HELSINKI UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY Department of Engineering Physics and Mathematics Laboratory of Optics and Molecular Materials

Matti Liukku

UHF-RFID Identication and Positioning of Butteries

Masters Thesis submitted in partial fulllment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Technology.

Espoo, September 30, 2007

Supervisor: Instructor:

Professor Matti Kaivola Research Professor Heikki Sepp a

HELSINKI UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY

Author: Matti Liukku

ABSTRACT OF THE MASTERS THESIS

Name of the Thesis: UHF-RFID Identication and Positioning of Butteries

Date: Department: Professorship: Supervisor: Instructor: Abstract text.

May 1, 2007

Number of pages: XXX + XX

Department of Engineering Physics and Mathematics Tfy-124 Physics Professor Matti Kaivola Research Professor Heikki Sepp a

Keywords: thesis, latex, electiricity

ii

TEKNILLINEN KORKEAKOULU
Tekij: a Tyn nimi: o Matti Liukku

DIPLOMITYON TIIVISTELMA

Perhosten identiointi ja paikannus kytten a a UHF-RFID -tekniikkaa

Pivmr: a a aa a Osasto: Professuuri: Tyn valvoja: o Tyn ohjaaja: o Abstraktin teksti.

1.5.2007

Sivuja: XXX + XX

Teknillisen fysiikan ja matematiikan osasto Tfy-124 Fysiikka Professori Matti Kaivola Tutkimusprofessori Heikki Sepp a

Avainsanat: diplomity, latex, shk o a o

iii

Acknowledgements
This Masters thesis I want to thank Many thanks go to I wish to thank I would also like to thank My gratitude also goes to Finally, I would like to thank

Otaniemi, May 1, 2016

Teemu Teekkari

iv

Contents
Abbreviations List of Figures List of Tables 1 Introduction 2 RFID implementation 2.1 Radio Frequency Identication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.1.1 2.1.2 2.2 2.2.1 EPC Gen2 protocol . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . UHF RFID . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Reader antenna . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vii ix x 1 4 4 5 5 6 8 9 9 12 13 15 15 16 17 18 26 26

Study environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

3 Buttery antenna development 3.1 3.2 Antenna design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Antenna design theory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.2.1 3.2.2 3.2.3 3.2.4 3.3 3.4 Impedance matching . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Polarization matching . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Capture area . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Eective aperture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Antenna manufacturing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Antenna tuning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

4 RF Localization 4.1 RF Localization methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

4.1.1 4.2 4.2.1 4.2.2 5 Results 5.1 5.2

UHF RFID localization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Post-measurement localization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Localization error . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

28 29 33 33 35 35 36 36 37 42 42 43 44 44 47 47 47 48 48

Localization concept . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Reading distance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Tag localization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.2.1 5.2.2 Number of simultaneous readings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Localization accuracy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

6 Analysis 6.1 Localization accuracy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

7 Conclusions 7.1 7.2 Future Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Other approaches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

A Buttery antenna tuning guide A.1 In brief . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A.2 Necessary equipment: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A.3 Initial preparations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A.4 Operations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

vi

Abbreviations
ACG DC EMF GPS IC LBT RFID UI UHF VHF VTT Anisotropically Conducting Glue Direct current Electromotive force Global Positioning System Integrated circuit Listen-Before-Talk protocol Radio frequency identication User Interface Ultra High Frequency Very High Frequency Technical Research Centre of Finland

vii

List of Figures
2.1 2.2 2.3 3.1 System communication diagram . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Test room environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 7 8

Reader antenna radiation pattern . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Attenuation and backscattered power of the tag chip in function of available antenna power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

11 13 15 18 19 20 20 22 23 23 24 24 25 28 31 32

3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 3.8 3.9

Buttery antenna circuit. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Impedance matched buttery antenna circuit. . . . . . . . . . . . . . Test antennas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Reader antenna radiation pattern in 3D . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Reader antenna radiation pattern in 2D (XY -plane) . . . . . . . . . Reader antenna radiation pattern in 2D (YZ -plane) . . . . . . . . . Antenna coil length tuning. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Antenna capacitor change. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

3.10 Tunable tag antenna. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.11 Buttery antenna before and after tuning. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.12 Reection spectrum of the tuned buttery antenna. . . . . . . . . . . 3.13 Tag antenna attached to a buttery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.1 4.2 4.3 Location estamation methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Maximum reading distance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Localization concept . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

viii

5.1 5.2

RSSI calibration measurement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Localization error when main radiation direction of the buttery antenna is directed toward a reader antenna. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

37

39

5.3

Theoretical localization error when main radiation direction of the buttery antenna is directed toward a reader antenna at location (0,0). 40

5.4

Theoretical localization error when isotropic buttery antenna. . . .

41

ix

List of Tables
3.1 3.2 5.1 5.2 Antenna simulation results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 21 36

Calculated L network capacitor values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Maximum Reading Distance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Tag localization readings when main radiation direction of the buttery antenna is directed toward a reader antenna. . . . . . . . . . .

38

5.3

Tag localization readings when the radiation pattern of the buttery antenna is isotropic. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

Chapter 1

Introduction
Localization is becoming more and more important in everyday life. Mobile navigators tell us the fastest routes and nearest shops. In principle any radio device can be used for positioning but practical demands leave us only few alternative solutions. In many cases Global Positioning System (GPS) has made local positioning systems useless due to its increasing accuracy and reliability. However, even today GPS does not work properly indoors because of the needed satellite connection. This can be solved to some extent by using pseudo satellites that imitate real satellites. Also GPS and other active localization techniques require actively powered devices that cannot be minimized in size very far. For the above reasons, we also need other positioning methods in local environments even if they are more expensive and more dicult to implement. Traditionally biologists have used VHF radios to track movements of bears, wolfs and birds. The animal is equipped with an active transmitter collar and the scientist can locate the animal using signal bearing. Nowadays GPS is replacing this kind of tracking for its low maintenance and accuracy. More importantly, one must also be able to identify the animal. The positioning information is more valuable when you also know which animal it really is. Active GPS receiver can be designed to store and send the positioning data frequently to a base receiver. The transmission can also include an identication code to distinguish animals from each other. But the smaller the animals we want to track the more dicult it gets to design an active transmitter that the animal is able to carry. And when using insects GPS is no longer an option and another solution has to be found. Radio Frequency Identication (RFID) is designed, by denition, to provide wireless object identication. It is developing fast and has become the industry standard for logistic and passport identication. RFID tags are usually very small, especially 1

CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION

the passive ones, and are easy to mount on an animal. The reading distance is enough for indoor use and RFID tags are very cheap. On the other hand, RFID has no built in object positioning. The main goal of this project is to develop a system that can measure ight activity and lifetime ight distance of individual butteries in closed space. Also the system should be able to distinguish between mating and egg laying butteries. This information would give biologists the possibility to compare butteries with dierent size, shape or genetics with each other. The butteries in question are only about 100 mg in weight, a few centimeters in size and their maximum ight speed is about 2 m/s. When mating, two butteries are bound together for several hours which can be used to identify the event. The Metapopulation Research Group at the University of Helsinki is the end user of the buttery tracking system. The group conducts research on the biology of species inhabiting fragmented landscapes such as butteries. Technical Research Centre of Finland (VTT) is responsible for the technical development of the system. To answer these demands we decided to develop accurate positioning and identication of butteries in closed space. RFID was chosen to be the underlying technology. It has been used for locating insects also in the past but only with social insects who always come back to their nest [11]. Commercial RFID readers are available in dierent frequency ranges, but to be able to manufacture a buttery antenna light enough with reasonable reading distance, only UHF RFID can be used. Because of lack of object positioning in the RFID protocol, it has to be developed in the system level. The received signal strength (RSS) and power sweeping can be used to estimate distances between the receiving antennas and the butteries. The localization itself is done by combining these distance estimations and calculating a 2D position for each buttery in real time. The study is carried out in a closed hall 10 meters wide, 15 meters long and 3 meters high. The space is divided into six square shaped sections. This way the system can be developed using only one of these sections in our test laboratory without the need of huge space. In Chapter 2 the RFID technology is discussed in more detail and the related signal propagation laws are presented. I will shortly mention why we chose to use UHF RFID and how we designed and developed the special antennas for the butteries. In the end of the chapter I will introduce the testing environment. Next in Chapter 3 I will present the design and manufacture process of the buttery antennas. This chapter focuses on the used antenna development methods and presents in more detail the antenna tuning methods in practice. Chapter 4 concentrates on UHF RFID localization methods but also discuses RF localization in general. The measurement

CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION

results are presented in Chapter 5 and analyzed in Chapter 6. In Chapter 7 there is a small summary of this project and discussion of how well the project objectives were met. In the end there are also ideas for the future development of this project.

Chapter 2

RFID implementation
This chapter gives the necessary understanding on RFID in general that is needed in the rest of the thesis. First is introduced the essentials of RFID technology and the communication protocol. Then, signal propagation theory in relation to UHF RFID is discussed more closely. Finally, the used test environment is introduced in detail.

2.1

Radio Frequency Identication

Radio frequency identication (RFID) is a method for identication of remote objects. In simple, it is a reection radio that is able to produce a certain answer when asked. The answer usually is the id number of the transponder and it is transmitted by modulating the radio wave using changes in impedance. The data transfer follows some of the few RFID communication protocols which dene how information is coded into the signal. An RFID system is based on a reader and one or more transponders. An RFID transponder tag is a special kind of radio transmitter and receiver. It consists of an antenna for receiving and transmitting the signal and an integrated circuit for storing and processing information. Usually RFID tags also have an internal memory which can be used to store information. In principal three types of RFID transponder systems are in use:
Active transponder transmits a carrier to the reader and is self-powered for

example by a battery.
Semi-passive transponder changes its input impedance and is therefore able

to reect a portion of the received power back to the reader. The changing 4

CHAPTER 2. RFID IMPLEMENTATION

mechanism is controlled by an on-chip nite state machine. The transponder is also self-powered.
Passive transponder is powered by the carrier transmitted by the reader. The

communication link is based on modulation of the input impedance.

2.1.1

EPC Gen2 protocol

EPC Gen2 is short for EPCglobal UHF Class 1 Generation 2. It is the most commonly used protocol in UHF RFID communication and was adopted as ISO standard (ISO 18000-6C) in 2006. Also other UHF RFID protocols is available with dierent characteristics. For example with Tagidu protocol, that is developed in the Palomar [9] project, we would be able to get longer reading distance but commercially available RFID readers seldom support other than EPC Gen2. The features in Gen2 are still adequate for our needs and it was chosen to the communication protocol in this project. As Gen2 is a standard, it only species the minimum performance criteria. The technical specications [5] laid down for Gen 2 tags should allow 1500 readings/second in the US and 600 readings/second in Europe. Objects being transported on conveyor belts moving at speeds of 200 meters per second can be read with readers fullling the specication. Also a write rate of around 10 tags per second can be achieved. In EPC Gen2 protocol the coding is done by using amplitude shift keying (ASK) [4]. The tag variates its internal impedance which modulates the transmission amplitude.

2.1.2

UHF RFID

Unlike in LF- and HF-frequencies that use inductive connection to communicate, UHF RFID uses radio waves. A passive tag is powered by the RF beam transmitted by the reader. The power that is receivable depends on many conditions such as the absorption coecient of the medium in dierent carrier frequencies, temperature or reections. The attenuation rate is a rate at which the received signal strength (RSS) decreases over distance: RSS r . If = 2, signal strength drops by 6 dB every time the distance doubles. Following the Friis formula [7], a rst approximation for the power received at the tag antenna is given as PtagIC = Pr 2 Gr Gt = P r Gr Gt 4r2 4 4r
2

(2.1)

where Pr is the power transmitted by the reader, Gt tag gain, Gr reader gain, the frequency and r the distance between reader and the tag. It can be seen that the

CHAPTER 2. RFID IMPLEMENTATION

free space attenuation depends on the carrier frequency and the distance. The term Pr Gr is dened and limited for each frequency by the local RF regulations [3]. The gain of the tag depends on the directivity and eciency of the antenna and the losses on the mismatch between the antenna and the IC impedance. If the polarization angles do not match, also polarization losses have to be taken into account. In many cases power equations are written in decibel form. Distance r from Equation (2.1) can be solved and as a result we get r= PtagIC (dBm)+Pr (dBm)+Gr (dBi)+Gt (dBi)L(dB) 20 10 , 4 (2.2)

where L(dB) is cable loss in decibels. To be able to communicate bi-directionally, the tag needs to backscatter a portion of the received power back to the reader. For the return link (communication from transponder to reader) the same structure of Equation (2.1) mentioned above for the power transport (free space attenuation) holds.

2.2

Study environment

Final location for the buttery localization system is a research hall of Helsinki University at Lammi Biological Research Station, Finland. The whole study and system implementation is made keeping in mind the properties and limitations of this hall. The hall is 15 x 10 meters in size and it has three sheet metal walls and one wall covered with windows. The hall is about 5 meters high. The butteries are restricted into a smaller space that is by using a net. The net is about 14 x 9 meters in size set at 2 meters height. This way the measurement equipment is easier to setup outside the net. Also the system can be studied without interfering the butteries. The system implementation consists of one server PC, six Elektrobit UHF RFID readers, 24 reader antennas and about 30 buttery RFID tags attached to butteries. At maximum four antennas can be connected to the Elektrobit UHF RFID Reader. In Fig. 2.1 there is a diagram of the system parts and communication methods in between them. The server PC communicates with the readers using standard TCP/IP and XML messages. The readers communicate with the tags using the standard EPC Gen2 communication protocol. The antennas transfer the signal from cable to air and vice versa. The reader antennas are AV2062 vertically polarized GSM 900 base station antennas made by Aerial. They have a gain of 13 dBi and a beam width 60 degrees in the horizontal and 30 degrees in the vertical direction.

