rfid test platform: nonlinear characterization

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RFID Test Platform: Nonlinear CharacterizationGianfranco Andia Vera, Member, IEEE, Yvan Duroc, and Smail Tedjini, Senior Member, IEEE

Abstract— This paper presents a complete radio frequencyidentification (RFID) test platform to characterize the nonlin-ear effects produced by passive ultra-high frequency (UHF)RFID chips. In full operation mode, automated measurementsof activation power, harmonic response level, and impedancesare performed in a wide frequency range up to the fourthharmonic. The characterization method, platform composition,and operation are explained through real measurements on UHFClass-1 Generation-2 chips. A harmonic treatment is presentedthanks to the joint use of an RFID tester and impedance tuners,and the effect of the antenna-chip impedance matching on theharmonic responses is compared before and after treatment. Tothe best of our knowledge, no similar platform has been presentedin the literature.

Index Terms— Harmonic balance (HB), harmonics, nonlinear-ity, radio frequency identification (RFID), rectifier, UHF passivetags.

I. INTRODUCTION

RADIO frequency identification (RFID) is a wireless data-collection technology very popular in many applications

and services, such as logistics, manufacturing, and security.Among the advanced properties and functionalities that arecontinually being developed, it is worth to mention sensingcapabilities [1], [2], tag-to-tag communication [3], or redun-dant backscattering modulation [4]. In addition, RFID isleading the new paradigm of Internet of Things [5].

Passive ultra-high frequency (UHF) RFID tags are com-posed by one antenna loaded by an RFID chip. One of thetasks that the chip performs is the rectification, function inwhich the chip collects energy to operate as transponder. Therectifier converts the radio frequency RF current that comesin the carrier wave (CW) sent by the reader to a directcurrent (dc), thus allowing the chip to power its circuitry. Thearchitecture of the rectifier is based on a Cockcroft–Waltoncircuit [6], [7] with two or more diode-based voltage doublerstages. These diodes determine the nonlinear behavior ofthe chip resulting in harmonics production [8], [9]. Recentstudies show the existence of modulated backscattering sig-nals backscattered by the tag at harmonic frequencies of theCW. This concept is shown in Fig. 1, showing an RFIDtag backscattering information not only on the fundamental

Manuscript received November 22, 2013; revised January 21, 2014;accepted January 24, 2014. The Associate Editor coordinating the reviewprocess was Dr. Wendy Van Moer.

G. Andia Vera and S. Tedjini are with the Laboratoire de Conceptionet d’Integration des Systemes, Grenoble-INP, Valence 26902, France(e-mail: [email protected]; [email protected]).

Y. Duroc is with the Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, 15 boulevard AndréLatarjet, Villeurbanne 69622, France (e-mail: [email protected]).

Color versions of one or more of the figures in this paper are availableonline at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org.

Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TIM.2014.2307754

Fig. 1. Illustration of the presence of multiple channels in the tag-to-readercommunication link.

frequency (e.g., 868 MHz), but also, for example, at the thirdharmonic (i.e., 2604 MHz) due to the nonlinear behavior of thechip [4], [10].

In passive UHF RFID systems, the challenge is alwaysto develop reduced size and cheap tags. For this purpose,new test platforms, characterization methods, and prototypetechniques are definitely required to accurately characterizethe tag performance and propose design improvements. Theexisting test platforms, such as in [11]–[17] are based on themeasurement of, at that time, traditional features of the tag,e.g., the chip-antenna integration [11], impedance matchingcondition [12], [15]–[17], or differential radar cross section(�RCS) and sensitivity [13]–[16]. In addition, most of themethods to characterize the RFID chip are performed withoutactivating the chip during measurements [11], [12], [16], [17]and always at the fundamental frequency. These existing testplatforms and methods are not well suited to evaluate the newfunctionalities of RFID tags, especially those caused by theirnonlinear behavior (e.g., redundant backscattering modulationas shown in Fig. 1).

