UHF RFID Reader Design & Crosstalk Solution
UHF RFID Reader Design & Crosstalk Solution
Crosstalk Problems
Abstract—This paper introduced the design and realization of The paper has designed an UHF RFID reader hardware
UHF RFID reader system based on ARM9 microprocessor as the system and software system according with ISO/IEC18000-6C
controller and austriamicrosystems’ UHF RFID reader IC protocol standard. The hardware system take Samsung ARM9
AS3992 for the RF front-end processing. With designing of the hardware microprocessor as the main controller and
external power amplifier circuit , the external RF power detector austriamicrosystems' UHF RFID Reader IC AS3992 for RF
circuit and the reader antenna impedance matching digital front end signal processing. Besides, in order to improve the
tuning circuit in the hardware system , the transmitter output transmitter output power level and receiver S/N ratio, and to
power level is up to +33dBm, and the receiver S/N ratio has been realize the tags' stable distance of identification to 10 m, it
improved. The reader software system implemented high-speed
designed the external power amplifier circuit, the external RF
identification of ISO/IEC18000-6C tags and multi-tags inventory
power detector circuit and the reader antenna impedance
anti-collision algorithms, it has also solved the existing crosstalk
problems between readers in the industrial site through the IP matching tuning circuit. The reader software system has
multicast technology based on embedded Linux operating realized the ISO/IEC18000-6C standard protocol and multi-tag
system. The design UHF RFID reader system has been already anti-collision algorithms. By using the IP multicast technology,
applied effectively in the RFID management system of a certain it solves the existing crosstalk problem in multi-reader
power plant vehicles, and the operation result shows that it has situation. The design UHF reader has successfully realized
successfully realized purposes to identify and process the purposes to identify vehicles' tags in the distance of 10 meters
information of vehicles' tag in the distance of 10 meters with with stable performance.
stable performance.
II. THE DESIGN OF SYSTEM SCHEME
Keywords- RFID; UHF Reader; RF Impedance Matching;
Power detector; IP Multicast The design architecture of RFID system consist of 4 layers
as shown in Figure 1, including the application program layer,
I. INTRODUCTION the operation system, the layer of hardware control and the RF
front-end.
RFID (Radio Frequency Identification, RFID) is a
technology based on the theory of spatial coupling, which Application layer UHF Reader Firmware
alternating magnetic field or electromagnetic field, to achieve
non-contact transmission of information and through the
information passed to achieve the identification of its Operat ion system Linux OS
objectives [1]. An RFID system mainly includes RFID readers,
RFID tags and the system software. According to the different
Hardware control layer S3C2440A Hardware
operating frequency band, it can be divided into low-frequency,
high-frequency, UHF (Ultra High Frequency, UHF) and SP I interface
microwave types [2]. Compared with low and high frequency RF front-end A S3992 RFID module
RFID technology, UHF technology has longer identified
distance, high-speed reading and other advantages. Along with Figure 1. The design architecture of UHF RFID reader system
the price of the UHF tag declining, which greatly reduces the
threshold for application of RFID technology, UHF-band long- The application layer is responsible for the initialization of
range automatic identification technology applications has been the reader IC chip AS3992, the implementing of ISO/IEC
gradually applied by the vehicle, to modern logistics, e- 18000-6 C standard protocol and multi-tags inventory anti-
commerce, traffic management and military management and collision algorithms. Besides, it also solved the crosstalk
other fields, therefore it become one of the hot and important problems through the use of IP multicast technology.
development of RFID technology nowadays.
The operation system is the core layer. Based on running
Linux2.6 operating system, it includes the device drivers for spi
and network devices which are integrated in micro-controller,
Vom-1dB= Vim-1dB + (Gain -1) (1) c) The design of reader’s antenna impedance matching
digital tuning circuit: RF circuit modules are generally
Where Vim-1dB, Vom-1dB respectively represents for input and
connected with each other by microstrips with the
output signal power of 1dB compression point and Gain
represents for the linear power gain level of amplifier. characteristic impedance Z0 = 50ohm. In order to achieve
maximum output power and improve the noise figure, the
According to formula (1), when the amplifier’s Gain is impedance matching is needed among each module and the
40dB, Vom-1dB is 29.5dBm, the input power Vim-1dB is equal to - microstrips, etc [6]. Besides, UHF RFID reader systems use an
9.5dBm. Therefore, the low power high linear output (~ 0dBm) external antenna to communicate with passive tags, but
way of the reader IC AS3992 can be taken to drive the external because of the antenna fixture variability in shape and size, it
power amplifier SKY65111-348LF to achieve the transmit leads to that the antenna load impedance and VSWR are easily
output power requirements for long-range(~+10 m) tags influenced by the external environment changes, resulting in
identification.
