《03_Recent Paradigm Shift in RFID and Smart Antennas》.pdf

CHAPTER 3 RECENT PARADIGM SHIFT IN RFID AND SMART ANTENNAS NEMAI CHANDRA KARMAKAR Department of Electrical and Computer Systems Engineering, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria, Australia 3.1 INTRODUCTION In the preceding chapter, a comprehensive review of the RFID technology was pre- sented. The definition of the enabling automatic identification technology (RFID), its tag and reader architectures, different generations of RFID tags and readers, global standards and mandates, and, finally, the emerging application areas of the tag have been explained. In the very last section of the preceding chapter, the significance of the chipless tags compared to the expensive chipped tags has been highlighted. It is imperative that the tag must be chipless to compete with the trillions of optical bar- codes printed per year. Figure 3.1 shows the projection of the RFID tag price versus the total usage of tags over 16 years starting from 2004 as reported by IDTechEx [1]. As can be seen, the RFID tag will replace the trillions of barcodes if they can be made for less than a cent. This will only be possible if the tags can be made possibly by direct printing on product or package like optical barcodes. According to the prediction, this will not happen soon and it may take more than a decade to reach to that level from its current status of more than 10 cents a tag (2009). Technical challenges in designing printed electronics at RF frequencies are the main hindrance of producing a tag for less than a cent. The conclusion is that the tag must cost less than a cent to coexist or eradicate the barcode completely. As mentioned earlier, barcodes have known limitations— they cannot be read non-line-of-sight (NLoS)—behind an obstacle and when they are stained with soil and grease or are printed on some transparent substrates and in sunlight and dark. Each barcode needs personal care to be read, which makes the inventory control and warehouse