Orthogonal frequency coded SAW sensors and RFID design principles

Orthogonal frequency coded (OFC) SAW reflectors and transducers have been recently introduced for use in communication, sensor and RFID tag applications.[1,2] The OFC SAW technology approach has been funded by NASA for possible inclusion in ground, space flight and space exploration sensor applications. In general, SAW technology has advantages over possible competing technologies: passive, wireless, radiation hard, operation from cryogenic to furnace temperature ranges, small, rugged, variable frequency and bandwidth operation, encoding and commercially available. SAW sensor embodiments can provide onboard device sensor integration, or can provide integration with an external sensor that uses the SAW device for encoding the sensor information and transmission to the receiver. SAW OFC device technology can provide RFID tags and sensors with low loss, large operating temperatures and a multi-use sensor platform. This paper will discuss the key parameters for OFC device design, which include reflector and transducer design, coding diversity approaches, and insertion loss considerations. Examples of several OFC device sensors and RFID tags will be presented to show the current state-of-the-art performance for several NASA applications, as well as projections for future sensor and RFID tag platform performance.