RFID simulation with ANSYS Electronics Desktop

1 © 2011 ANSYS, Inc. March 17, 2017

 RFID antenna and system design using simulation
Introduction
• RFID Basics
• Electromagnetic simulation approaches ( FEM / MoM
Hybrid method )

RFID application areas ( UHF & HF )

• The relevant parts of an RFID system and their
treatment using electromagnetic simulation

• Field-Simulation of a whole system setup.

• Integration of the transmission setup into a circuit and

behavioral system.
Case studies Live – demos will be shown for
modeling and solving of relevant parts
Conclusions
2 © 2011 ANSYS, Inc. March 17, 2017
 Block diagram of an RFID transmission system
(general view )
antenna
Transponder IC

RECEIVER
DEMODULATOR
LOGIC
READER
SYSTEM

MEMORY
TRANSMITTER
MODULATOR (READ/WRITE)

•constant near field

conditions at the reader The transponder circuit is powered
(stationary) Variable near field conditions. by the Incident field at the antenna
•Sometimes variable •Change of material properties
near field conditions •Neighboring transponders. Example data sheet from NXP
(mobile reader) http://www.nxp.com/documents/short_data_sheet/SL3S40
01_SDS.pdf
The operating distance and system reliability in most cases is
given by the forward link which determines the power supply
of the transponder. The backward link is mostly not critical
due to the high receiver sensitivity
Estimations of reliability are mostly based on the
determination of the min input power level at the transponder
based on single components or the overall system simulation
3 © 2011 ANSYS, Inc. March 17, 2017
 How is the reliability of the whole system affected if
certain parameters change …
If the reader Electrical Field of
Transmitting
antenna has to Reader antenna
be relocated or
replaced by
another model

The conductivity
of the printed
transponder ink
varies its
conductivity due
to manufacturing
process
If a large metal
part has to be
mounted in the
transmission If the transponders
path ? are embedded next
to a dielectric
material
4 © 2011 ANSYS, Inc. March 17, 2017 Image : High Frequency Structure Simulator HFSS
 Semi-Analytical estimation of the transmitted
power ( using Friis equation)

DISTANCE = R
WAVELENGTH OF SIGNAL = 

RECEIVE ANTENNA
GAIN* = GR
PR   
  
TRANSMIT ANTENNA 2
Polarization = R
  •     
2
GAIN* = GT
G G ˆ
 T R T ˆ 1 2
1 2
REFL. COEFF = R
PT  4R 
Polarization = T R T R
REFL. COEFF = T

Using this approach system simulation is simplified by an individual treatment of the reader
and the transponder. Their relevant antenna parameters can be extracted by an
electromagnetic full wave simulation. Simplified analytical approaches like the Friis
equation assume

•Non-disturbed near field conditions (no proximity of dielectric and metal objects )
•Well known antenna characteristics
•No diffraction and reflection effects within the transmission path

… this is not the case in many real RFID situations. Often a full system simulation
including reader , tags and the environment is needed.
5 © 2011 ANSYS, Inc. March 17, 2017
 Simulation of the antenna characteristics of a reader-
antenna
Based on a geometrical model , the known material characteristics and a robust auto-adaptive
meshing algorithms all the relevant antenna characteristics can be determined by Electromagnetic
Simulation and can be used for Optimization

3D-geometry meshed geometry E-Field distribution

( CAD model import ) ( FEM mesh in
+ material definition HFSS )

+ power-wave excitation
at 2D reference planes
(11) Z. Cendes, J-F. Lee : The transfinite Element Method for Modeling
MMIC Devices , IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and (ports)
Techniques. Viol 36, No12 Dec 1988 ; p1639 f
Images : HFSS
6 © 2011 ANSYS, Inc. March 17, 2017
 Simulation of the antenna characteristics of a Reader-
Antenna with HFSS: Results