CHAPTER 2. RFID IMPLEMENTATION

Figure 2.1: System communication diagram The test area is divided into six identical parts which are squares in shape. In this way we can rst test our system with only one square after which these results can be extended to the whole test area. The sides of the squares are approximately 4.5 meter long. The size is chosen so that one RFID reader with four antennas should be able to read a tag anywhere inside that square. Because of the anisotropic radiation pattern of our tag antennas the maximum read distance has to be ve meters or more in order to always get a response from the tag through at least one antenna. The testing environment is presented in Fig. 2.2. RFID readers have developed fast and these days their sensitivity is excellent. The Elektrobit RFID reader has a -80 dBm talk sensitivity and -96 dBm LBT (Listen

Figure 2.2: Test room environment

CHAPTER 2. RFID IMPLEMENTATION

Before Talk) sensitivity. The minimum reader sensitivity required to read UHF RFID tags has been studied in the Palomar Project [9]. The tag modulation depth, tag sensitivity and environmental noise all have an impact on the maximum reading distance. The tag chip selected to this project is designed to work well for logistics on noisy industrial environments. Consequently, in our case the reader sensitivity is not a limiting factor when talking about the maximum read distance. Actually, chip wake-up threshold power limits the maximum read distance. This is also seen from the measurements made during antenna tuning. These results are presented and discussed in more detail in Sec. 3.1.

2.2.1

Reader antenna

The radiation beam of the reader antenna has to be quite narrow in order to achieve necessary reading distance. The vertical beam width is not as important because the antennas are mounted on the sides of each cell facing horizontally. Narrowing the vertical beam width gives us more important gain in the horizontal plane. In gure 2.3 is presented the reader antenna attenuation in decibels in the horizontal plane.

Figure 2.3: Reader antenna radiation pattern

Chapter 3

Buttery antenna development

Antenna design theory is in a major role in this work and it is presented thoroughly in this chapter. All the equations deeded to calculate the antenna tuning eects and maximum reading distances are illustrated.

3.1

Antenna design

Simulations of dierent antenna structures revealed that because the antenna has to be so small (about 10 mm x 20 mm in size) a magnetic loop antenna outperforms an electric dipole antenna in radiation eciency. The available antenna area is simply better used with a loop antenna. With the electric dipole antenna losses rapidly decrease the radiation eciency as the antenna size gets smaller. This makes the use of a loop antenna more desirable when the antenna size have to be small. Also because the antenna is connected very closely to the buttery, an electric dipole antenna would be interfered by the buttery and as a result of this it would be impossible to repeatably tune the antenna. Living tissue is magnetically neutral but not electrically. In our experiments we are using Impinj Monza EPC Gen2 chips. The impedance of the RFID tag antenna has to be matched to the tag chip. With a small loop antenna we cannot get impedance matching with the tag chip which has the impedance ZIC = 58 j166 at 867 MHz frequency. The radiation resistance Rr of a small loop antenna can be quite easily calculated from the current element radiation resistance [6] Rr = 320 4 A2 4 , (3.1)

CHAPTER 3. BUTTERFLY ANTENNA DEVELOPMENT

10

where A is the loop area and wavelength. According to Eq. (3.1) the radiation resistance of a loop antenna having area of 3 cm2 is less than 1 . Keeping in mind our goal to minimize the antenna weight our only option to get impedance matching is to use some component matching network. The easiest way to achieve matching [1] is to use two capacitors, one in series (CX ) and one in parallel (CB ). This structure is also called an L-network. Generally when designing RFID tags, no extra components are wanted on the tag because they increase the manufacturing costs and can also increase the losses. In small loop antennas the conductive losses are usually the most signicant loss mechanism. But in our case the tag is not mass produced and we can choose high quality ceramic capacitors with high Q-value which means that the eect on total losses is minimal. The width of the metal conductor was chosen to be 1 mm. All antenna corners were rounded (1.5 mm radius at minimum) to minimize losses. The tag chips have a read sensitivity limit of -9 dBm (0.13 mW). The read sensitivity limit represents the lowest possible input power for which the tag is still readable. The reected power from the buttery tag is dependent on the available antenna power and is described by the reection coecient. The information is coded into the signal by ipping the modulation of the chip on and o. The dierence in reection coecients between these two states multiplied by the incident power gives the power level of the modulated signal. Usually chips are designed so that the maximum reection coecient dierence is at the read sensitivity limit. Then the chip works best at minimum power and the maximum reading distance can be reached. When the available power is higher than the minimum level the tag chip protects it self by reecting a portion of the incident power back without modulating it. The chip is designed so that it reects excess incident power as carrier wave to prevent damage to the tags analog front end. In this way the tag chip can operate on all distances and power levels from the minimum threshold up. In Fig. 3.1 is presented the attenuation of the tag chip and the backscattered power in function of available antenna power. The attenuation is calculated from the measured modulation reection. We can see that backscattered power stays relatively constant regardless of the incident power. This means that the measured RSSI behavior depends only on the propagation attenuation of the radio wave from the buttery antenna to the reader antenna. In terms of localization, valuable power is reected back as carrier wave that can not be used for localization purposes. Though it does not eect the reading capability of the reader, it lowers the maximum resolution of the localization. This alone makes UHF RFID chips quite challenging to be used for localization.

CHAPTER 3. BUTTERFLY ANTENNA DEVELOPMENT

11

Figure 3.1: Attenuation and backscattered power of the tag chip in function of available antenna power

CHAPTER 3. BUTTERFLY ANTENNA DEVELOPMENT

12

3.2

Antenna design theory

RFID tags are transponders, which means they send and receive information. In order to do that with low RF powers, the transponder antenna needs to have relatively good radiation eciency. Radiation eciency tells the ratio of the power radiated to the total power supplied to the radiator a the given frequency. Generally the antenna properties can be divided into three dierent categories: 1. Radiation parameters Radiation parameters are usually the main design principle in antenna designing. However, in this work other restrictions were so tight that the radiation parameters essentially followed from them. Obviously the laminar shape, the small antenna size and weight do not give many possibilities for dierent antenna structures. Properties like beam width, directivity, polarization and radar cross section are not free design parameters in our case. 2. Circuit parameters When looking from the supply connectors, an antenna acts as an impedance Za = Ra + jXa , where Ra is antenna resistance, Xa antenna reactance and j the imaginary unit. The impedance is a variable that depends on, for example, frequency. In Figure 3.2 is presented the buttery antenna circuit. To use the antenna eciently, the impedance has to be in a range where it can be matched to the IC impedance ZIC = RIC + jXIC . Parameters like eciency, Q-factor, and bandwidth tell of the antennas circuit properties. The resistance Ra can be divided into antenna loss Rh and radiation resistance Rr as shown in Figure 3.2. With an ideal antenna (eciency = Rr /Ra = 1) Ra represents only radiation resistance. 3. Other parameters Other relevant parameters include antenna size, weight, shape and cost. Because antennas have to be mounted on the back of a buttery, weight and size are the most important parameters. When an antenna, whose ecient length vector h, is placed in a plane wave eld E, it acts like a generator with an emf equal to U = hE and an internal impendance Za as shown in Figure 3.2. The power transferred from air to the tag IC impedance ZIC is [7] RIC |U |2 4Ra RIC |h E|2 1 2 2 PL = 2 = 2 2 2 8R |h| |E| . 2 |Za + ZIC | |Za + ZIC | |h| |E| a (3.2)

CHAPTER 3. BUTTERFLY ANTENNA DEVELOPMENT

13

3.2.1

Impedance matching

From Eq. (3.2) three parts can be distinguished. The rst one is the coecient for impedance matching kL = 4Ra RIC . |Za + ZIC |2 (3.3)

It can easily be seen from Eq. (3.3) that at single frequency the power transfer between two reactive elements is maximized when [8]
ZIC = Za , where ZIC is the IC impedance and Za the complex conjugate of the tag antenna

impedance. The maximum value of the impedance matching coecient is 1. Because admittance Y is dened as Y = also YIC = Ya . (3.4)
1 Z,

the impedance matching condition implies that

In small antennas it is very dicult to get high enough radiation resistance with just antenna shaping. Impedance matching can be carried out with an LC network [1]. The easiest way to achieve matching is to use two capacitors, one in series (CX ) and one in parallel (CB ). This structure is also called an L network and is depicted in Fig. 3.3. With the L network it is possible to achieve only narrowband

Figure 3.2: Buttery antenna circuit.