As long as antenna and chip are independentlydesigned [18], the tag will radiate some of the reflectedharmonic currents generated by the rectifier, which triggerson the backscattered harmonics carrying information. Thetheoretical basics behind this phenomenon were explainedand experimentally demonstrated on [4] and [19] by means ofradiating measurements. In order to delimit and characterizethe source of nonlinearities in RFID tags, the definition of aspecific test platform, enabling accurate measurements duringRFID chip operation in a wide frequency range (includingharmonics), is needed. With such a motivation, this paperaims to meet two main objectives:

1) to define a new RFID nonlinear test platform(RFID-NTP) to perform a thorough characterizationand a study of the nonlinear phenomena (particularlyharmonic signals carrying information during an RFIDcommunication);

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Fig. 2. Structure of the RFID-NTP used to characterize the harmonics backscattered by RFID chips.

2) to carry out an experimental study to show the effectof the nonlinear treatment from the tag antenna side(basically based on antenna-chip matching experiencesat different bands).

This paper is organized as follows. Section II describesin detail the proposed RFID-NTP and explains the mea-surement procedure of harmonics in passive UHF RFIDchips. Section III presents a measurement example. Sensitivity,harmonic response level, temporal analysis, and impedanceare measured at the fundamental and harmonic frequencies.In addition, some drawbacks on the conducted measure-ments are discussed by comparing the performance of thismethod with on-chip measurements. Section IV presents har-monic treatment studies by emulating antenna-chip matchingconditions. The assessment of the nonlinear effects on the tagperformance is presented and the possibility to exploit themby implementing frequency diversity with the same chip isalso discussed. Finally, conclusions are drawn in Section V.

II. NONLINEAR CHARACTERIZATION PLATFORM

In the literature, most of the platforms and methods tocharacterize the RFID chip were performed without activatingit during measurements [11], [12], [16], [17]. On the contrary,Mayer and Scholtz [20] perform measurements while the chipis activated and by using a special fixture. In [16] and [17],the fixture is simply the chip packaged to standard 50-�SubMiniature version-A (SMA) connectors without specialmatching. It should be noted that all such measurementtechniques were performed at the fundamental frequency.

The measurement procedure presented in this paper com-bines two techniques: [16] for the simple chip fixing and [20]for measurement in temporal and frequency domain while thechip is activated. In addition, the measurement is performedin a wide frequency range allowing to characterize until thefourth harmonic of 868 MHz. The waking up of the chip,according to the EPC Class-1 Generation-2 UHF RFID stan-dard [21], was done as in [4] and [10]. The analysis methodis based on the measurement of the power spectral density(PSD) [19]. Unlike the radiated measurements presented in[4], [10], and [19], the RFID-NTP includes a vectorial char-acterization of the RFID chip. One of the contributions of

Fig. 3. RFID-NTP with the RFID chip connected.

the RFID-NTP is the possibility to measure both impedancemodulation states (scavenging and reflecting) in a wide rangeof frequencies.

A. System Description

The block diagram of the RFID-NTP is shown in Fig. 2.Two main parts are highlighted: the first one consists of spe-cialized equipments for microwave measurements and namedRFID tester; the second one is based on two impedance tunersconnected in series and providing the complex conjugate ofthe chip impedance of the scavenging state which, in fact,is the optimum antenna impedance. This last part is namedantenna impedance emulator. With the described configura-tion, a complete characterization can be performed under fullcommunication between RFID tester and chip. The setup ofthe RFID-NTP shown in Fig. 3 is described below.

1) RFID Chip Fixture: The RFID chips were fixed over50-� SMA connectors [16]. Soldered connections and glueby conductive ink connections are possible. The chip fixturesand calibration kit are shown in Fig. 4(a).


ANDIA VERA et al.: RFID TEST PLATFORM: NONLINEAR CHARACTERIZATION 3

Fig. 4. (a) RFID chips and calibration kit. (b) LPF used to reject harmonicsfrom the RFID tester.

