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IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ANTENNAS AND PROPAGATION, VOL. 60, NO. 10, OCTOBER 2012

A Slot Loaded Circularly Polarized Patch

Antenna for UHF RFID Reader
Chow-Yen-Desmond Sim, Member, IEEE, and Chin-Jen Chi

AbstractThe design of a simple UHF (ultrahigh frequency)

RFID (radio frequency identification) reader antenna that operates within the 900 MHz band (902928 MHz) is studied. To
generate circular polarization (CP) radiation, a novel method
of loading a semicircular slot into the main circular radiating
patch is proposed. To allow optimum impedance matching with
enhanced CP bandwidth, the L-shaped probe-feed technique is
employed in this design. From the experimental results, besides
achieving a gain level of more than 7 dBic, the proposed antenna
can also yield an impedance bandwidth (10-dB return loss) from
880 to 1100 MHz, while good CP performances between 901 to
930 MHz are exhibited. To further validate the experimental
results, parametric studies are also carried out via simulation.
Index TermsAxial ratio, circular patch antenna, circular polarization, RFID antenna, slot loaded.

I. INTRODUCTION

FID is an auto-ID technology that identifies any object

that carries an electronic tag (known as RFID tag) with a
unique electronic product code (EPC). To transfer data from the
RFID tag through radio waves, a reader antenna is required for
the purpose of identifying and tracking of the object. From the
open-literature, most of the UHF RFID tag antennas are either
designed as a dipole- or microstrip-type with linear polarization
(LP) [1], [2]; while very few designs are of circular polarization (CP) types [3], [4]. Thus, unless the orientation of the tag
is located at a fixed position, majority of the UHF RFID reader
antennas are designed with CP radiation [5][11], so that reliable communication can be established between the reader and
the tag.
There are two common types of UHF RFID reader antenna
design with CP radiation; the single-layer printed planar type
(dipole- or microstrip-type) [5][8] and broadband stacked
(multi-layer) type [9][11]. Although the single-layer printed
planar type enjoys the advantages such as low profile, ease in
manufacturing and low production cost, however, such design
will normally yields an antenna gain of no more than 4 dBic,
while its CP bandwidth (3-dB axial-ratio bandwidth) is usually
less than 1% (centered around 900 MHz) or 10 MHz [5][8].
Nevertheless, the aforementioned RFID reader antennas [5][8]

Manuscript received December 27, 2011; revised April 06, 2012; accepted
May 18, 2012. Date of publication July 10, 2012; date of current version October
02, 2012. This work was supported in part by the National Science Council of
Taiwan.
The authors are with the Department of Electrical Engineering, Feng Chia
University, Taichung, Taiwan 40724, R.O.C. (e-mail: cysim@fcu.edu.tw;
m0005703@fcu.edu.tw).
Color versions of one or more of the figures in this paper are available online
at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org.
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TAP.2012.2207351

are unable to cover the required CP bandwidth (902 to 928

MHz) that is applicable in most part of the world.
Hence, a number of broadband CP antenna with top loading
design (stacked patch) for UHF RFID applications have been
studied recently [9][11]. To excite a broad CP bandwidth of
11.6% centered at 915 MHz, the technique of double shorting
four sequential rotating stacked patches is introduced, whereby
a complicated fed-network is also required for this double layer
structure [9]. To exhibit even larger CP bandwidth up to 16.4%,
antenna designs with meticulously devised single layer feedstructure top loaded by another two layers of corner truncated
square patches (main radiating patch and parasitic patch) are
also proposed in [10], [11]. Nonetheless, even though the CP
bandwidth of these stacked antenna designs are universal for
UHF RFID applications, high manufacturing cost can be foreseen as a result of their multi-layer stacked structures.
In this paper, a simple circular patch antenna design for fixed
UHF RFID applications within the 900 MHz band (902928
MHz) is proposed. To excite two orthogonal degenerated modes
for CP radiation, a novel method of slot loading a semicircular
slot into the circular radiating patch is introduced. Here, since a
direct probe-fed method on a thin substrate will only allow a CP
bandwidth of less than 1%, thus, the L-shaped probe-fed technique is used in this design [12], so that both the CP bandwidth
and impedance bandwidth of this proposed patch antenna can
be increased to 3% and 22%, respectively. Furthermore, stable
antenna gain level of up to 7 dBic and high antenna efficiency
of at least 87% can also be achieved. Details of the proposed
antenna design with close form approximation expressions are
presented, and the simulation and measurement results are also
demonstrated and discussed.
II. ANTENNA CONFIGURATION AND DESIGN
The geometry of the proposed L-shaped probe-fed slot loaded
is presented
circular patch antenna with air gap
in Fig. 1. It is comprised of three simple elements; the top circular patch, L-shaped probe (made by thin copper sheet of thickness 0.2 mm), and a ground plane. The circular patch is printed
thick FR4 substrate (
on an inexpensive 0.4 mm
and loss tangent 0.02) with total dimension of 130 mm 130
is 61.5 mm, while the radius of the
mm. The patch radius
semicircular slot is 48 mm. Note that the semicircular slot
is not exactly a halve-circular slot, whereby it is loaded 4 mm
away from the center of the patch. Located 5 mm beneath the
top circular patch is the horizontal section of the L-shaped probe
. Here, it is located 6 mm
with dimension
away from the center line ( -axis) of the circular patch. As for
the vertical section of this L-shaped probe with height 27 mm,
it is connected directly to a coaxial probe with distance 49 mm
away from the left side (along the -axis) of the bottom substrate. Notably, for ease of fabrication, this coaxial probe is fed