Gain

Return Loss

PR   
  
2

  GT GR ˆT • ˆ R 1  T 1  R
2 2 2

PT  4R 
All the relevant antenna characteristics can be
extracted by EM simulation. In terms of
laboratory equiimpment this would require a V-
Antenna polarisation Network Analyzer and an antenna measurement
chamber.
Next we have a closer look at HFSS
7 © 2011 ANSYS, Inc. March 17, 2017
 Relevant RF-Simulation Technologies for RFID
Antennas and Systems
Finite Element Method FE-BI Hybrid Method
• HFSS • HFSS and HFSS-IE
• Efficiently handles complex • Combines advantaged of HFSS and IE
geometries and materials, many • Volume based mesh and field solutions
excitations
• Fields are explicitly solved throughout
• Volume based mesh and field entire volume
solutions
• Fields are explicitly solved
throughout entire volume

• MoM ( Method of Moments)

planar
• Planar MoM Solver as part of
HFSS license since June 2013
• Easy Access in 2.5D Interface
( „HFSS for ECAD“ )
• Currents solved only on surface
mesh
• Very high solution speed is
achieved for planar structures
8 © 2011 ANSYS, Inc. March 17, 2017
 Flow of 3D electromagnetic FEM Simulation
Import of 3D CAD file
Import of 2D layout (e.g STEP, IGES, Pro-E )
(e.g dxf, gds, ODB++) Material assignment
(also anisotropic ,
frequency dependent )

Import or
1 Model Setup Creating of Geometry
Assignment of Materials
Excitations
Mesh & solution Mesh
3 Operations
procedure
Analysis
2 Solution Setup Solution Setup
Frequency Sweep
Local Mesh Refinement Solution of differential
Analyze based on residuum equation matrixl

NO
Converged
Viewing Results Solve Loop
4 YES
Results
Reader_coil_w_lumped_RLC_boundaries with_network
1.00
Curve Info
ComplexMag_H_1
Setup1 : LastAdaptive
Freq='0.0133GHz' Phase='0deg'

0.80

Matrix quantity Reports Update

ComplexMag_H_1 [A_per_meter]

0.60

Finished
Fields plots
0.40

0.20

0.00
0.00 1.00 2.00 3.00 4.00 5.00
normalized_length [meter]

9 © 2011 ANSYS, Inc. March 17, 2017

 Adaptive Meshing ( all methods, here : FEM)
Automatic Adaptive Meshing Convergence Vs.
• Finite element method with adaptive mesh refinement Adaptive Pass
• Provides an Automatic, Accurate and Efficient solution
• Removes requirement for manual meshing expertise
Meshing Algorithm
• Meshing algorithm adaptively refines mesh throughout
geometry
• Iteratively adding mesh elements in areas where a finer
mesh is needed to accurately represent field behavior
– Resulting in an accurate and efficient mesh

Mesh at each
adaptive pass

10 © 2011 ANSYS, Inc. March 17, 2017 DEMO-UHF 1 & 2

 Transponder: Antenna Matching of the tag

Antenna matching for conjugate

complex impedance of chip and
Package

The power efficiency of the transponder

is strongly influenced by the antenna
losses and the package losses

PChip
Chip 
PAntenna  PChip  PLoss

11 © 2011 ANSYS, Inc. March 17, 2017

 Discussions of Transponder antenna measurement : different
approaches for a challenging measurement procedure
Measurement with VNWA using Contactless Measurement with
calibrated measurement probes (1) reference antenna(2)

• feedback effects of measurement probes on •Measurement of antenna with three known

the radiating device under test ( C, L ) standards ( open, short, Chip )
• influence of the environment (fixture, •Repeatability of connections not straightforward
groundplane )
• reproducability of the measurement contacts
• calibration procedure not easy
Open
Short
Chip
Equivalent circuit of probe and test object Equivalent circuit of setup with calibration
Image source and reference : R. Herschmann, Ein Verfahren
zur breitbandigen Impedanzmessung von RFID L.Mats, J.T. Cain, M.Mickle / University of Pittsburgh (2)
Transponderantennen (1)
12 © 2011 ANSYS, Inc. March 17, 2017
 3D–EM Simulation: characterization of a transponder
antenna at 915 MHz using HFSS
Using a complex signal source ( „port“ ) as reference impedance the tag characterization by
simulation is straightforward and easy to realize
3D Model of transponder Meshed geometry E-field distribution
antenna on polycarbonate
layer, 1mm thickness, printed
ink 5um thickness