CHAPTER 3. BUTTERFLY ANTENNA DEVELOPMENT

14

impedance matching and the matching is very sensitive to imaginary mismatch. Luckily in our application we only need narrowband matching, due to the very small operation frequency range. Because of the size and weight limitations of the antenna, only capacitors can be used as reactive elements. Coils would have to be simply too large. The L network changes the eective antenna impedance seen by the IC. The modied antenna admittance Ya can be calculated as

Ya =

1 1 = jB + Za Ra + j(X + Xa ) X + Xa Ra +j B 2 = 2 2 Ra + (X + Xa ) Ra + (X + Xa )2

(3.5)

where X is the series resistance and B the parallel admittance of the L network. They are dened as

X=

1 CX

(3.6) (3.7)

B = CB . The IC admittance, on the other hand, can be written as

YIC =

1 RIC + jXIC RIC XIC = 2 2 j R2 + X 2 . RIC + XIC IC IC

(3.8)

From Eq. (3.4), (3.5) and (3.8) we can derive the following relations

RIC Ra = 2 2 2 + (X + Xa ) RIC + XIC X + Xa XIC B 2 = 2 2 . Ra + (X + Xa )2 RIC + XIC

2 Ra

(3.9) (3.10)

The capasitor values X and B can be calculated from Eq. (3.9) and (3.10) when antenna and IC impedances are known.

CHAPTER 3. BUTTERFLY ANTENNA DEVELOPMENT

15

Figure 3.3: Impedance matched buttery antenna circuit.

3.2.2

Polarization matching

The second part in Eq. (3.2) is the polarization matching coecient. Its value depends on how well the antenna receives radiation at the polarization of the incoming Rf eld. The coecient can be written in two dierent formats: p(h, E) = |h E|2 |h E|2 =1 |h|2 |E|2 |h|2 |E.|2 (3.11)

It can be seen from the form of Eq. (3.11) that the polarization coecient is a gure between 0 and 1. If p = 1, polarization is fully matched (h E = 0) to the incident eld and if p = 0, it is fully mismatched (h E = 0).

3.2.3

Capture area

The last part of Eq. (3.2) represents the power the antenna can capture from an incident plane wave when the impedance and polarization are matched. The equation can be written as PL = kL p(h, E) Z0 |h|2 |E|2 = kL p(h, E)Ae S, 4Ra 2Z0 (3.12)

where S = |E|2 /2Z0 is the absolute value of the Poynting vector of a plane wave and Z0 is the impedance of free space. The captured power can be written using either eective length vector or the capture area. The capture area is the frontal

CHAPTER 3. BUTTERFLY ANTENNA DEVELOPMENT

16

area from which a receiving antenna extracts energy from passing electromagnetic waves. The capture area of most antennas is larger than their physical size and the ratio of the eective aperture to the physical aperture of an antenna is known as its K-factor. The eective length and capture area are related to each other through Ae = Z0 |h|2 . 4Ra (3.13)

The far-eld region is commonly taken to exist at distances greater than 2D2 / [12] from the source, being the wavelength and D the overall dimension of the antenna. In our case the maximum dimension of the reader antenna is 0.5 m. With given parameters we notice that the far-eld assumption is valid at about 1.4 m from the antenna. In the far eld, where all measurements eectively take place, the energy ux S to a certain direction ur and at distance r is the same as the average intensity Pr /4r multiplied by the antenna directivity S= 1 Pr . |E|2 = D 2Z0 4r2 (3.14)

The antenna gain G and directivity D have the following relation G = D, (3.15)

where is the antenna eciency. The square of the eective length can also be written [7] as |h|2 = 4Rr D , k 2 Z0 (3.16)

where k is the wavenumber. When Eq. (3.16) is inserted into Eq. (3.13) we get Ae = 2 Rr 2 Z0 |h|2 = D(ur ) = G(ur ). 4Ra 4Ra 4 (3.17)

3.2.4

Eective aperture

The received power as expressed in Eq. (3.12) depends on the impedance matching, polarization matching and capture area. In our case, we can control the impedance matching and capture area by antenna shaping and component choices but this is not the case with the polarization matching. That is because the tags move freely in our test room and we have no control over their orientation. Therefore it is reasonable to use only the rst two criteria when optimizing the antenna power transfer. The eective aperture is dened as

CHAPTER 3. BUTTERFLY ANTENNA DEVELOPMENT

17

A=

4Ra RIC 2 Gr , 4 (Ra + RIC )2 + (Xa + XIC )2

(3.18)

where is the wavelength in free space, Gr the gain of the tag antenna, Ra and Xa the antenna resistance and reactance, respectively RIC and XIC the tag IC resistance and reactance. The antenna loss resistance is neglected here and we assume that Rr = Ra . However, we have no means to measure the size of the eective aperture in the antenna design phase. Instead, we can measure the radar cross section (RCS) that is dened as =
2 2 G2 4Ra r . 4 (Ra + RIC )2 + (Xa + XIC )2

(3.19)

The radar cross section describes how an object reects an incident electromagnetic wave.Both the eective aperture and RCS have the same frequency dependence even though their absolute values dier. Therefore RCS can be used to determine the the resonance frequency of the buttery tag. RCS can be measured by using a network analyzer and two broadband UHF antennas as demonstrated in Appendix A.

3.3

Antenna manufacturing

RFID antennas are usually manufactured of plastic lm with copper coating. The lm is usually of Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) or Polyimide (PI). In this project we use Kapton lms which are of PI developed by DuPont. The lm laminate has a 25 m thick polymer layer and a 9 m copper coating. Including adhesive material the total thickness of the laminate is 50 m giving it a density of 2.7 g/cm3 . When using this type of a small laminate antenna, the resistive losses are the most signicant loss factor. Kapton is an insulator with a dielectric constant of 3.4. The rst antenna samples were designed using Autodesk Autocad and then the design was simulated using Ansoft HFSS simulation environment to get the impedance and radiation eciencies of the antennas. First we designed and manufactured three test antennas with dierent sizes. Using an accurate inkjet printer the negative antenna image was printed on a transparency which was then used to illuminate the resist. Next the resist and the copper sheet were heat-laminated together and nally the excess copper was dissolved in acid. All antennas were manufactured with VTTs own equipment. The chips were connected to the antenna connectors using ACG (Anisotropic Conducting Glue) bonding. In Fig. 3.4 there is a design picture with dimensions in millimeters of all three test antennas. In this gure one can see

CHAPTER 3. BUTTERFLY ANTENNA DEVELOPMENT

18

the parallel and series capacitors connecting pads and the chip connector pads. The capacitor pads are designed for 0402 surface-mount ceramic multilayer capacitors. Impedance simulation results from these antennas are presented in Tab. 3.1. Because the buttery antenna is eectively a small loop, its radiation pattern resembles dipole radiation pattern. In Fig. 3.5 is presented the antenna radiation pattern in 3d. From this gure we can identify the torus like shape of the radiation pattern. Antenna directivity can be observed more closely from 2D Fig. 3.6 and 3.7.

