Miniaturization of Robust UHF RFID Antennas for Use on Perishable Goods and Human Bodies

Design guidelines for electrically small and robust UHF radio frequency identification (RFID) antennas are derived for operation in complex environments, such as perishable goods (e.g., meat and milk) or human bodies. A prototype UHF RFID antenna tag with an embedded integrated circuit (IC) is developed and tested in an RFID system. Water and meat tissue are used as environments. The obtained range of operation appears to be very robust. Measurements show a range of 3 m for the meat case and 2.5 m for a water environment at 868 MHz.