In this paper, a review of the state-of-the-art chipless radiofrequency identification (RFID) technology is carried out. This recent technology may provide low cost tags as long as these tags are not equipped with application specific integrated circuits (ASICs). Nevertheless, chipless-RFID presents a series of technological challenges that have been addressed by different research groups in the last decade. One of these challenges is to increase the data storage capacity of tags, in order to be competitive with optical barcodes, or even with chip-based RFID tags. Thus, the main aim of this paper is to properly clarify the advantages and disadvantages of chipless-RFID technology. Moreover, since the coding information is an important aspect in such technology, the different coding techniques, as well as the main figures of merit used to compare different chipless-RFID tags, will be analyzed.

A microfluidic sensor based on a microstrip line loaded with a composite resonator is reported in this paper. The composite resonator combines a shunt connected step impedance resonator (SIR) and a complementary split ring resonator CSRR) etched in the ground plane. By etching the CSRR beneath the patch of the SIR, the composite CSRR-loaded SIR resonator exhibits two transmission zeros and a pole in between. The operating principle of the sensor is the variation of the transmission coefficient at the pole frequency of the bare resonator, when a material or liquid under test (LUT) is in contact with the CSRR (the sensitive element). By designing the CSRR-loaded SIR resonator with closely spaced pole and transmission zeros, highly sensitive sensors are obtained. Despite the fact that the proposed sensor can also operate as a frequency variation sensor, using it as a single-frequency sensor based on the variation of the transmission coefficient (caused by the LUT) at a specific frequency reduces sensor costs. The reason is that a harmonic signal injected to the input port of the microstrip-based sensor plus a simple amplitude modulation (AM) detector (connected to the output port) suffices for measuring purposes. The proposed microfluidic sensor is applied to the characterization of volume fraction of solutions of isopropanol in deionized (DI) water. The sensor is able to resolve volume fractions as small as 5%, and the maximum measured sensitivity is as good as 4 mV/%.

Multiband printed monopole antennas loaded with open complementary split-ring resonators (OCSRRs) are presented. The OCSRRs, modeled as parallel LC resonant tanks, act as high-impedance elements at their resonance frequencies, and different effective λ/4 sections can be achieved in the monopole by placing them at proper locations. Thus, the first working frequency is related to the length of the monopole, while the additional bands are controlled by the resonance frequencies of the OCSRRs. Moreover, the proposed antennas present monopolar radiation characteristics at all the operation bands. Two prototypes are designed, manufactured and measured: 1) a single-loaded OCSRR dual-band printed monopole antenna covering the Bluetooth and IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n bands (2.40-2.48 and 5.15-5.80 GHz, respectively); and 2) a triband prototype based on the same design, but with an additional OCSRR designed to also cover the IEEE 802.11y frequency band (3.65-3.70 GHz). Both antennas are printed on a single-layer of a low-cost substrate, resulting in very compact designs.

A high data capacity chipless radio frequency identification (chipless-RFID) system, useful for security and authentication applications, is presented in this paper. Reading is based on the near-field coupling between the tag, a chain of identical split-ring resonators (SRRs) printed on a (typically flexible) dielectric substrate (e.g., liquid crystal polymer, plastic, and paper), and the reader. Encoding is achieved by the presence or absence of SRRs at predefined (equidistant) positions in the chain, and tag identification (ID) is based on sequential bit reading. Namely, the tag must be longitudinally displaced, at short distance, over the reader, a microstrip line loaded with an SRR and fed by a harmonic signal. By this means, the harmonic signal is amplitude modulated, and the (ID) code is contained in the envelope function, which can be obtained by means of an envelope detector. With this system, tag reading requires proximity with the reader, but this is not an issue in many applications within the domain of security and authentication (e.g., secure paper for corporate documents and certificates). Several circularly shaped 40-bit encoders (implemented in a commercial microwave substrate), and the corresponding reader, are designed and fabricated as proof-of-concept demonstrators. Strategies for programming the tags and a first proof-of-concept chipless-RFID tag fabricated on plastic substrate through inkjet printing are included in this paper.

In this paper, it is demonstrated that a chain of S-shaped split ring resonators (S-SRRs) etched on a dielectric substrate can modulate the amplitude of a carrier signal injected to a transmission line (a coplanar waveguide (CPW). To this end, the S-SRR chain must be transversally displaced above the CPW, in close proximity to it. By this means, the transmission coefficient of the line is modulated by the time-varying electromagnetic (inductive) coupling between the line and the S-SRRs of the chain, related to their relative motion. Based on this principle, two different applications can be envisaged: 1) angular velocity sensors and 2) near-field chipless radiofrequency identification (chipless-RFID) tags. In the former application, the S-SRR chain is circularly shaped and the S-SRRs are distributed uniformly along the perimeter of the rotor, at equidistant positions. By this means, the amplitude-modulated signal generated by rotor motion exhibits envelope peaks, whose distance is related to the angular velocity of the rotor. In the use of S-SRRs as microwave encoders for chipless RFID tags, not all the S-SRRs of the chain are present. Their presence or absence at the predefined (equidistant) positions is related to the logic state “1” or “0.” Tag reading is sequential, and it is achieved through tag motion (at constant velocity) above the reader, a CPW transmission line fed by a carrier signal. The ID code is contained in the envelope function of the resulting amplitude modulated signal, which can be obtained by means of an envelope detector. With the proposed approach, a high number of pulses in angular velocity sensors can be achieved (with direct impact on angle resolution and sensitivity to changes in instantaneous rotation speed). Moreover, chipless-RFID tags with unprecedented number of bits can be obtained. The proposed angular velocity sensors can be useful in space environments, whereas the chipless-RFID systems based on the proposed tags are useful in applications where reading range can be sacrificed in favor of high data capacity (large number of bits), e.g., security and authentication.

In this letter, a chipless radio frequency identification (chipless-RFID) system with erasable/programmable 40-bit tags inkjet printed on paper substrates, where tag reading proceeds sequentially through near-field coupling, is presented for the first time. The tags consist of a linear chain of identical split ring resonators (SRRs) printed at predefined and equidistant positions on a paper substrate, and each resonant element provides a bit of information. Tag programming is achieved by cutting certain resonant elements, providing the logic state “0” to the corresponding bit. Conversely, tags can be erased (all bits set to “1”) by short circuiting those previously cut resonant elements through inkjet. An important feature of the proposed system is the fact that tag reading is possible either with the SRR chain faced up or faced down (with regard to the reader). To this end, two pairs of header bits (resonators), with different sequences, have been added at the beginning and at the end of the tag identification chain. Moreover, tag data storage capacity (number of bits) is only limited by the space occupied by the linear chain. The implementation of tags on paper substrates demonstrates the potential of the proposed chipless-RFID system in secure paper applications, where the necessary proximity between the reader and the tag, inherent to near-field reading, is not an issue.