Complex chip impedance

(30-j400 ohm) as
reference impedance

13 © 2011 ANSYS, Inc. March 17, 2017

 3D–EM Simulation: characterization of a transponder
antenna at 915 MHz
Return-Loss [dB] over freq impedance re(Z_ant) ; im(Z_ant) over freq

Realized Gain at 915 MHz Peak Realized Gain over der Frequency

14 © 2011 ANSYS, Inc. March 17, 2017

 Parametric Variation of frequency shift depending on
relative permittivity of carrier substrate
Transponder Antennas are typically strongly sensitive towards the change of
dielectric or coductive material variations of the environment, which can dramatically
lower the transmission characteristics.
Round-Dipole on 2mm thick carrier ; Variation of rel. Permittivity from 2…4:

15 © 2011 ANSYS, Inc. March 17, 2017

 Variation of the conductivity of a printed antenna
Intensive Studies have been made on the effct of conductivity and thickness of printed
passive UHF RFID Tags (3) , (6) It has been shown that variances in the conductor
properties have a remarkable influence on the antenna performance

Example project : Variation of the conductivity at 5 um thickness from 5e6…2e7

S/m,
i.e. values which are relevant for production processes

Return-Loss [dB] Antenna efficiency over frequuency

Return-Loss [dB] over Frequency sweep_condtmat4 ANSOFT
0.00

-2.00

Curve Info
dB(S(LumpPort1,LumpPort1))
Setup1 : Sweep1
-4.00 $condmat='5000000'
dB(S(LumpPort1,LumpPort1))
Setup1 : Sweep1
$condmat='10000000'
dB(S(LumpPort1,LumpPort1))
Setup1 : Sweep1
$condmat='15000000'
-6.00 dB(S(LumpPort1,LumpPort1))
Setup1 : Sweep1
$condmat='20000000'
Y1

dB(S(LumpPort1,LumpPort1))
Setup1 : Sweep1

-8.00
$condmat='25000000'
dB(S(LumpPort1,LumpPort1))
Setup1 : Sweep1
$condmat='30000000'
Inceasing ink
dB(S(LumpPort1,LumpPort1))
Setup1 : Sweep1
$condmat='35000000' conductivity
dB(S(LumpPort1,LumpPort1))
-10.00 Setup1 : Sweep1
$condmat='40000000'
dB(S(LumpPort1,LumpPort1))
Setup1 : Sweep1
$condmat='45000000'
dB(S(LumpPort1,LumpPort1))
Setup1 : Sweep1
-12.00 $condmat='50000000'
dB(S(LumpPort1,LumpPort1))_1
Imported
$condmat='10000000'
dB(S(LumpPort1,LumpPort1))_1
Imported
$condmat='20000000'
-14.00
0.80 0.83 0.85 0.88 0.90 0.93 0.95 0.98 1.00
Freq [GHz]

16 © 2011 ANSYS, Inc. March 17, 2017

 Real-Time Tuning with Analytical Derivatives
Real-time tuning shows effects of
The example (UHF transponder antenna ) is typical small changes on S-parameters
multi-variable design Design variables;
Solve for the derivatives of many variables at once
Without solving variations explicitly

period
w

S-parameters of Nominal Design

S11
partial_MagS_dW m
0.00
Curve Info
partialMagS(LumpPort1,LumpPort1,w)
Setup1 : Sweep1

distance of load bar

-0.13
partialMagS(LumpPort1,LumpPort1,w)