3.4

Antenna tuning

From Eq. (3.9) and (3.10) we can calculate the correct capacitor values for the matching L-network shown in Fig. 3.3. The results are presented in Tab. 3.2. After extensive studies we concluded that it is rather dicult to achieve impedance matching by using just an L-network and commercial capacitors. The capacitors are not accurate enough and are not available in all needed values. So we need more freedom to ne tuning of the antennas. We decided to fabricate hand-tunable antennas. In this way we can change the antennas coil length and thus also the antennas reactance. Also the resistance changes a little but this change is so small that it can be neglected. The power transfer between source and load is much more dependent on reactance matching with narrow banded antennas like we are using. To determine the coil length tuning that is needed we calculated how much the

Figure 3.4: Test antennas

CHAPTER 3. BUTTERFLY ANTENNA DEVELOPMENT

19

Antenna size

Impedance real part

Impedance imaginary part j 238.6 273.3 339.3

Radiation eciency % 15.9 18.8 29.0

Small Medium Large

0.954 1.287 1.543

Table 3.1: Antenna simulation results

Figure 3.5: Reader antenna radiation pattern in 3D

CHAPTER 3. BUTTERFLY ANTENNA DEVELOPMENT

20

Figure 3.6: Reader antenna radiation pattern in 2D (XY -plane)

Figure 3.7: Reader antenna radiation pattern in 2D (YZ -plane)

CHAPTER 3. BUTTERFLY ANTENNA DEVELOPMENT

21

Antenna size

CX pF 0.755 0.660 0.525

B mS 38.93 32.76 29.45

CB pF 6.35 5.34 4.80

Small Medium Large

-216.1 -247.1 -310.7

Table 3.2: Calculated L network capacitor values antenna resonance frequency changes when the antenna coil length is varied by by 10 mm. We took as a basic assumption that lengthening the coil by 1 mm increases its inductance by 1 nH. To do this we can use the eective antenna aperture equation, Eq. (3.18). We have no real methods to measure the eective aperture. Instead, we can measure the radar cross section, Eq. (3.19), that yields the same resonance frequency. RCS can be measured using the tag as a resonator and measuring the RF power reecting back from the tag. When in resonance, the RCS of the tag is at its maximum. By measuring the coupling between two broadbanded test antennas, as the tag is brought into their radiating eld, the resonance of the tag can be observed. To get highly accurate results, the measurement should be made in an anechoic chamber. For our tuning purposes normal laboratory accuracy is quite enough. The results from calculating the center frequency for the smallest antenna size are presented in Fig. 3.8. The L-network capasitor values used in these calculation are 0.82 pF in series and 5.6 pF in parallel. In Fig. 3.9 there is on the other hand presented the change of the antenna resonance when changing the value of either the series or the parallel capacitor in the L-network. In the calculation the series capacitor is changed from 0.82 pF to 1.0 pF and the parallel capacitor from 5.6 pF to 4.7 pF. These changes are the smallest ones possible with the capacitors available. From Fig. 3.9 we can see that the biggest change when changing the value of the series capacitor is about 60 MHz. However, from Fig. 3.8 it can be seen that with 10 mm tuning length the resonance frequency of the antenna can be shifted up to 80 MHz. From this we can deduce that a 10 mm tuning range for the coil length of the antenna is enough for tuning. The current always travels the shortest possible route so there is no way to make an antenna shorter than it originally is. This means that the resonance frequency of the antenna can only be lowered by the tuning. In our experiments we found out that there was no reason why there could not be more than 10 mm tuning

CHAPTER 3. BUTTERFLY ANTENNA DEVELOPMENT

22

length. The nal tunable buttery antenna is presented in Fig. 3.10 before tuning. A picture taken from the buttery antenna before and after tuning can be viewed in Fig. 3.11 The dimensions in the gure are in millimeters. The chosen capacitor values of the L-network are 0.82 pF and 4.7 pF for series and parallel capacitors. The tuning process is covered in App. A. A reection spectrum of the tuned buttery tag is presented in Fig. 3.12. The spectrum is scanned using a network analyzer in laboratory conditions. The background noise is subtracted from the signal. The narrow reection peak from the buttery tag can be seen around 867 MHz. The full width at half maximum (FWHM) of the peak is 6 MHz. The tuned antenna is connected to the front part of the buttery body with a small plastic holder. First the holder is glued to the tag antenna and then the holder to the buttery. The used loop antenna structure produces a normal dipole radiation pattern. The main radiation direction follows the normal vector of the current loop. The reader antennas, on the other hand, are located on the corners of the cells with their main radiation direction pointing horizontally to the center of the cell. For this reason we can get the maximum radiation power from the buttery antenna only when the buttery is looking straight to the antenna or to the opposite direction. It would have been more ideal to have the main radiation direction of the buttery antenna to run in the horizontal plane but that is unfortunately impossible. The

Figure 3.8: Antenna coil length tuning.

CHAPTER 3. BUTTERFLY ANTENNA DEVELOPMENT

23

Figure 3.9: Antenna capacitor change.

Figure 3.10: Tunable tag antenna.

CHAPTER 3. BUTTERFLY ANTENNA DEVELOPMENT

24

Figure 3.11: Buttery antenna before and after tuning.

Figure 3.12: Reection spectrum of the tuned buttery antenna.

CHAPTER 3. BUTTERFLY ANTENNA DEVELOPMENT

25

antenna cannot be mounted on the buttery in any other way. Figure 3.13 presents a buttery with a mounted tag antenna.

Figure 3.13: Tag antenna attached to a buttery

Chapter 4

RF Localization
This chapter talks about RF localization in general and more closely on UHF RFID localization. Possible localization methods are analysed and nally, some discussion about dierent localization error sources and means to decrease them is presented.

4.1

RF Localization methods

The majority of existing location discovery approaches consist of two phases: (1) distance (or angle) estimation and (2) combining multiple distance (or angle) estimations. The most popular methods for estimating the distance (or angle) between two nodes are:
Time based methods utilize the signal propagation time to calculate the

distance. The time dierence between transmission and reception can be calculated recording the time-of-arrival (ToA) and comparing that to transmission time. Alternatively the signal propagation time can be discovered using very short pulses or variating some signal property like transmission frequency or amplitude. When the change speed is known, the signal propagation time is easily calculated from that. The propagation time can be directly translated into distance, based on the known signal propagation speed. These methods can be applied to various signals, such as RF, acoustic, infrared and ultrasound. Usually the most accurate measurements are based on this technique and the main advantage is that signal speed is known with good precision.
Amplitude based methods measure the signal amplitude at the receiver.

