Design, Fabrication, and Validation of Printed Embedded Antennas

This paper proposes a novel design for a printed and composite embedded UHF RFID dipole antenna operating at 868 MHz. The goal of this paper is to design an antenna that enables reliable communication between an RFID tag embedded in fiberglass epoxy resin and a reader. The antenna is printed on a fiberglass layer using conductive inks and embedded within an epoxy-reinforced composite. The design process considers factors like resonance frequency and impedance matching to achieve efficient communication with an RFID chip. Simulations were conducted to optimize the design for the chosen material properties and chip impedance. The fabricated antenna achieves a reading distance of 2.1 meters, demonstrating its functionality. While the reading distance is shorter than commercial antennas, this design offers advantages such as integration within composite materials for external protection. It also has the potential to incorporate additional functionalities like printed sensors and energy harvesting in future iterations.