2) Antenna Impedance Emulator: Two impedance tunersMicrolab SF-30F are connected in series to provide matchingbetween the 50-� RFID tester and the RFID chip. When thematching is achieved, the chip is in scavenging state and,once activated, it switches between the two modulation states.Details are shown in [20].

3) RFID Tester: The RFID tester section shown in Fig. 2is composed by:

a) An Agilent N5182A vector signal generator (VSG) isused to generate and send the query command (1000)[21] at 868 MHz.

b) A 20-dB low pass filter (LPF) is connected at the RFoutput of the VSG in order to filter its harmonics andensure the chip harmonic response is self-generated.Fig. 4(b) shows the adopted LPF.

c) An Agilent N5224A programmable network analyzer(PNA) used as external source the VSG. After the querycommand is sent, the PNA determines the impedanceof the chip during scavenging and reflecting states overa temporal sweep at the frequencies of interest [10].The use of the PNA allows to perform a vectorialcharacterization of the RFID chip.

d) A first C123E-20 ATM 20-dB directional coupler is usedto inject the signal coming from the VSG (input port ofthe coupler) to the PNA (transmitted and coupled portsof the coupler). This setup allows to properly configurethe external source for the PNA [22].

e) A second C123E-20 ATM 20-dB directional couplerallows to visualize the chip response from the coupledport, on the oscilloscope, and separated from the CW.The visualization allows to set the optimal position ofthe impedance tuners by minimizing the CW level. Thedirect port goes to the PNA.

f) A 12 GHz 40-Gsamples/s Agilent 91204A digital stor-age oscilloscope (DSO) connected to the coupled portof the second coupler allows to clearly see the chipresponse. In addition, a PSD analysis is performed overthe time window to assess the level response of thechip [19].

g) Output power, timing, synchronization, triggering, anddata acquisition are controlled by a MATLAB programrunning on the host PC.

B. Calibration

The flow diagram shown in Fig. 5 describes the calibrationand measurement procedure used for each chip. The minimum

Fig. 5. Flow diagram of the measurement procedure in the RFID-NTP.

activation power for a given chip was found by an iterativeup-and-down process until the PSD detected a tagresponse [19]. In the calibration step, a first traditional cal-ibration at the measurement reference plane shown in Fig. 2was done using the PNA E-cal module [23]. After this,the deembedding of the SMA connector was performed bymeans of a second calibration at the same plane, now usingthe predefined short open load kit shown in Fig. 4(a). Inthe power budget calibration, the losses of the directionalcouplers, cable, and connector must be considered. Finally, thecharacterization of harmonic responses consists in applying thesame procedure, but now by setting the temporal sweep of thePNA and the PSD analysis in the DSO, to the frequency of theharmonic. Note that the VSG transmits only at the fundamentalfrequency 868 MHz and the chip activation is always observedat this frequency.

This process was repeated for each chip under test. Thedata acquisition was automated by a MATLAB script whichuses the Agilent Command Expert tool [24] to easy programthe interconnection between equipments, scope options, andsweep parameters.

III. MEASUREMENT EXAMPLE

The RFID-NTP described in this paper was used to measureand characterize several RFID chips. As an example, thissection presents the measurement results for three commercialRFID chips: 1) G2XM NXP SOT505-1 [25]; 2) G2XM NXPSOT1040-AA1 [25] with strap; and 3) Impinj Monza 5 [26]



Fig. 6. Harmonic characterization method on the DSO. The visualizationallows to set the optimal position of the impedance tuners by minimizing theCW level.

Fig. 7. Measured power sensitivity of RFID chips.

extracted from the commercial inlay AKtag [27]. Exampleresults of the PSD analysis in the DSO, in a frame wherethe chip respond are shown in Fig. 6.