Based on basic signal propagation and attenuation models the eective propagation loss can be calculated. If the transfered amplitude level is known, the 26

CHAPTER 4. RF LOCALIZATION

27

observed loss can be translated into a distance estimate by using theoretical or empirical models. For estimating the angle between two nodes the most popular methods are:
Time based methods record the time-dierence-of-arrival(TDoA) from mul-

tiple receiver antennas. This time dierence can be used to estimate the incident angle.
Angle -of -Arrival (AoA) systems utilize an extremely narrow beam rotat-

ing receiver to estimate the angle at which signal is received. Some RF devices can use more than one of these methods simultaneously in order to achieve accurate localization. Time based methods need to know very accurately the time delay between transmission and reception. With the narrow frequency range of UHF RFID it is not possible to get accurate time delay at short ranges. Also the selected communication protocol does not support this kind of timing but it would have to made separately. Angle estimations, on the other hand, are possible but very dicult to implement in practice. It would need major device modications. Amplitude based methods are the only ones that can be made use of with UHF RFID with reasonable amount of work. For combining multiple distance estimations there are two dierent approaches. Firstly, we can calculate the location using only current estimations and do not take into account where the node previously was. This approach works well when we have accurate measurements and cannot write a physical model for the movement of the node. However, if the estimations are noisy, the accuracy of the localization will be poor. Depending on the estimation data we can use following procedures:
Trilateration can be used to determine node location by calculating the in-

tersection of three circles. Generally in a 2D plane at least three distance estimations are needed. Two distance estimations are enough, if we can narrow the possible location to a half space.
Triangulation is used when the direction of the node instead of the distance

is estimated, as in AoA systems. The node positions are calculated in this case by using the trigonometry laws of sines and cosines.
Maximum Likelihood (ML) estimates the position on the node by mini-

mizing the dierence between the measured and estimated distances. From a set of noisy measurements usually a Minimum Mean Square Estimate (MMSE) is used to obtain the location.

CHAPTER 4. RF LOCALIZATION

28

The second approach for combining distance and direction estimations is to use recursive lters such as a Kalman -lter. These methods make use of also the previous state of the node and not only current estimations. The use of these lters in real time is, however, very challenging. For this reason, we do not use any recursive lters during the operational stage of the experiments.

4.1.1

UHF RFID localization

As concluded previously, only amplitude based distance estimations are possible when using UHF RFID. There are two dierent methods for implementing distance estimation:
Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI) technique measures the sig-

nal power of the modulation at the receiver. The RSSI reading can be trans-

Figure 4.1: Location estamation methods

(a) Trilateration

(b) Triangulation

(c) Maximum Likelihood

CHAPTER 4. RF LOCALIZATION

29

lated into a distance estimate. Main disadvantage of this method is signal interference due to reections. This causes unpredictable amplitude uctuations especially indoors. Also the operation point of the tag is constantly changing because of the received power of the tag diers, which can add the uncertainty. If the accuracy of the RSSI reading is limited by the Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR) of the receiver, then theoretically the RSSI measurements are the more accurate the closer the tag is. This is simply because the received signal level is then higher. Nevertheless, the signal interference is much larger error factor than the error of the RSSI reading itself.
Power sweeping technique increases (or decreases) the transmitter power

until the transponders respond (or stop responding) to the signal. Because the tag read sensitivity is always constant, we can determine the distance to the tag using the signal propagation equation, Eq. 2.1. The time delay between readings with dierent power limits the accuracy of the distance estimation. In this work I will demonstrate the accuracy of both these methods for distance estimation between two nodes. The localization itself is done only by using RSSI technique.

4.2

Localization concept

Positioning is always based on distance or angle estimations between two nodes. In our case the two nodes are always RFID reader and a tag because tags cannot communicate with each other. When we have enough estimations to a single tag we can determine its unique position. The required amount of estimates is discussed in section 4.1. Indoor localization diers drasticly from outside localization. De facto standard for localization outdoors is global positioning system (GPS) but that cannot usually be used indoors. When talking about large area localization, for example work oce localization, it can be more ecient to have the object to carry RFID reader and have position aware tags spread out in the environment. This way the amount of costly readers can be minimized and use multiple cheap tags instead. However in our case this is neither practical nor possible because of the size and weight limitations and the large object count in small area. RFID protocol is not designed to be used for localization and there is no way for the tag to tell its location to the reader. RFID readers have also no way of telling

CHAPTER 4. RF LOCALIZATION

30

what is the distance to the tag it communicates with. Thats why we have to do the localization in system level combining information from multiple antennas. As described in section 4.1 we have two alternatives for nding out the distance between an antenna and a tag. First we planned to use power sweeping but it turned out to be quite hard and time consuming to implement in practice. It would need much faster reading protocol than the RSSI approach because power sweeping has to have more than ve readings in average to discover the tag distance when RSSI needs only one. Also the Gen2 protocol has its own restrictions. The regulations in Europe [3] dictate that RFID readers can use ten 200 kHz sub channels in the region from 865.6 to 867.6 MHz. Also readers have to implement Listen-before-talk (LBT) [4] principle always when reserving a channel. LBT is a method that tells one reader to listen for another readers transmissions before it starts it own. It is similar to being polite in a conversation so that you dont start talking until someone else have nished their sentence. This keeps the noise down in the sub channel. The listening has to last at least 120 mS. Because the reader releases the channel every time the power is changed, it makes using power sweeping for distance estimation practically impossible. Reader can tell the received signal strength (RSS) from the tag. In other words it tells the modulation amplitude of the signal that propagates from the tag to the reader antenna. This knowledge can be used to estimate the distance between reader and antenna when we know the signal attenuation factors. The signal attenuation in air can be calculated using (2.1). When we know the antenna gain and attenuation from the cables we can estimate the distance. Using equation (2.2) we can also theoretically calculate how many reader antennas should be able to see a tag in dierent positions and with dierent orientations in the cell. We also made experimental measurements as. Theoretical and experimental results are presented in chapter 5. In gure 4.2 is presented the maximum reading distances of each four antennas in one cell assuming the tag antenna radiation pattern is isotropic. This is a simplication of the situation because the radiation pattern of our buttery antenna is not isotropic as stated previously. However, in nal localization implementation we do not estimate the distance using propagation equations. Instead we make calibration measurements to determine how distance and measured RSSI are related. These measurements are presented in chapter 5. Using this knowledge and the reader antenna radiation pattern we can can draw an area in which the tag lies. Because the tag antenna radiation pattern is not isotropic and the tag can have arbitrary orientation, we cannot determine the tag location to any one point from single RSSI reading. In principle we have the

CHAPTER 4. RF LOCALIZATION

31

Figure 4.2: Maximum reading distance

CHAPTER 4. RF LOCALIZATION

32

knowledge on tag antenna radiation pattern but from the four antenna readings we cannot specify the orientation. It would need many more reader antennas around the tag to be able to recognize the tag orientation. For these reasons we have to have multiple readings from dierent antennas to determine the exact location. The idea of this concept is presented in gure 4.3. We take intersections of the location areas and as a result get a smaller area that includes in all in every measurement area. If the distance - RSSI relation is modeled correctly, the antenna is inside this intersection area. Because an arbitrary area is dicult model and save to database, one point inside the area is selected to represent the current location of the tag. The best solution to select the point inside the area would obviously be its centroid. It is quite time consuming operation to calculate centroid for an arbitrary area. The centroid can be calculated faster with reasonable accuracy by drawing a rectangle bounding box around the area, and then take the centroid of that box. Because the intersection area is always formed by two or more intersecting ellipsoids, the shape of it is always reasonable close to a rectangle. Also we can state that the error coming from this approximation is much smaller than the error coming from the RSSI measurement itself.

