A circularly polarized planar antenna modified for passive UHF RFID

Abstract

The majority of RFID tags are linearly polarized dipole antennas, but a few use a planar, dual-dipole antenna that facilitates circular polarization, but requires a three-terminal IC. In this paper, we present a novel way to achieve circular polarization with a planar antenna using a two-terminal IC. We present an intuitive methodology for design, and perform experiments that validate circular polarization. The results show that the tag exhibits strong circular polarization, but the precise axial ratio of the tag remains uncertain due to lack of precision in the experimental system.