Zeland Software, Inc. Zeland Software, Inc. 48834 Kato Road, 103A 48834 Kato Road, 103A Fremont, CA 94538, U.S.A. Fremont, CA 94538, U.S.A. E E - - mail: mail: info info @zeland.com @zeland.com www.zeland.com www.zeland.com RFID Antenna Design Using Zeland Tools Introduction Introduction IE3D and FIDELITY are powerful full-wave EM tools good for simulation, tuning, optimization and synthesis. They can handle general 3D and planar structures. IE3D can perform mixed EM and circuit co- simulation, Special implementation in IE3D and FIDELITY to help RFID designers. This presentation provides some general guide lines for RFID antenna designs using Zeland tools. RFID Antenna Design Using Zeland Tools Important Definitions in IE3D and FIDELITY Important Definitions in IE3D and FIDELITY Incident Wave, a: The propagating wave from the source to the antenna with specified Zc. Reflected Wave, b: The propagating wave from the antenna to the source with specified Zc. Incident Power, Pinc: The power from the incident wave Reflected Power, Pref: the power from the reflected wave. Input Power, Pin: The net power going into the antenna or Pin = Pinc - Pref RFID Antenna Design Using Zeland Tools Important Definitions in IE3D and FIDELITY Important Definitions in IE3D and FIDELITY Radiated Power, Prad: It is the power radiated into the space from the antenna. Radiation Efficiency, Effrad: It is the ratio between Prad and Pin, or Effrad = Prad / Pin Antenna Efficiency, Effant: It is the ratio between the Prad and Pinc, or Effant = Prad / Pinc. Source Impedance, Zs: The impedance of the excitation source. Antenna Impedance, Za: The input impedance of the antenna. RFID Antenna Design Using Zeland Tools Important Definitions in IE3D and FIDELITY Important Definitions in IE3D and FIDELITY Conjugate Match: When Za is conjugate of Zs or Za = Zs*, it is called conjugate match. Conjugate Match Factor, CMF: CMF is the ratio between antenna input power with given Zs and Za and the antenna input power with given Zs and assuming Za = Zs*. CMF is not defined in textbook but in IE3D 12.12 and FIDELITY 5.20 only. RFID Antenna Design Using Zeland Tools Typical RFID Structure Typical RFID Structure An RFID is a chip connected to an antenna. It may work at different frequency ranges such as 13.56 and 900 MHz. The design principle is about the same. RFID Antenna Design Using Zeland Tools Working Principles and Design Goals Working Principles and Design Goals Normally, the chip has an impedance with a large capacitive impedance value. For example, a typical 13.56 MHz RFID may have an impedance of 5.8 j 250 ohms. There are two working modes: (1) The RFID is working in receiving mode. The RFID antenna is receiving signal from a readers antenna and the signal is powering the chip in the RFID; (2) The chip is serving as a source and it is sending out signal thru the RFID antenna. The goals are to design the antenna to receive the maximum power at the chip from the readers antenna and to allow the RFID antenna to send out the strongest signal. The chip internal impedance Zs is given. We need to tune the antenna impedance to achieve the goals. RFID Antenna Design Using Zeland Tools Equivalent Circuit at Receiving Mode Equivalent Circuit at Receiving Mode The readers antenna is creating the EM field at where the RFID is located. The RFID receives the radiation from the readers antenna and it is powering the chip. Chip Zs Za Va Zs Chip Impedance Za Antenna Impedance Va The equivalent voltage source from receiving radiation from the reader RFID Antenna Design Using Zeland Tools Equivalent Circuit at Transmitting Mode Equivalent Circuit at Transmitting Mode The received energy is powering the chip. The chip is driving the antenna to send out radiation into the space. Chip Zs Za Vs Zs Chip or Source Impedance Za Antenna Impedance Vs The equivalent voltage source of the chip from received power. RFID Antenna Design Using Zeland Tools Ultimate Goals Ultimate Goals In receiving mode, we would like to chip impedance Zs to receive the maximum power from the equivalent voltage source Va. In transmitting mode, we would like to deliver the maximum power from the equivalent voltage source Vs to the antenna impedance Za. Chip Zs Za Va Chip Zs Za Vs RFID Antenna Design Using Zeland Tools Ultimate Goals Ultimate Goals The system is transposable. We can just consider the transmitting mode. If we can achieve the best results in transmitting mode, we can achieve the best results in receiving mode. In transmitting mode, we would like to deliver the maximum power from Vs to Za. Therefore, we need to achieve