-0.25

Quickly Explore Effects of Small

Changes on S-parameters
-0.38
0.70 0.75 0.80 0.85 0.90 0.95 1.00 1.05 1.10
Freq [GHz]

17 © 2011 ANSYS, Inc. March 17, 2017 Partial derivative dS11/dW

 Example scenarios of embedded and coupled UHF
transponders where electromagnetic simulation is needed
Many applications (e.g., Identification of textiles, data-carriers, books, u.a. ) require
transponders to be very closely positioned . Mainly the receiving functionality may be
strongly degraded due to coupling mismatch and losses
RFID Labels in bookshelf

Variation of distance between closely located

transponders und variation of „realized Gain“
at 915MHz:

Antenna distance

Implanted
Transponders inside
body tissue (9),(10)

DEMO-UHF FE-BI
18 © 2011 ANSYS, Inc. March 17, 2017
 System Simulation of a realistic UHF RFID transmission
setup
Assumed is a close-to-reality model of a wall-mounted 915 MHz reader antenna and at a distance
of approx. 2.20 m a pallet with 12 transponder antennas. This setup is simulated with HFSS14.

Reader antenna with •Total of 14 Ports

two polarisation setups •Frequency range from 800 MHz..1GHz
•Overall Simulation time 50 min, 5.3GB RAM
( Intel QuadCore i7-2820M, 2.3GHz =

Distance from reader

to the center of the Pallet with 12
pallet approx.. 2.20 m boxes ( PS-foam)
and RFID
transponders
Detail image of two neighboring
transponder antennas

19 © 2011 ANSYS, Inc. March 17, 2017

 Simulation of a whole UHF RFID system including electric
circuits of reader and transponder chipset (5) :
Integration of the electromagnetic transmission model into an overall circuit simulation with
nonlinear input circuits at the transponders allows a very realistic estimations of the receiving
conditions ( input DC power at the different transponders: P_tagn )

TX P_tag1
Reader 3D Simulation
of the distance
between reader P_tag2
vertical antenna and
polarisation transponder .
F .
mag .

horizontal
polarisation P_tagn

An equivalent circuit of an RFID input section ( under non-

disclosure agreement ) was provided by NXP / (Gratkorn ,
Austria) to study the effects of the power dependent receiving
conditions of an ensemble of RFID tags. The model has been
transferred to an encrypted format.

20 © 2011 ANSYS, Inc. March 17, 2017

 Simulation of a realistic UHF RFID system variance of
geometry:
Parametric change of geometry ( size of metallized enclosures ; model ) in the
vicinity of the tag-antennas and the according effect on the receiving voltage level
( w.o. over-voltage protection ) of the rectified signal.
A resonance-shift can be observed at some antennas
Operating
Metal boxes frequency at
915MHz

Parametric
variation of
size

Operating
frequency at
915MHz

21 © 2011 ANSYS, Inc. March 17, 2017

 Simulation of transient signals in a realistic UHF system–
using HFSS circuit Spectre-RF model from transponder chip:
Input and demodulated
Backscattered signal .scs file with
signal at transponder encrypted
components

env_of

rect_o
env_o
SP

SP

SP

env_o env_of rect_o

tag_in

env_of
env_o

rect_o
reg_vdd
SP reg_vdd
env_of
env_o

rect_o

SP SP antn reg_vdd
demod_signal
PWM_out AM_out
reg_vdd
demod_signal
SP
demod_sig
SPECTRE demod_signal
clock
clock
rst

tx_bb
clock
rst SP
clock
s_elem_opt
convolution=0
netlist rst

SAMPREP AMMOD antp mod_in

mor=0
tag_in

enforce_passivity=1
agnd
antp

NOR=NOR FC=fc U1 rst

agnd
P=12dBm tag_rfanalog_tps3 SP reltol=0.001 0
REF=Vpp_bb/mod_index - Vbb_max

agnd
SP
L1953 agnd

0
tran_opt

method=trapezoidal 50nH
tag_in
SP

740.1fF
C1952
antp
SP

antp

PRBS

NB=sample_num/(sample_ea_per/2)
BR=sample_rat/sample_ea_per
RCONST 3dB hybrid 90° 3
T=1V 50

