A Printed Dipole Antenna for Ultra High Frequency (UHF) Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) Handheld Reader

We propose a new printed dipole antenna for ultra high frequency (UHF) radio frequency identification (RFID) systems in North America. The antenna consists of a microstrip-to-coplanar stripline transition, a meandered driven dipole, a closely-coupled parasitic element, and a folded finite-size ground plane. The antenna geometry, design concept, simulated and measured results are carefully discussed throughout the paper. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed antenna features a compact size, wide impedance bandwidth, moderate gain, and excellent front-to-back ratio. This antenna is well suitable for the applications in RFID handheld readers.