Figure 4.3: Localization concept

CHAPTER 4. RF LOCALIZATION

33

4.2.1

Post-measurement localization

The system tracks individual butteries their whole lifespan. The RSSI readings for all the tags are saved into a database during the measurement phase that lasts approximately two weeks. Also localization data calculated in real time is saved into a database. This data can be used in further calculations to determine ight activity or total ight distance of individual butteries. In these calculation it is very important to take physical boundary conditions into account. For example some of the reection caused variations can be removed by using time averaging. Also distance estimation errors related to the orientation variance of buttery can be reduced by applying a lter that takes the maximum ight speed of buttery into consideration. The planning and implementation of these recursive lters is not covered in this thesis.

4.2.2

Localization error

Error sources can be divided into four dierent categories: 1. RSSI measurement noise is the most fundamental error type. It is statistical noise limited by the signal-to-noise ratio of the receivers. 2. The deviation of the moving average can also cause error to the localization. From the Fig. 5.1 we can notice that the moving average follows the polynomial t very closely. From that we can deduce that periodical deviation caused by the interference can be eliminated using moving average with a period longer than interference period. This can be done in post-measurement calculations when we have information about the movements of a buttery both in the past and the future. 3. The deviation from the uncertainty of the rotation angle of the buttery antenna is a major error source. In post-measurement the localization algorithm can possibly solve this problem but in real time localization, we can not know the direction of the buttery antenna. This systematic error appears only when using non-isotropic buttery antenna. 4. When using real time localization, moving average can not be used to smoothen the interference deviation. From the Fig. 5.1 we can see that the interference produce a quite large deviation to the distance estimation and it is the most signicant error source. The error caused by interference could be lowered by minimizing the reection in the measurement area.

CHAPTER 4. RF LOCALIZATION

34

In real time localization all these error sources are present which makes the localization very challenging. Error corrected by adding error term to to localization error. Error term is normally distributed random number with mean 0 and variance 0.7 m. The system estimates the position of the buttery tag (Xest , Yest ) to be centroid of the overlapping antenna areas from antennas that could read the tag. Kaava paikan laskemisesta Given the actual position of the tag (Xa , Ya ), we can compute the accuracy of the localization estimate or the localization error LE (Xa , Ya ), which is the distance between the tags estimated and actual positions. LE (Xa , Ya ) = [(Xest Xa )2 + (Yest Ya )2 ] (4.1)

This sub-linear attenuation rate means that the dierence in signal strength between 1 m and 2 m is similar to the dierence between 10 m and 20 m - exactly 6 dB. Taking this into account, a constant level of noise can result in ever increasing error when signal strength is used to estimate distance. If RSS signal noise is sucient that we cannot tell the dierence between 1 and 1.5 m, we also cannot tell the dierence between 3.3 m and 5 m. Butteries can y at speed up to 2 m/s. The Elektrobit FRID Reader can read 100 - 500 tags per second and the system can signal events about 100 times per second. To get accurate localization we need at least 8 position estimations per second using only single antenna and tag. However when using 4 antennas and up to 10 butteries in single cell we need 8 4 10 = 320 measurements per second. Though it is very unlikely that there will be 10 butteries occupying the same cell at same time. Having 8 measurements per second means we would have 0.25 m positioning resolution.

Chapter 5

Results
The main results of this project are presented in this chapter. These results can be used to evaluate the success of this project in the last chapters of this thesis. This chapter focuses on the technical results and almost totally ignores the ndings that can be achieved in the biological eld of science. First, the results from the reading distance measurements are given. Next, the localization accuracy and reliability measurements using RSSI distance estimations are presented. On the last part of this chapter is shown some preliminary results from localization measurements using the power sweeping method.

5.1

Reading distance

The maximum reading distance measurement was carried out in the real testing environment in Biological Research Center at Lammi. The measurements were made with two dierent antennas and two dierent tags. The other tag was commercial G2 EPC Gen2 tag made by Rafsec and the other one our own buttery tag. Measurements were carried out so that the results tell absolute maximum reading distance. Because the tag antennas are not isotropic antennas they were placed so that maximum radiation beam was directed toward reader antenna. Also the polarizations were matched. Only one reader antenna at a time was used in the measurements. Both reader antenna and tag antenna were attached to wooden pole. First the tag antenna pole was moved very far so that it could not be read. Next the pole was slowly moved toward the reader antenna until there was continuous reading result for the rst time. This same procedure was repeated with dierent transfer power levels. The results are presented in table 5.1. Theoretical results are calculated using 35

CHAPTER 5. RESULTS

36

equation (2.2) and using values PtagIC = 9.0dBm, Gr = 13.0dBi, L = 0.85dB, Gt (Raf sec) = 2.1dBi, Gt (Butterf ly) = 0.54dBi and = 0.34m. RSS measurements were also carried out in the same research hall. In these measurements I varied the distance between the tag and the reader antenna with 5 cm interval. In each measurement RSSI value was read from the reader as a function of distance. The results are presented in gure 5.1. The RSSI value in the gure is the mean value of 200 individual measurements.

5.2
5.2.1

Tag localization
Number of simultaneous readings

One cell marked as cell number 2 in gure 2.2 was chosen as test cell for these measurements. All six readers were powered during these measurements. The cell is 4 m times 4 m in size and have one antenna in each four corners. The antennas are directed diagonally toward the center of the square. The square was divided into 64 smaller squares with 0.5 m times 0.5 m in size. All corners of these these smaller squares were chosen as measurement points, excluding points that lie on the sides of the bigger square. The points on sides were left out because of practical reasons. A buttery net outlines the whole test area, which prevents the butteries from escaping. The net also prevents the use of the side points in this measurement. This leaves at total 49 measurement points. The orientation of the buttery antenna

Rafsec tag Power level dBm 15.0 17.5 20.0 22.5 25.0 27.5 30.0 Experimental m 0.64 2.51 3.80 5.59 7.65 9.13 12.29 Theoretical m 2.22 2.97 3.96 5.28 7.04 9.38 12.51

Buttery tag Experimental m Theoretical m

Table 5.1: Maximum Reading Distance

CHAPTER 5. RESULTS

37

Figure 5.1: RSSI calibration measurement eects the results and this eect have to be taken into account when calculating the theoretical results. For this reason the direction of the buttery antenna was xed so that the main radiation beam always pointed to antenna number one, regardless of the measurement point location. This is actually rather reasonable assumption of the real situation. The worst case scenario would be to x the main radiation direction between two antennas but we have no test results of this situation. In table 5.2 is presented the theoretical and experimental results of simultaneous tag readings. The measurements and theoretical calculations are made using the buttery loop antenna and its radiation patterns. Also the reader antenna directivity is taken into account. The reading distance is calculated using equation (2.2), where PtagIC = -9 dB, Pr = 30 dB and L = -0.85 dB. The reader antenna gain Gr is calculated in dierent angles by multiplying the antenna radiation power (30 dB) with the antenna directivity. Also the tag antenna gain Gt is calculated in a similar fashion. If the measurement point is inside the range of an antenna, as described in gure 4.2, the antenna is presumed to be able to read the tag. As a comparison in table 5.3 is presented the same theoretical results using a isotropic tag antenna.

5.2.2

Localization accuracy

CHAPTER 5. RESULTS

38

Total number of simultaneous readings

Theoretical Number of points Percentage %

Experimental Number of points Percentage % 0 11 34 4 0 22 69 8

4 3 2 1

0 14 34 1

0 29 69 2

Table 5.2: Tag localization readings when main radiation direction of the buttery antenna is directed toward a reader antenna.