0
F=0V
V0=0V
CONSTANT=1V
NSAMP=sample_num RTOGGLE tx_bb
HFSS proj 4
50

0
TS=1/sample_rat SAMPLE_RATE=sample_rat 1 3 1 2 1 5
NSAMP=sample_num 50 R1956
TR=0s

0
I 6
SAMPLE_RATE=sample_rat TF=0s
NS=numRTcal*2*sample_ea_per
50 R1957
PERIOD=sample_ea_per/sample_rat

0
SEED=0
ref 4 3 7
A=1V 50 R1961
2

0.63

0
DUTY=0.63
8
T1=0s 50 R1962

0
T2=0s 9
50 R1968
ref

0
VTHRESHOLD=0.5V

0
10
50 R1969

0
11
0 50 R1970
50

50
R1949

R1948

0
NSAMP=sample_num 2 12
SAMPLE_RATE=sample_rat 50 R1971

0
PERIOD=sample_ea_per/sample_rat 13
A=1V 50 R1972

0
DUTY=0.79 0.79 14 R1973
T1=0s
T2=0s 0 0 R1974
ref

“Design and Verification of an EPC Compliant Passive UHF RFID IC”; Ansoft-Roadshow), 2007 “First system success”
22 © 2011 ANSYS, Inc. March 17, 2017
 Block diagram of an RFID transmission system
(general view )
Transponder IC

RECEIVER
DEMODULATOR
LOGIC
READER
SYSTEM

MEMORY
TRANSMITTER
MODULATOR (READ/WRITE)

• Variable conditions within the area The transponder circuit is powered

of the coupling magnetic field by the Incident field at the antenna
• Change of material properties
• Neighboring transponders. Example data sheet from NXP (12)
SL2S2002;SL2S2102
The operating distance and system reliability in many cases is http://www.nxp.com/documents/short_data_sheet/SL2S2002_SL2
given by the forward link which determines the power supply S2102.pdf
of the transponder. The backward link is mostly not critical
due to the high receiver sensitivity
Estimations of reliability are often based on the
determination of the input power of the chip or on the
Interrogation Field Strength Hmin at the transponder based
on single components or the overall system simulation
23 © 2011 ANSYS, Inc. March 17, 2017
 Determination of H_min for a single coil

The required Hmin for a given chip input

characteristic ( Ric, Cic, required voltage
level ) are defined by some geometry-
depending coil properties (1)

Coil characteristics; Chip input

Lcoil, Ccoil; Rcoil, Aeff characteristics;
A large variety of coil geometries are ( eff area ) , Nc ( Num Ric; Cic which form the
possible but which geometry provides the of windings ) Chip input impedance
highest reliability ?

or or

24 © 2011 ANSYS, Inc. March 17, 2017

 NFC/RFID scenarios where analytic models have
strong limitations
strong coupling
Embedded coil between
in an electronic transponders
assembly

NFC coil embedded

in micro SD card

Application areas for

Complex
EM simulation at RFID
shape of and NFC projects
a coil

H-field
characterization close proximity
of multiple reader of conducting or
coils -> ferromagnetic
determination of objects
Hmin
25 © 2011 ANSYS, Inc. March 17, 2017
 Coupling between two coils with metal plate and
metal plate with ferrite
The coupling between a pair of coils in proximity to a metal plate can be improved by applying a
ferrite layer on top of the metal due to the reduction of the eddy currents .
The thickness an dsistance of the ferrite setup can be optimized by applying EM-simulation (3). A
parametric study with and without ferrite shows the improvement of the coupling in presence of
a ferrite layer