A. Sensitivity and Impedance

A power sweep was performed to determine the activationpower of the chip remaining the impedance tuners fixed afterthe calibration. For each power step, the response level andchip input impedance for the fundamental and its harmonicsuntil the fourth were measured. Fig. 7 shows the response levelat the fundamental frequency for the three chips. The wakingup point for each chip determines its minimum operatingpower, also known as chip sensitivity. For these three chips,the sensitivity varies between −13.2 and −11.5 dBm. A chipsensitivity of −15 dBm, measured at the chip pads, is reportedin datasheets [25]. The difference from the results presentedhere, is due to the losses on the test fixture, considering thaton-chip measurements have slightly higher accuracy comparedwith this method. In the case of chip 3, a saturation pointat higher power levels is observed. This is due to the shuntcontrol that regulates the internal supply voltage for the logicpart of the chip. The saturation is above 8.8 dBm for this chip.

Fig. 8 shows the measured impedances during the scav-enging state for chips 1 and 3 at the fundamental frequency.Impedance results are in good agreement with values reportedin the datasheets (see Table I) at the activation power. Althoughchips 1 and 2 have the same IC component, they have differentpackages, which explains why the difference on its impedancevalues. The optimum antenna impedance is the complex

Fig. 8. Impedance for chips 1 and 3 in scavenging state for a sweep ofpower.

TABLE I

IMPEDANCE RESULTS AT THE FUNDAMENTAL FREQUENCY

conjugate of the chip impedance at the sensitivity point shownin Fig. 7. Quite significant changes on the impedance canbe observed while increasing the input power. This changesshow the nonlinear behavior of the chip, more precisely dueto the rectifier characteristics [8], [28]. A relatively constantimpedance can be observed at low input power levels, oncethe chip is activated. This is explained by the fact that, aselectromagnetic energy harvesters, the RFID chips are alsooptimized to start operating at low input power. The nonlineareffect is dependent on the number of rectifier stages [29] thateach RFID chip uses.

B. Harmonic Responses

The harmonic response level was measured for the threechips until the fourth harmonic, by performing the PSDanalysis over the same chip response frame. Results areshown in Fig. 9. As already discussed in previous works[4], [10], [30], the third harmonic is predominant for all thechips under test. It is worth noting that, even until the fourthharmonic, a modulated response is detected. This becomesmore clear for an input power above 3 dBm in the case ofchips 1 and 3. Details at the activation power are shown inTable II.

IV. HARMONIC TREATMENT TESTS

In this section, a treatment of the nonlinearities is proposedby using the impedance tuners named as antenna impedanceemulator in Fig. 2, and hereafter called antenna part. In thedesign process of RFID tags, only the impedance value at thefundamental frequency is considered [4]. Theoretically, thisis enough to ensure the operation at the desired frequency.But no special attention is paid on the harmonics produced



Fig. 9. Harmonic responses measured for the three chips for a sweep ofpower. A characterization until the fourth harmonic is presented.

TABLE II

HARMONICS RESPONSES FROM RFID CHIPS

Fig. 10. Harmonic characterization for chip 1 after the harmonic treatment.

by the chip. RF criteria says that the harmonics should befiltered, for example, in order to increase the purity of theRF to dc conversion performed by the rectifier part and, thusproviding a greater read range since a clean dc signal providesmore power to the chip. The aim of this section is to evaluatethe effects produced on the fundamental frequency by thenonlinear behavior of the chip, by changing the matchingcondition between antenna part and chip in a wide range offrequencies.

The experience is based on observing the chip responseand its harmonics, by activating the PSD analysis in realtime on the DSO (Fig. 6) and by setting the impedancetuners to a position that produces a change in the levelof the fundamental frequency and/or in its harmonics.

TABLE III

HARMONICS TREATMENT

Fig. 11. Measured chip input impedance for the fundamental frequency ina temporal sweep. Scavenging and reflecting states can be seen.

Fig. 12. Measured chip input impedance for the third harmonic frequencyin a temporal sweep. Both states of modulation can be distinguished.