conjugate match or Za = Zs*. Only a fraction of the power delivered to Za will be radiated out. We need to achieve highest radiation efficiency Effrad. RFID Antenna Design Using Zeland Tools Ultimate Goals Ultimate Goals We need to implement some good RFID antenna configurations with high radiation efficiency. With a given antenna configuration, we need to tune the dimensions of the antenna to achieve Za = Zs* at frequency range of interests. When the antenna basic configuration is given, the radiation efficiency normally may not be very sensitive to different dimensions. We should focus on tuning the dimensions for conjugate match or Za = Zs*. RFID Antenna Design Using Zeland Tools Incorrect Concepts and Goals Incorrect Concepts and Goals There have been many incorrect concepts in the design of RFID. Is it the best design of the RFID antenna if we can achieve maximum gain and maximum efficiency? Is it the best design of the RFID antenna if we achieve minimum S(1,1) normalized to the complex impedance of Zs (or Zs*)? Neither achieving maximum gain and maximum efficiency nor achieving minimum S(1,1) normalized to complex Zs (or Zs*) is the correct goal. RFID Antenna Design Using Zeland Tools Maximum Efficiency Maximum Efficiency To achieve maximum efficiency with given voltage source Vs and source impedance Zs, we can increase the antenna resistance Ra and the reactance Xa, where Ra and Xa are defined as Za = Ra + j Xa. Larger Ra will increase the efficiency but reduce the maximum received power and radiated power. Maximum efficiency (or maximum gain) of the antenna is not the best design. RFID Antenna Design Using Zeland Tools Complex Normalization Impedance Zs Complex Normalization Impedance Zs It is incorrect to use complex normalization impedance Zc. It is proven in the Appendix of IE3D Users Manual that complex Zc is an incorrect concept. RF designers are suggested to avoid using complex Zc. Multiple definitions of reflection coefficient: = ( Za Zs ) / ( Za + Zs ) = ( Za Zs* ) / ( Za + Zs ) No definition is precisely correct. The 1 st definition may yield || > 1 for a passive system. The 2 nd definition will not predict || > 1 for a passive system. However, it also loses meaning. The fundamental reason for invalid is from the fact that incident and reflected waves are no longer precisely valid with complex Zc. RFID Antenna Design Using Zeland Tools IE3D Modeling of RFID Antenna IE3D Modeling of RFID Antenna There are many good RFID antenna designs. We will not try to develop some new configuration here. We will demonstrate how to use IE3D to optimize the 900 MHz RFID design published by K. V. Seshagiri Rao, et al. on IEEE AP-T Dec. 2007. The IE3D example file is privided in .\zeland\ie3d\samples\LoadedMeanderTag.geo. RFID Antenna Design Using Zeland Tools IE3D Matching Measured Results IE3D Matching Measured Results IE3D results compare very well with the measure results from literature. Assume the chip impedance for the RFID is Zs = 17.5 j 350 ohms at 875 MHz. Our goal is optimize the antenna to achieve Za = 17.5 + j 350 ohms. RFID Antenna Design Using Zeland Tools IE3D Simulation Setup for RFID IE3D Simulation Setup for RFID To check how good the pattern and the conjugate matching is, please make sure you setup the simulation properly. Select Voltage Source excitation and define source impedance Zs as 17.5 j350. You can choose Zc = 50. It is not critical. Enable pattern calculation Check f = 875 MHz to make sure it runs at the frequency even with AIF enabled. (Note: frequency dependent Zs can be defined for pattern calculation in post-processing) RFID Antenna Design Using Zeland Tools Check Radiation Patterns Check Radiation Patterns After simulation, PATTERNVIEW is invoked to display the radiation pattern. You can display the 3D pattern to see the radiation distribution. Please select Edit->Pattern Properties dialog to check the radiation parameters. RFID Antenna Design Using Zeland Tools Important Parameters for RFID Important Parameters for RFID For most microwave antennas, we should check the Radiation Efficiency, Antenna Efficiency and Gain. They are important for wave sources. For voltage and current sources, we should try to check the conjugate matching and Input Power with given voltage source. RFID Antenna Design Using Zeland Tools Important Parameters for RFID Important Parameters for RFID An important parameter introduced in PATTERNVIEW 12.12 or later for RFID antenna is the Conjugate Match Factor (CMF). Its definition can be found from the Definitions button of Pattern Properties of PATTERNVIEW. CMF ranges from 0 to 1. When CMF = 1, it means the Za is conjugate-matching the Zs perfectly and the RFID will be working in the best condition in both modes. RFID Antenna Design Using Zeland Tools CMF Vs. Frequency CMF Vs. Frequency Display CMF Vs. Frequency on PATTERNVIEW and check the trends. For this particular antenna with original dimensions, the CMF is about -4.2 dB at 875 MHz. There is still much room to improve. Smooth curve obtained without AIF but longer time. Selected points simulated with AIF for fast speed RFID Antenna Design Using Zeland Tools CMF Vs. Frequency CMF Vs. Frequency CMF Vs. Frequency can also be created from s-parameters on MODUA (Process->General Lumped Equivalent Circuit) and MGRID (Process->S-Parameters and Lumped Equivalent Circuit). Linear Scale dB Scale RFID Antenna Design Using Zeland Tools Defining Optimization Variables Defining Optimization Variables The reason for CMF obvious below 0 dB at 875 MHz is that Zs = 17.5 j 350 and Za = 50.4 + j 418.1. They do not differ much while we can optimize the antenna for better result. There are many dimensions we can optimize the antenna. We will demonstrate the concept with two variables shown below. FastEMdata is prepared on .\zeland\ie3d\samples\LoadedMeanderTag_for_optim.geo. We can perform real-time EM tuning and optimization on it. Change the Y of this group of vertices to adjust the length of the traces of the antenna Change the Y of this group of vertices to adjust the coupling gap RFID Antenna Design Using Zeland Tools FastEM FastEM Real Real - - Time Tuning and Optimization Time Tuning and Optimization Open the file and select Process->Full Wave EM Design Manual tuning on the bars Automatic Optimization Tuned geometry Tuned Z(1,1) Define display graph Define goals for tuning and optimization RFID Antenna Design Using Zeland Tools Goals for Tuning and Optimization Goals for Tuning and Optimization We define the goals as Re[Z(1,1)] = 17.5 ohms and Im[Z(1,1)] = 350 ohms at 875 MHz (Finding CMF vs. Frequency will be available based upon s-parameters on MODUA) RFID Antenna Design Using Zeland Tools Full Full - - Wave EM Optimization Wave EM Optimization Two ways of EM optimizations on IE3D Full-blown IE3D optimization: Highest accuracy; Possibly lower efficiency; Intermediate results discarded for each individual optimization. Real-Time Full-Wave Optimization on FastEM: Needs preparation (possibly long time); Reasonable accuracy; Real-time tuning and optimization allowing you to see the change in geometry and results interactively; Re-usable results; Extremely efficient for tuning and optimization of batch designs with similar structure but slightly different goals; Allowing you to create a big design library. RFID Antenna Design Using Zeland Tools FastEM FastEM Real Real - - Time Optimization Time Optimization We can achieve the best conjugate matching with the given dimensions in seconds on FastEMDesign Kit (saved in .\zeland\ie3d\samples\LoadedTag_for_optim_fastem.geo). Slide bars for manual tuning Select Optimize for Automatic Optimization Save the optimized geometry for full-blown IE3D simulation to check results. RFID Antenna Design Using Zeland Tools Check Optimized Z Check Optimized Z - - Impedance Impedance As it is shown, Xa is tuned from 418.1 to 348 ohms while Ra is tuned from 50.4 to 41. Xa is perfectly optimized while Ra still differs from 17.5 ohms. RFID Antenna Design Using Zeland Tools Check Conjugate Match Factor Check Conjugate Match Factor The CMF is improved from -4.2 dB to -0.8 dB. If we can tune Ra close to 17.5 ohms, we should be able to bring CMF closer to 0 dB. It has to be done by tuning other dimensions. (Note: On MODUA, we can compare CMF of different files and we can define frequency dependent Zs) RFID Antenna Design Using Zeland Tools Check Radiation Parameters Check Radiation Parameters The following table compares the original and optimized radiation properties on PATTENRVIEW with Vs = 1 (v) & Zs = 17.5 j 350 ohms at 875 MHz. As you can see, the Effrad is almost unchanged while the Prad is more than doubled after the optimization. 0.838 0.381 Conj. Match Factor 88.8% 89.0% Radiation Efficiency 5.32 mW 2.43 mW Radiated Power 5.99 mW 2.72 mW Input Power Optimized Original Parameter RFID Antenna Design Using Zeland Tools Summary Summary IE3D and FIDELITY yield high accuracy results on RFID antennas. Conjugate Match Factor (CMF) is introduced in IE3D 12.12 and FIDELITY 5.20 for the designs of RFID antennas. CMF is the most important factor needs to consider in RFID antenna designs. IE3D FastEMDesign Kit allows designers to tune and optimize RFID antenna efficiently.