the loss of transmission power reader and receiver sensitivity
b) The design of external RF power detection circuit: decreasing [7]. According to the maximum RF transmission
The system transmit RF output power levels require dynamic distance (R) Friis formula (2) [8, 9]as follow:
tuning between +10dBm and +33dBm. In order to achieve the λ Pt ⋅ Gt ⋅ Gr ⋅ Co (2)
R=
desired output power, the system designs the external power 4π Pth
detector module, Maxim MAX2206EBS+, which is used to
measure and tune output power level. The Maxim Where Pt is the reader transmission output power level, Gt is
the gain of the external antenna, Gr, Co , Pth respectively
MAX2206EBS+ wideband (800MHz to 2GHz) power
represents for the gain of tag antenna, the transmission
detector's maximum RF input power is 20dBm and its output coefficient, and the threshold power to activate tag antenna
voltage increases monotonically with increasing input power chip’s operation. According to the formula (2), by improving
level. Pt, the transmission power of the reader' antenna end, the RFID
The power detector RF input pin connected to the system can effectively increase the RF maximum transmission
directional coupler coupled port P3 to measure its RF output distance. Therefore, in order to obtain the maximum transmit
power level, as shown in Figure3. The analog voltage output output power in the reader's antenna end, it has designed the
pin from the power detector is connected to the AS3992 ADC impedance matching circuit between the microstrip and the
pin for conversion, and the AS3992 DA converter output pin reader antenna as shown in Figure 4.
DAC is connected to SKY65111-348LF analog power control
C90 L9 C91 C106 Antenna
voltage input pin. When measured, the AD conversion result is RF_TX 1p5F 10nH 2p7F 100pF
available in the "ADC readout register" for the host system to SCLK SDAT
SDAT
read out through the SPI interface. The host system controls TUNE1 L11 TUNE3
voltage output voltage (0 ~ 3.2V) of AS3992 DA converter 6n8H
SCLK
SDAT
SDAT
RF+
RF+
RF+
RF+
SEN
SDAT
RF+
SEN
RF+
SEN
L10 RF+ R F-
output pin DAC, according to AD conversion result, to adjust 4n3H SCLK RF+ R F-
GND SCLK GND SCLK GND SCLK
the external power amplifier gain level, therefore it can achieve SDAT SDAT DGND SCLK
DGND
DGND
DGND
TUNE2
GND
VDD
VDD
the control and adjust of the output transmit power level until it SEN VDD
VDD
RF-
RF-
RF-
RF-
RF-
RF-
reaches the expected output power level. PE64904 PE64904 PE64904
C94 C96 C95
The design of RF front-end circuit including AS3992 3V3
C115 C113 C112
output matching circuit, the external power amplifier, the 100pF 10nF 2u2F
directional coupler circuit and the external power detector
shows in Figure 3.