This process can be considered as a practical experimentationof the harmonic balance (HB) method used in circuit simula-tors to analyze nonlinear components [31].

A. Treatment Tests

Below results show the performance of the chip after animpedance tuning of the supposed antenna part. Fig. 10 showsthe harmonic responses of chip 1 until the fourth one, ina scenario were the harmonics are increased by tuning theimpedance of the antenna part. This is achieved at the expenseof a 1.5 dB reduction on the chip sensitivity and 7 dB reductionon the chip response at the fundamental frequency. Table IIIcompares the results before and after the harmonic treatment.

Figs. 11 and 12 show the input impedance of the chip1 in both modulation states after the harmonic treatmentfor the fundamental and its third harmonic, respectively.



These measurements were performed at the new activationpower. At the third harmonic, the resistive part decreases,and the reactance becomes more capacitive compared withthe impedance at the fundamental frequency. In addition, thedifference between the modulation states is lower which meansthat, in a radiating scenario, the �RCS [32] will be smallerthan that one at the fundamental frequency.

Results from Table III clearly show that an increase inthe second and third harmonics results in slightly diminishedperformance at the fundamental frequency.

B. Results Exploitation

Once the chip is characterized, antenna designers can importthe scattering parameters produced by the RFID-NTP fora wide frequency range, in a CAD software, in order tooptimize the antenna design, and ensure the complete filteringof backscattered harmonics. Indeed, the complex reflectioncoefficient of the RFID tag ρ̃ defined in (1), can be calculatedfor each impedance state [9], [33]

ρ̃ = Zc − Z∗a

Zc + Za(1)

where Za = Ra + j Xa is the complex antenna impedance,and Zc is the complex RFID chip impedance in one state(scavenging or reflecting).

Thereby, a tradeoff or independent optimization of theread range [load factor LF defined in (2)] and/or the �RCS[modulation efficiency ME defined in (3)] of the RFID tag canbe performed at the design stage [9]

LF = 1 − |ρ̃sca|2 (2)

ME = |ρ̃ref − ρ̃sca|2 (3)

with ρ̃sca and ρ̃ref , the complex reflection coefficient of thetag in scavenging and reflecting states, respectively.

On the other hand, it is interesting to note that both statesof modulation are visible even at the third harmonic. Thisobservation validates the hypothesis of a redundant infor-mation originated on the same chip. Therefore, the designof a tag antenna radiating the fundamental signal and thethird harmonic can be envisaged using the same LF and MEdesign parameters approach. It is worth to note the two maindrawbacks to take into account in the harmonic exploitation:1) the low power of the third harmonic response and 2) thesmall �RCS.

V. CONCLUSION

A complete characterization of the harmonics producedby the nonlinearities of passive UHF RFID chips has beenpresented in this paper. The measurement procedure introducesvectorial information allowing an evaluation of the RFID chipin full operation mode in a wide frequency range.

The RFID chip performance and the real effect of theharmonics are evaluated by a practical experimentation of har-monic compensation, similar to the HB method. The proposedanalysis can be extended for any kind of Class-1 Generation-2RFID chip, and it can be taken into account for the tag antennadesign. Subsequent lines of research should be undertaken

on the benefits for the performance of the whole RFID tagin the existing applications, derivable by a proper filteringof harmonics in order to improve the read range and/or the�RCS.

By other side, further work on exploiting the third har-monic response by specialized tag antenna designs, promisesnew applications and improvements on the existing ones.Nevertheless, the ability of the reader to collect and processharmonics is necessary to make this exploitation a reality.A future work may also consider the study of the reader sidefor the proper reception of the third harmonic response.

