The effect of metallic substance on the read range of UHF passive RFID system

Read Range is one of the important performance metric of passive RFID system. It depends on the parameters of both the reader and a tag. It also depends on the application environment. Passive RFID system is often used where a tag is tagged to a metallic objects or are used where there are metallic surfaces in the proximity. This paper gives how the metallic surface affects the read range of UHF Passive RFID system. This was carried out to see how the metallic plate in the proximity effect the reader and tag antenna parameters and how these parameters affect the read range. The effect on antenna parameters were studied under two cases. Firstly, using a metallic plate at different distances from the antenna and secondly using plates of different sizes. The simulation of antenna was carried out in the NEC2D and the effect on read range is carried out in MATLAB. The work was carried out during my term of 20 months at Staffordshire University funded by e-link.