Figure 4. The reader antenna impedance matching digital tuning circuit
C22 C23 C15 L13 C25 C26 C27
As3992 different outputs C30 4V7 10uF 1nF 100pF 1nH 100pF 1nF 10nF 4V7
VDD _B
RF O_P
12pF
Balun
C28
10uF The impedance matching digital tuning circuit of the reader
C30 L5 C32 16 15 14 13 L15
C35
47pF
L4
39nH
4
B2 GND 1 12pF 1nH 27pF 1
2
12 10nH L14
1n8H
C33 antenna composed of inductors, capacitors and digitally tunable
UB 2 11 100pF
C34
47pF
L6
39nH
6 B1
GND 3
C36
0p5F
3
SKY65111
10 C37 C38
capacitor (DTC) PE64904. The inductors use Coil-craft’s high-
4 9 15pF
RF O_N C39 4V7
C53 C54 C55
10uF 1nF 100pF
5 6 7 8 17 Pow er Amplifier
6p8F
4V7
Q series and the capacitors are selected Murata's GRM series
12pF
C60
2u2F
L7
1n2H C2
Vapc1
C58 C59
1nF
C62
2n2F
and GJM series, respectively for blocking and bypass for DC
100pF
4V7
R10 R19
100pF Vapc2 and high frequency applications. The PE64904 is a 5-bit 32-
C3 C24 C119
910R 2K4 1nF 100pF 1nF state DTC offering high RF power handling and can be used in
RCP890A10
LFCN-1000D+ 4 series (C=0.7-4.6pF) or shunt configurations (C=1.12-5.18pF)
MAX 2206EBS+ R10
910R RF_TX
2
P2 GND P1
1 3
GND
RFOUT RFIN
1 to support a wide variety of tuning circuit topologies. The
3V3 C88 R21 7 GND 8 C122 GND
2 1
47pF 17R8
3
P3 GND
GND
P4
4 100pF 2 device is controlled through the widely supported 3-wire (SPI
VCC RFIN
ADC_IN 4
OUT GND 3
R49
294R
R48
294R RF_RX Low Pass Filter compatible) interface [10].
C89
Directional Coupler
27pF Power D etector The operation principle of the reader antenna impedance
matching circuit is described as follow. The AS3992's receiver
Figure 3. The design circuit principle diagram of external power amplifier,
comprises the input RF level indicator which is used for
the directional coupler circuit and the external power detector
diagnostic of circuitry or environmental difficulties including
the reflection of poor antenna, reflection of reflective antenna's
environment, or directional device leakage. The measurement the system inventory procedure, the maximum tag inventory
of the level of the reflected transmitting carrier, can be efficiency can reach[12, 13]. Therefore, according to the
converted by measuring the DC levels on the receiver's mixers relationship between the current Q value and the detected
outputs which are proportional to the RF input level via collisions counts, the design of ISO/IEC 18000-6C tags
AS3992's internal AD converter, the result can be accessible to inventory flow chart with active tuning of Q numerical value is
the host system. The host system S3C2440A communicates shown in Figure 6.
with DTC PE64904 through the SPI interface, and dynamically
tunes the capacitance value until obtained the minimum Start inventory
reflected input RF level. In other words, the minimum level of
the reflected transmitting carrier reached, and it obtained the Send Select and
maximum transmit output power. PE64904 functional block Q uery Commands
diagram [10] shows in Figure 5.
Initialize anti-
collis ion algorithm
RF + RF-
G et Tags
[slot=0]
Serial
Interface
CMOS Control One tag None Tags multi-Tags
Dri ver [slot=0] [slot=0] [slot=0],colliding
Figure 5. The PE64904 functional block diagram
Save tag data slot_count-- collis ions++
(EP C,PC...)
IV. THE DESIGN OF READER SOFTWARE SYSTEM
Send N Slot_count Y Collisions Y
In UHF RFID reader systems, the reader IC AS3992 QueryRep = =0? = =0?
provides integrated analog RF front-end, and handles ISO/IEC N
18000-6C 900MHz RFID protocol internally. However, the N Collisions N Collisions
procedure realization of EPC C1G2 protocol, the tags anti- <=(1<<4)/8? > =(1<< 4)/4?
collision algorithms, and the application of IP multicast Y Y
technology to solve existing crosstalk problem in multi reader
Send Send Send
situation are all implemented based on S3C2440A Linux Q ueryAdjustU p QueryAdjustNIC QueryAdjus tDown
software system.
d<6m, 40m>
identified current tag data among the previous readers nodes
....... ....... read[0 ... N-1] .
UHF UHF UHF
Reader#K1 Reader#K2 Reader#N The new allocated tag node will be dynamically inserted
into each reader's tag tree through the way of IP multicast
transmission only happened when number 0 reader correctly
identify tag data, and only when the last number X reader
...... Car_tag#x ....... Car_tag#y ....... Car_tag#z ...... identify and process the tag node data correctly, the tag node
can be removed from the tag tree.
