Implementation and wireless readout of passive UHF RFID strain sensor tags based on electro-textile antennas

Author

Feiyuan Long ; Xiao Dong Zhang ; Bjorninen, Toni ; Virkki, Johanna ; Sydanheimo, Lauri ; Yan-Cheong Chan ; Ukkonen, Leena

Author_Institution

Dept. of Electron. Eng., City Univ. of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China

fYear

2015

fDate

13-17 April 2015

Firstpage

1

Lastpage

5

Abstract

Sensing capabilities embedded in a passive UHF RFID tag provide a battery-free wireless sensor equipped with a digital identifier. We present an RFID strain sensor tag based on a stretchable antenna made of conductive fabrics. To create an efficient antenna for the sensor tag, we use non-stretchable and highly conductive copper-coated fabric to form the main antenna body and join a section of stretchable conductive fabric by means of sewing with conductive thread. We test wirelessly two different sensors with 1 cm and 3 cm stretchable sections and characterize them in terms of the maximal sensor readout distance and the response of its backscatter strength to the antenna elongation. Our results show that the percentage change in the backscatter strength is in approximately linear relation with the antenna elongation.

Keywords

antennas; copper; radiofrequency identification; strain sensors; wireless sensor networks; Cu; battery-free wireless sensor; conductive fabrics; conductive thread; copper-coated fabric; digital identifier; electro-textile antennas; passive UHF RFID strain sensor tags; size 1 cm; size 3 cm; stretchable antenna; wireless readout; Dipole antennas; Fabrics; Radiofrequency identification; Strain; Wireless communication; Wireless sensor networks; RFID sensor tags; electro-textile antennas; strain sensors; textile antennas; wireless sensors;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Antennas and Propagation (EuCAP), 2015 9th European Conference on

Conference_Location

Lisbon

Type

conf

Filename

7228285