incorporates zeroth-order resonance (ZOR) principles to enhance performance while maintaining a compact form factor. The study investigates the fundamental concepts of RFID systems and the impact of metal surfaces on antenna performance, as well as various approaches to overcome these challenges. Through a series of simulations using CST Studio Suite, design iterations were conducted to optimize the antenna’s radiation pattern, gain, and impedance matching. Overall, a compact UHF RFID tag antenna based on zeroth-order resonance (ZOR) is proposed for on-metal omnidirectional tag design. The proposed tag antenna consists of two identical patches, which are placed in the antipodal arrangement. Each patch is connected to the ground by a pair of elongated shorting stubs as well as a pair of open-ended side stubs. This structure can generate sufficient antenna impedance for achieving good conjugate matching, despite having a miniature size of 0.0824λ × 0.0824λ × 0.0098 λ (or 27 mm × 27 mm × 3.2 mm). A tag prototype has been fabricated, and achieves a constant read range of ~9.8 m (4 W EIRP) in all azimuthal directions with 4W EIRP when mounted on metal. Keywords: UHF RFID tag; patch antenna; omnidirectional; on-metal; zeroth�order resonance Subject Area: TK5101-6720 Telecommunication

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