Coal vehicles driver direction
V. PERFORMANCE ANALYZING
Figure 7. The crosstalk problem existing in multi-readers inventorying tags
In China, the RF specifications testing for UHF band RFID
In order to solve the crosstalk problems between the UHF reader facilities use the "Provision for 800/900MHz Radio
readers, The paper has realized the reader's tag inventory Frequency Identification (RFID) technology applications
operation synchronous through the IP multicast technology and (Tentative)” as the reference standard [17]. In this document, it
the design tag balance binary tree. gives out some RF specifications that a RFID wireless
transmitting device should meet up with. It includes: carrier
1) The design of IP multicast application:IP multicast is a frequency tolerance: 20e-6; Channel bandwidth and the
method of sending Internet Protocol (IP) datagrams to a group occupied channel bandwidth (at 99% capability): 250KHz˗
of interested receivers in a single transmission, only after transmission power limit: 33dBm; Adjacent Channel Power
joining a particular IP multicast group, can a host receive data leakage Ratio(ACPR):40dB(the first adjacent channel),
packets that sent to that group[15]. 60dB(the second adjacent channel), the spurious emission
In order to use multicast technology to solve the crosstalk limit; When working at the operating mode of frequency-
problem, it require that all UHF readers are serialized, and join hopping spread spectrum, each channel's maximum dwell time
a IP multicast group after power up, when a tag is correctly should below 2s. And so on.
identified, each reader can not only send tag node data packets
to, but also can receive update tag data from the multicast To analyze the design UHF RFID reader's RF performance,
group. Besides, to quickly lookup and update a tag node data, it the Tektronix's real-time spectrum analyzer RSA3408B was
designs a balanced binary tree to build the tag tree to organize used. It works at the frequency-hopping spread spectrum mode,
identified tag data. Therefore, the average lookup time and the maximum dwell time was set up as 2s. The testing
complexity is O(logN) [16]. The design data structure of a tag result is as follows: carrier frequency tolerance: 10e-6; channel
node in the tag tree contains the tag information and the bandwidth: 180 KHz; the maximum transmitting power could
identification state of arrays corresponding to each reader, the reach 33dBm; ACPR: 45.97dB (the first adjacent channel),
tag node data structure is described as below. 69.54dB (the second adjacent channel). The measure result
shows that the design RFID reader's performance meets up
struct tag_inode{ //the tag data node with the standard described in "Provision for 800/900MHz
char *tagData; //the tag data content Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology applications
(Tentative)".
unsigned char numOfReaders; //the number of readers
……….. VI. CONCLUSION
//tag states corresponding to each reader In this paper, it has designed a UHF RFID reader system
according with ISO/IEC18000-6C protocol standard. The
unsigned char statInReaders[numOfReaders]; design RF front-end circuit module has solved the problem that
the reader antenna load impedance and VSWR are easily
unsigned char delete; // whether to delete the tag node
influenced by the external environment changes, due to the
}; reader's antenna fixture variability in shape and size, which
results in the reflecting of reader's transmitter power and the
2) The tag tree dynamic insert, update and delete decreasing of receiver sensitivity. It has realized the
node:When the reader numbered N (N>=0) identifies a tag data transmitting output power level up to +33dBm and effectively
successfully, it find out the node data structure from the tag improved the receiver S/N ratio and the tag identify distance.
tree, according to tag data , then get the state array As to the reader software module, on the one hand, by
statReaders[] of the node data structure. if statInReaders [0...N- implementing anti-collision algorithms, Random Slotted, it has
1] are true, the reader's current tag identification process is solved the multi-tags inventory collision problem, improved
viewed as valid, and then update the array element the tag’s inventory efficiency. On the other hand, it has
statReaders[N] as true , send the updated tag node data to IP effectively solved the UHF reader’s crosstalk problem by using
multicast group to update the tag node date in other readers' tag the IP Multicast technology and the design of balanced binary
tags tree. The operation results show that the design UHF
tree. Otherwise, the tag-reading operation is viewed as invalid RFID reader system has successfully realized purposes to
because there are at least a reader that has not yet been identify and process the information of tags on vehicles in the
distance of 10 meters with stable performance.
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