0018-926X/$31.00 2012 IEEE

SIM AND CHI: SLOT LOADED CIRCULARLY POLARIZED PATCH ANTENNA FOR UHF RFID READER

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the dynamic dielectric constant

constant
can be denoted as

. The equivalent dielectric

(4)
where
is the dielectric constant of the substrate. Notably, if
the air gap is removed,
will be equivalent to . The term
is a function of the dimensions and
, and it is
determined by calculating the quotient [14], [15]
(5)
where the total dynamic capacitance

is denoted as
(6)

Here,

is the dynamic capacitance (without edge field)

(7)

where
for
fringing capacitance,

, and

is the dynamic
(8)

for
. In this case, the term
and
where
is known as static capacitance (without edge field) and static
fringing capacitance, respectively, and they are expressed as
(9)
Fig. 1. Geometry of proposed antenna. Unit: mm.

and
through a bottom FR4 substrate (1.6 mm thickness) that is also
used as a ground plane (150 mm 150 mm) for this proposed
antenna.
The resonant frequency of a circular patch antenna is commonly given as
(1)

(10)
In this case, the term is evaluated due to the fringing fields
incurred around the edge of the circular patch capacitor, and for
brevity, it can be calculated by observing [14, eqs. (9)(14)].
By further applying this term into the physical radius of the
proposed circular patch antenna, the effective radius
can
be defined as
(11)

However, in this case, to account for the air gap (medium) below
the circular patch, the above formula is improved as [13], [14]
(2)
where
is the th zero of the derivative of the Bessel function of order , is the speed of light in free space, and
is
the effective radius of circular patch. Since the dominant mode
is
, thus, the value
. Here, the
equation for
is
(3)
where it is introduced to consider the effects of the equivalent
dielectric constant
below the patch which combines with

To validate these close form approximation formulae, the

basic parameters of the proposed antenna ( , ,
and )
are substituted into the equations, and the calculated values in
sequence are presented in Table I.
By substituting the final values of both (3) and (11) into (2),
the resonant frequency at the dominant mode
of the
proposed circular patch antenna with air gap is calculated approximately to be 924 MHz. By comparing this numerical calculation to the experimental and simulation results depicted in
Fig. 2(a), good agreement is demonstrated, which will be further discussed in Section III.
III. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The measured and simulated return losses of the proposed
antenna are depicted in Fig. 2(a). In this figure, 10-dB return
loss within the frequency range from 880 to 1100 MHz (22%) is
measured. Here, the two degenerated modes are 922 and 1044

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IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ANTENNAS AND PROPAGATION, VOL. 60, NO. 10, OCTOBER 2012

TABLE I
CALCULATED PROPERTIES

MHz (measured), while the simulated ones are 915 and 1031
GHz (simulated). By comparing the numerically calculated resonant frequency (924 MHz) to these two sets of results, it can
be observed that the numerically calculated resonant frequency
concurred with both simulated and measured results, since it lies
between the two degenerated modes. Thus, it can be concluded
that the close form approximation expressions for circular patch
with air gap studied in Section II can still be valid for L-shaped
probe-fed (instead of coaxial-fed).
The measured and simulated AR in the boresight direction
against frequency is presented in Fig. 2(b). Here, the CP bandwidth measured along the 3-dB AR is around 3.2%, ranging
from 901 to 930 MHz. Note that the minimum AR value (approximately 0.27 dB) is located at 914 MHz, which is also very
close to the numerically calculated resonant mode at 924 MHz.
The simulated and measured boresight gain level and efficiency
are illustrated in Fig. 2(c). In this figure, the proposed antenna
exhibits a measured gain level between 6.8 to 7.32 dBic over
the frequency range from 900 to 930 MHz, while a measured
efficiency between 87 to 94% is also exhibited. By comparing
the measured and simulated results (return loss, AR, gain, and
efficiency) as illustrated in Fig. 2, good validations are demonstrated between the two results.
Fig. 3 shows the normalized measured radiation patterns at
914 MHz in the two principal planes;
and
planes.
In this figure, good broadside patterns are exhibited with 3-dB
beamwidth of around 75 degrees. Furthermore, good front to
back (F/B) ratio of up to 20 dB is also demonstrated in the righthand CP (RHCP).

