Tag placement studies

The performance of an RFID tag depends on the environment in which it is placed. We place the RFID tag on large wooden boards and measure its performance by recording the threshold power. Threshold power is the minimum power required to activate a tag. We show that as the thickness of the wooden slab increase, the performance first deteriorates and then it improves. We also make an interesting observation that, the performance of the tag could be much superior when the board is blocking the line of sight path. These observations have been supported by making field measurements using a probe and a network analyzer. Further, a theoretical model based on the interaction of plane waves with a dielectric slab has been used to explain the measured observations.