Two coils at a constant Transmission loss between

distance of 20mm are H –field over ferrite
the coupled coils depending
moved away from a metal covered metal plate at
on distance ( with / without
plate with ferrite cover varying distances
ferrite )
26 © 2011 ANSYS, Inc. March 17, 2017
 Coupled readers and transponders in nonlinear
circuit environment ( HFSS circuitTM)
A RFID coupling scenario between 2 reader coils and 3 transponders is terminated
with a typical cascaded rectifyer circuit (7) for a transponder

A variation of coupling distance shows variations of resonance frequency and

transmission loss due to the strong coupling coefficient between the two coils
27 © 2011 ANSYS, Inc. March 17, 2017
 Coupled readers and transponders in nonlinear
circuit environment ( HFSS circuit )
Implementation of circuit elements allow to determine power levels for
simulataneous operation of three different

Transponders at a fixed position transponders at a varying angular

(DC inputpower : log scale ) position

P_chip
P_chip
[mW]
[mW]

Freq[MHz] Freq[MHz]

28 © 2011 ANSYS, Inc. March 17, 2017

 Case Study 1 : Integration of 13.56 MHz RFID Coil in Pen(5)

NFC/RFID coils usually are restricted in size and often need to be fit into a small setup.
Usually the design procedure starts with a planar setup and then will be applied to
the placement within the real device
1 Planar Coil 2 Bent Coil as 3D- 3 Bent RFID-Tag in Pen
simulation model

IC (13.56 MHz)

Read-range ~ 23 cm

RA / 2 LA /2 RA / 2 LA /2

CA

Extracted equivalent circuit model of coil RFID reader module

(5) F. Ohnimus, U. Maaß, S. Guttowski, H. Reichl “ Comprehensive Design Method for RFID Tags based on EM Field Simulations”,
27. CADFEM users Meeting & Ansys Conference 2009

29 © 2011 ANSYS, Inc. March 17, 2017

 Case Study1 : Integration of 13.56 MHz RFID Coil in Pen(5)

Inductance of coil depends strongly on bend radius, which is difficult to determine

analytically

 Coil is designed to achieve required inductance in bent state inside ballpoint pen
(5) F. Ohnimus, U. Maaß, S. Guttowski, H. Reichl “ Comprehensive Design Method for RFID Tags based on EM Field Simulations”,
27. CADFEM users Meeting & Ansys Conference 2009

30 © 2011 ANSYS, Inc. March 17, 2017

 Case Study 2 : reader and transponder at UHF frequencies

31 © 2011 ANSYS, Inc. March 17, 2017

 Case Study3 : Integration of NFC coil in Handset

Model view of embedded coil and circular reader coil

The relative position of coil vs. handset is analyzed parametrically
Coupling
distance to NFC coil integrated in
be varied SIM card

Images shown with permission of Infineon

32 © 2011 ANSYS, Inc. March 17, 2017
 Case Study3: Integration of NFC coil in Handset

Visualization of H-field of transmitting internal NFC coil. Attenuation of the

H field can be observed due to the presence of conducting elements.
These models were enclosed within an electronic circuit ( not shown here
)

Images shown with permission of Infineon

33 © 2011 ANSYS, Inc. March 17, 2017
 Conclusions : reliability enhancement by EM
Simulation in the design flow of RFID Systems
System Specification

Simulation potential ( system )

Selection of Hardware ( Reader, Chips )

Decision for manufacturing technique Simulation sensitivity towards process

(printing, etching … ) and assembly
Packaging parasitics, statistical
process; possible size of label, …

Antenna design Parametric antenna studies & opti-

misation, increase of bandwidth
Prototype assembly of transponder Sensitivity & Monte Carlo analysis
( chip & antenna )

Simulation of simplified transmission

Test under „laboratory conditions“,
between reader and tag
(only if reader ant model available )
Customer Samples
.
. Modeling of a system setup with
Test under „real“ conditions ( customer) reader , many tags and other
objects in between
RELIABILITY
34 © 2011 ANSYS, Inc. March 17, 2017