Behavioral approach to design universal UHF RFID reader transceiver ICs

The proliferation of RFID applications motivates an integrated solution to decrease the size and cost of readers. This paper describes a behavioral approach to design of worldwide regulation compliant UHF RFID reader transceiver for ISO 18000-6 multi-class tags in the ISM band 860 MHz-960 MHz. The approach based on evaluation of the transceiver´s building blocks parameters (Dynamic Range, Noise Figure, Sensitivity, P1dB, Phase Noise etc.) in conjunction with required characteristics of complete RFID reader system, i.e. read range, data transmission rate, reading speed, and power consumption etc. Based on direct-conversion architecture, the reader transceiver integrates RF-blocks, frequency synthesizer, modulation and demodulation functions, low frequency analog baseband. Fabricated on a 0.42/0.25 um SiGe BiCMOS process, the transceiver is implemented in LTCC-module and produces output power of +17 dBm; the receiver sensitivity is down to - 85 dBm.