UHF RFID Temperature Sensor Tag Integrated into a Textile Yarn

Abstract

This paper presents the design of an ultra high-frequency (UHF) radio frequency identification (RFID) sensor tag integrated into a textile yarn and manufactured using the E-Thread® technology. The temperature detection concept is based on the modification of the impedance matching between RFID tag’s antenna and the chip. This modification is created by the change in the resistance of a thermistor integrated within the tag system due to a temperature variation. Moreover, in order to obtain an environment independent detection, a differential approach is proposed that avoids the use of a pre-calibration phase by the use of a reference tag. Experimental characterization demonstrates the RFID sensor’s potential of detecting a temperature variation or a temperature threshold between 25 and 70 °C through the variation of the transmitted differential activation power.