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Gianfranco Andia Vera (M’13) was born in Puno,Peru, in 1986. He received the dual M.Sc. degreein telecommunications engineering from the Uni-versitat Politecnica de Catalunya (UPC), Barcelona,Spain, and the Pontificia Universidad Catolica delPeru, Lima, Peru, in 2009, with an M.Sc. the-sis focused on electromagnetic energy harvestingfrom the Centre Tecnologic de Telecomunicationsde Catalunya, Barcelona, and the Degree in man-agement and development on information technol-ogy from UPC in 2010. He is currently pursuing

the Ph.D. degree in Optical and Radiofrequency with the Laboratoire deConception et d’Integration des Systemes, Grenoble Institute of Technology,Valence, France.

He was a Communication Engineer involved in RF planning and networkdeployment for a telecom carrier from 2009 to 2011. Since 2011, he hasbeen with the Laboratoire de Conception et d’Integration des Systemes. Hiscurrent research interests include radio frequency identification, antennas,energy harvesting, wireless networks, and microwave devices.

Yvan Duroc was born in Angouleme, France, in1971. He received the Teaching degree Agregation(French national degree) in applied physics fromthe Université de Poitiers, Poitiers France, in 1995,the Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from theGrenoble Institute of Technology, Grenoble, France,in 2007 and the H.D.R. degree (Habilitation àDiriger des Recherches) from the Université deGrenoble, Grenoble, France, in 2012.

He was a Teaching Associate with Esisar Engi-neering School, Grenoble Institute of Technology,

Grenoble, France, from 1997 to 2009, where he was an Associate Professorfrom 2009 to 2013. Since 2013, he has been a Professor with the UniversityClaude Bernard Lyon 1, Villeurbanne, France. He is in charge of lecturesin statistics and probability, signal and image processing, electronics, andembedded systems in the areas of rehabilitation or autonomy for the engineerand M.Sc. levels, and in the audioprothesis degree. He is the author andcoauthor of more than 70 technical conferences, letters, and journal papers.His current research interests include the design and modeling of antennas,and the development of the concept of signal processing antenna with specialattention to radio frequency identification, ultrawideband, and radio cognitivetechnologies.

Prof. Duroc is the Vice President of the URSI Commission C, France.

Smail Tedjini (SM’92) received the doctor’s degreein physics from the Grenoble Institute of Technology(Grenoble-INP), Grenoble, France, in 1985.

He was an Assistant Professor with Grenoble-INP from 1982 to 1986. From 1986 to 1993, hewas a Senior Researcher with the CNRS-IMEPLaboratory, Grenoble. From 1993 to 1996, he was aProfessor with Joseph Fourier University, Grenoble.Since 1996, he has been a Professor with theESISAR Engineering School, Grenoble-INP. Histeaching topics concern applied electromagnetism,

circuits and systems for radiofrequency, wireless, and optoelectronics. Pastresearch activities were on the modeling of devices and circuits at bothradiofrequency and optoelectronic domains. He is the author/coauthor ofmore than 250 publications, including more than 150 international papers andcommunications. His current research interests with the LCIS include wirelesssystems with specific attention to radio frequency identification technologiesand applications.

Dr. Tedjini was at the origin of several research activities and groups withthe Grenoble-INP (IMEP and LCIS Laboratories). He founded the LCISLaboratory in 1996. He served as the Director with the LCIS Laboratoryfrom 1996 to 2000 and the Director with the ESISAR from 2006 to2007. He conducted several research contracts with the industry and publicadministrations. He supervised more than 30 Ph.D. theses and served asan Examiner/Reviewer for the tens of Ph.D. in many countries. He is amember of several TPC and serves as an Expert/Reviewer for the nationaland international scientific committees and conferences, including ISO, Piers,the IEEE, URSI, ISO, EuCap, ANR, OSEO, and FNQRT. He organized severalconferences/workshops. He was the Past President and Founder of the IEEE-CPMT French Chapter, the Vice President of the IEEE Section France, andthe Vice Chair of the URSI Commission D Electronics and Photonics in 2008.He was reelected as the Vice Chair of the IEEE France Section and serves asthe Chair of the URSI Commission D for the Triennium from 2011 to 2014.

rfid test platform: nonlinear characterization

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