Constrained Pole-Zero Synthesis of Phase-Oriented RFID Sensor Antennas

Passive sensing by means of radiofrequency identification has been extensively explored for various applications, such as gas detection, temperature change, and deformation. The sensing indicator is generally based on the amplitude and phase of the backscattered field. However, a degradation of the communication performance must be usually accepted for achieving the sensing capability. This work introduces a design method suitable for phase-based RFID sensors that permits to shape the phase response while preserving the impedance matching between the antenna and the microchip. The RFID sensor is modeled as a two-ports scatterer comprising a lumped sensor at one of the ports and an RFID chip at the other port. A pole-zero representation of the electromagnetic interaction between the reader and the RFID sensor allows to introduce a constrained design of the antenna with a full control on the sensor dynamic range and on the communication performance. The proposed method is numerically and experimentally validated by means of a pair of strongly coupled dipoles connected to a voltage-controlled varactor emulating a dynamic sensor response.