Total number of simultaneous readings

Theoretical Number of points Percentage %

4 3 2 1

45 0 4 0

92 0 8 0

Table 5.3: Tag localization readings when the radiation pattern of the buttery antenna is isotropic.

CHAPTER 5. RESULTS

39

Figure 5.2: Localization error when main radiation direction of the buttery antenna is directed toward a reader antenna.

CHAPTER 5. RESULTS

40

Figure 5.3: Theoretical localization error when main radiation direction of the buttery antenna is directed toward a reader antenna at location (0,0).

CHAPTER 5. RESULTS

41

Figure 5.4: Theoretical localization error when isotropic buttery antenna.

Chapter 6

Analysis
This chapter discuses the results presented in chapter 5. The use of RSSI signal for localization is analyzed and the benets of using power sweeping in distance estimation is presented. This chapter focuses on

6.1

Localization accuracy

42

Chapter 7

Conclusions
In this project we have successfully designed and implemented a complete short range localization system with mean localization accuracy of 0.5 meters using commercial UHF RFID readers. In addition a new RFID tag antenna was manufactured that is light enough (under 15 mg) to be carried by a buttery. In localization accuracy the project did not fully achieve its goals. Even though we were able to develop a tracking system for butteries, the localization accuracy of the system was not as good as planned. That lead to inconsistent buttery ight paths and distances. Also because of the poor accuracy, mating events could not be recognized. Nevertheless the system suits ne for experiments where the ying activity and ight count are the desired quantities. As also previously studied [2] we have seen in this project that power measurements are not accurate enough for small scale localization. RSSI does not correlate well with distance due to multi-path, fading and interference caused by reections. Also the used, rather long, wavelength of 0.34 m brought its own diculties to situations where we would need 0.2 m accuracy. We could not use power sweeping for estimating distances because of the RFID protocol shortcomings. UHF RFID is not designed for localization which can be seen with the reection coecient dependence of the Gen2 chip. The dependence is nonlinear and the chip protects itself by reecting back the excess power it does not need to power itself. Thus the excess power is non-modulated power that can not be used for localization. This drastically worsens the resolution of the localization. Other major reason for poor accuracy was the structure of the test room. The walls were largely metal and reections were a major issue in there.

43

CHAPTER 7. CONCLUSIONS

44

7.1

Future Work

In ad-hoc networks all reader locations are not know and that raises problems for the transponder localization. [10]. 3D localization Reduce existence of reecting obstacles Reduce existence of attenuating obstacles Temperature measurement, rd chip development

7.2

Other approaches

In the end Im not convinced this is the best way to track individual moving objects. Other approaches using video cameras and image recognition would probably be easier, cheaper and as reliable.

Bibliography
[1] P. Abrie. The Design of Impedance - Matching Networks for Radio - Frequency and Microwave Ampliers, pages 6994. Artech House, inc, 1985. ISBN 089006-172-6. [2] N. Bulusu, V. Bychkovskiy, D. Estrin, and J. Heidemann. Scalable, ad hoc deployable rf-based localization. In Proceedings of the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing Conference 2002, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, October 2002. [3] ETSI. Electromagnetic compatibility and radio spectrum matters (erm); radio frequency identication equipment operating in the band 865 mhz to 868 mhz with power levels up to 2 w; part 2: Harmonized en under article 3.2 of the r&tte directive. European standard (Telecommunications series) EN 302 208-2, European Telecommunications Standards Institute, 2004. http://www.etsi.org, checked July 24th, 2007. [4] K. Finkenzeller. RFID Handbook -Fundamentals and Applications in Contactless Smart Cards and Identication. Wiley, 2th edition, 2003. ISBN 0-47198851-0. [5] ISO. Epcglobal uhf class 1 generation 2. ISO ISO 18000-6C, International Organization for Standardization, 2006. [6] J. Kraus. Antennas, pages 238266. McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1988. ISBN 0-07-035422-7. [7] I. Lindell and K. Nikoskinen. Antenniteoria, pages 6064. Otatieto, 1995. ISBN 951-672-219-9. [8] Maximum power theorem. Internet, 2007.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maximum_power_theorem.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

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[9] The Palomar project. Passive long distance multiple access uhf rd system. Public Report, November 2002. [10] A. Savvides, C. Han, and M. Strivastava. Dynamic ne-grained localization in ad-hoc networks of sensors. International Conference on Mobile Computing and Networking, 2001. [11] S. Streit, F. Bock, C. Pirk, and J. Tautz. Automatic life-long monitoring of individual insect behaviour now possible. Zoology, 106(3):169171, 2003. [12] A. Yaghjian. An overview of near-eld antenna measurements. Antennas and Propagation, IEEE Transactions on [legacy, pre - 1988], 34(1):3045, 1986.

Appendix A

Buttery antenna tuning guide

A.1 In brief

The desired resonance frequency for these antennas is the operating frequency on the RFID reader. In our case the operating frequency range is 865.6 - 867.6 MHz and so we choose to tune the antenna resonance frequency to 866.6 MHz. The antennas can be tuned to one direction only. The resonance frequency cannot be raised from the initial frequency only lowered. Cutting pieces from the inside of the loop has much stronger eect to the resonance frequency than cutting pieces from the outside. However, the narrower the antenna gets the stronger the outside cutting eect gets. One must be very careful not to lower the resonance frequency too much as the antenna is then useless. The full tuning scale equals about 250300 MHz resonance frequency change. One 0.5 mm slice cut from the inside loop changes the resonance frequency about 15 MHz. All alterations to the antenna can possibly aect the resonance frequency. It is advisable not to alter the buttery antenna after tuning is nished.

A.2

Necessary equipment:

Scotch tape Sharp scalpel Piece of cardboard Network analyzer Two UHF antennas and RF cables Wooden pole where to attach the tunable antenna

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APPENDIX A. BUTTERFLY ANTENNA TUNING GUIDE

48

A.3

Initial preparations

Connect RF cables to antennas and ports one and two in network analyzer. Direct both antennas toward the tunable antenna and place them as close to the pole as possible. Try to place antennas so that there is open and static space behind the buttery antenna. On the analyzer set start frequency to 700 MHz and stop frequency to 1100 MHz. Save the current reection pattern to memory on network analyzer. Then set the view mode to show current data subtracted by memory. This way we can eliminate the environmental noise and are able to see the buttery antenna resonance frequency more clearly. Resave the data to memory every ve minutes and always after equipment is moved.

A.4

Operations
prevents unnecessary strain to antenna.

1. Tape the antenna rmly to the cardboard on the whole antenna area. Taping

2. Cut all extra plastic o so that only copper coated laminate is left. Cut also inside the loop. 3. Cut about 1 mm thick slice from both outside and inside the antenna loop. 4. Using network analyzer check the antenna resonance frequency. It should be around 920-940 MHz. 5. Cut pieces from outside the loop until you reach resonance frequency of 900 MHz. 6. If you still have left more than 2 mm thick antenna loop. Keep narrowing the loop from the outside until you reach desired resonance frequency of 866.6 MHz. If the antenna loop is less than 2 mm thick at this point, cut small slice of the antenna from the inside of the loop in order to lower the resonance frequency faster. Use network analyzer to check the frequency after every cut phase.