IV. PARAMETRIC STUDIES

To comprehend the effect of various parameters on the performance of the proposed antenna, parametric analyses on various
vital parameters are investigated via simulation. Here, the commercially available electromagnetic simulator Ansoft HFSS has
been used initially to identify the CP performance of the proposed antenna, when a semicircular slot as depicted in Fig. 1 is
loaded into the circular patch.

Fig. 2. Measured and simulated results of proposed antenna. (a) Return losses.
(b) AR. (c) Gain.

Fig. 3. Measured radiation patterns in two principal planes at 914 MHz.

A. Effects of Parameter
Fig. 4 shows the effects on the return loss and AR of the
proposed antenna when parameter is tuned. As depicted in
Fig. 4(b), it is learnt that a decreasing (from 64.5 to 58.5 mm)
will aids in achieving better CP performance (lower AR value)

SIM AND CHI: SLOT LOADED CIRCULARLY POLARIZED PATCH ANTENNA FOR UHF RFID READER

Fig. 4. Variation of circular patch radius

. (a) Return losses. (b) AR.

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Fig. 5. Variation of semicircular slot radius . (a) Return losses. (b) AR.

with increasing AR frequency. However, as shown in Fig. 4(a),

impedance mismatch is also observed when is reduced to 58.5
mm. Thus, the optimum dimension for is selected to be 61.5
mm. Nonetheless, the tuning of can allow the proposed antenna to operate in a wide range of CP frequency.
B. Effects of Parameter
Since the semicircular slot is vital to the excitation of the CP
radiation, thus, the effects of tuning is investigated. From the
return loss diagram depicted in Fig. 5(a), a diminishing resonant mode at around 915 MHz is observed with decreasing
(from 50 to 46 mm), while the resonant mode at 1031 MHz
remains undisturbed. By further observing the AR diagram in
Fig. 5(b), it is learnt that this diminishing 915 MHz mode (when
) has an adverse effect on the CP performance.
Thus, to further comprehend how these two degenerated modes
(at 915 and 1031 MHz) are affected by parameter , both the
simulated amplitude
and phase
diagrams
of the two orthogonal radiation fields
and
in the boresight
direction excited from these two modes are presented in Fig. 6.
It is first observed in Fig. 6(a) that a decrease in will aids in
reducing the difference in amplitude between
and
for frequency ranging from 890 to 950 MHz. However, in Fig. 6(b), it
is interesting to observe an increasing phase
with decreasing
, while phase
remains nearly constant. Thus, it can be concluded that tuning will affects phase , and then results in
affecting the AR (CP performance) at around 910 MHz.
By observing the optimum case in Fig. 5(b) whereby
(
at 910 MHz) and relating it to Fig. 6,
it is realized that both
and
crosses each other (both amplitudes are around 21.9 dBV) at 910 MHz, and their phase dif-

Fig. 6. Simulated radiation fields (

and
) in boresight direction when
tuning . (a) Amplitude diagram. (b) Phase diagram.

ference is approximately 84 . Note that similar phenomenon is

also observed when
(
at 896 MHz).

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IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ANTENNAS AND PROPAGATION, VOL. 60, NO. 10, OCTOBER 2012

Fig. 8. Measured maximum reading ranges for tag rotating in the

direction.

TABLE II
COMPARISON OF VARIOUS CP RFID READER ANTENNA

Fig. 7. Variation of L-shaped probe horizontal section length

losses and AR. (b) Input impedance (real and imaginary).

