Design of a 16-bit ultra-low cost fully printable slot-loaded dual-polarized chipless RFID tag

A novel design of an ultra-low cost fully printable slot-loaded dual-polarized 16-bit chipless RFID tag is presented. The tag consists of four rectangular patches loaded with 16 slot resonators. Slots of same polarization for adjacent frequencies are placed alternately into two patches to reduce the mutual coupling between the slots. Then two similar sets are placed in horizontal and vertical polarization to double the number of bits within the same frequency bandwidth. The tag can be detected using a dual-polarized waveguide or dual-polarized antennas. This compact tag occupied only 15mm×15mm area, hence can be printed cheaply on one side of plastic or paper substrates. It has the potential to replace barcodes which are printed in billions.