. (a) Return

Next, the case when

(
at 924 MHz)
is also investigated. By relating it to Fig. 6(b), a phase difference
of approximately 75 is observed in this case, which explains
the undesirable AR value at 924 MHz.
C. Effects of Parameter
Fig. 7(a) shows the effects on return losses and AR when the
length of the horizontal section of L-shaped probe is tuned. By
extending parameter from 49 to 59 mm, impedance mismatch
is observed, whereas a reduced from 49 to 39 mm will achieve
better impedance matching. Interestingly, only slight AR variation is observed when is tuned between 39 to 59 mm. Thus,
to further comprehend this effect, the real and imaginary part of
the input impedance is presented in Fig. 7(b). Here, it is obvious
that an extended will results in increasing the imaginary part
(inductive reactance) of the input impedance while reducing the
real part (resistance), and vice-versa.
From the above parametric studies, the following conclusion
is drawn: (i) wide range of CP operating frequency with good
AR can be achieved by tuning ; (ii) tuning can also aids in
tuning the CP frequency, but the range is limited; (iii) impedance
matching can be easily achieved by tuning with minor effects
on the CP performances (AR bandwidth).
V. READ-RANGE MEASUREMENT
To verify that the proposed antenna is indeed circularly polarized, the reading-range measurement was performed by rotating a common Alien squiggle tag along the direction as
depicted in Fig. 8. Here, the proposed antenna was attached
to a Favite RFID reader module (FS-GM201) with operating

Not available

frequency 902928 MHz and 30 dBm output power. From the

measured results, maximum reading-range (at boresight) in free
space is maintained between 3.133.33 meters at all angles.
VI. COMPARISON OF THE CP RFID READER ANTENNAS
The commercially available fixed RFID readers with CP
operating bandwidth at around the UHF band (902928 MHz)
are listed in Table II. Here, these antennas were designed and
manufactured by some of the most popular companies across
the RFID industry. By observing these antennas [16][21],
although their gains in comparison are higher than the proposed
antenna at 9 dBic, however, their sizes are almost twice of
the proposed one, and they have also exhibited lower 3-dB
beam width. Notably, two antennas [22], [23] with small size
of around
are also available
commercially, however, they are achieved in the expense of
lower gain between 5.5 and 6.5 dBic. Furthermore, since the
antenna designs and the material (substrate) used in [22], [23]
are unknown, thus, it can be suspected that the small size effect
could be due to the use of ceramic or other higher substrate
material [6], which in turn will led to higher manufacturing
cost. In comparison, the proposed antenna in this investigation
is simply fabricated by using low cost FR4 substrate.

SIM AND CHI: SLOT LOADED CIRCULARLY POLARIZED PATCH ANTENNA FOR UHF RFID READER

VII. CONCLUSION
A slot loaded circular patch antenna with CP radiation has
been successfully performed both numerically and experimentally. By applying the L-shaped probe-fed technique into this
circular patch, good CP bandwidth and impedance bandwidth
can be acquired. Since this proposed antenna is simple to fabricate and its total dimension is only
,
thus, it is a potential candidate for fixed UHF RFID reader applications applied to both indoor and outdoor environment that
operates in the RFID UHF band 902928 MHz.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors would like to thank C.-C. Chen for his aid in the
accomplishment of this antenna.
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[13] F. Abboud, J. P. Damiano, and A. Papiernik, A new model for calculating the input impedance of coax-fed circular microstrip antennas
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[16] Alien/ALR-9611-CR [Online]. Available: http://www.rfidsupplychain.
com/-strse-13/Alien-915-MHz-Circular/Detail.bok
[17] Motorola/Ant-71721-01 [Online]. Available: http://www.atlasrfidstore.com/Motorola_General_Purpose_Indoor_Outdoor_A_p/ant71721-01.htm
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catalog/specsheets/V740-HS01C.pdf
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com/arcadianinc/files/datasheets/4122.pdf
Chow-Yen-Desmond Sim (M07) was born in Singapore, on February 26, 1971. In 1998, he received
the B.Sc. degree from the Engineering Department
(Electrical and Electronics) from the University of
Leicester, Leicester, U.K. He earned a fee waiver
Ph.D. scholarship in 1999 from the Radio System
Group, Engineering Department, at University of
Leicester, and graduated in July, 2003.
From August 2003 to July 2007, he was with
the Department of Computer and Communication
Engineering, Chienkuo Technology University,
Chang-Hua, Taiwan, China, as an Assistant Professor. In July 2007, he joined
the Department of Electrical Engineering, Feng Chia University, Taichung,
Taiwan as an Associate Professor. He is the author or coauthor of over 50 SCI
journal papers. His current research interests are in antenna design, VHF/UHF
tropospheric propagation and RFID applications.
He is a member of the IEEE Antennas and Propagation Society and a lifemember of Institute of Antenna Engineers of Taiwan (IAET).

Chin-Jen Chi was born in Taichung, Taiwan, on October 24, 1988. In June 2011, he received the B.S. degree from the Department of Electrical Engineering
at Feng Chia University, Taiwan, China, where he is
currently working towards the M.S. degree.
He is a member of the Antenna and Propagation
Laboratory, Department of Electrical Engineering at
Feng Chia University, Taiwan, China. His current research interests are in array antenna design, and RFID
reader antenna design.