A Low-Profile Dipole RFID Tag Antenna with
Lateral Omni-Directional Radiation Properties for
Cold-Chain Logistics Applications
Keng-Hsien Chen, Jui-Hsien Yen, Jenn-Hwan Tarng
Institute of Communications Engineering
National Chiao Tung University
Hsinchu City 300, Taiwan, R.O.C.
Kenghsienchen.cm99g@nctu.edu.tw,
a2357945.cm01g@nctu.edu.tw, j4t@mail.nctu.edu.tw
Abstract—In this paper, a low-profile dipole RFID tag antenna
with a lateral omni-directional pattern is presented. The
proposed low-profile antenna can be easily integrated into a size-
limited RFID module. To achieve the lateral omni-directional
pattern, two shorting pins are added in this antenna structure,
which performs better in stacking environments. Therefore, the
proposed antenna is suitable for cold-chain logistics applications.
I. INTRODUCTION
The Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) system of
Ultra High Frequency (UHF) bands from 860 MHz to 960
MHz has drawn much attention for applications in medical
cares, industrial services, purchasing systems, animal tracking
and logistics.
The RFID system generally consists of the readers and
tags. A tag is comprised of an RFID chip and a tag antenna.
The tag antenna is the key factor which determines the read
range of the RFID system. In Taiwan, UHF RFID systems are
required to operate in the 922-928 MHz frequency band. In
practice, most RFID tags use dipole-like antennas due to their
simple structures and omni-directional properties [1]–[2].
However, the input impedance and antenna gain of the dipole-
like tag antennas are easily affected by adjacent objects. In
many applications, RFID tags have to be attached to various
objects of different materials or have to be integrated into a
wireless module with closely packed electrical circuits.
Therefore, to reduce the effects of the materials on the RFID
tag antennas, several methods have been proposed, such as
grounding the inserted patch and slotting in a miniaturized via-
patch loaded dual layer RFID tag antenna [3], incorporating an
artificial magnetic conductor with a printed meander
monopole tag antenna [4], using a high-permittivity ceramic
Barium Titanate substrate to form a small slot antenna [5],
applying a proximity-couple feed to a radiating patch [6], etc..
In cold-chain logistics applications, a bulk of thermos
boxes are stacked closely in a cargo container and each box
has an RFID module attached on the surface of the box for
monitoring temperature inside the box. However, the radiation
of the ordinary tag antennas is broadside to the surface of the
978-1-4799-3540-6/14/$31.00 ©2014 IEEE
Chang-Fa Yang
Department of Electrical Engineering
National Taiwan University of Science and Technology
Taipei City 106, Taiwan, R.O.C.
cyang@mail.ntust.edu.tw
Fig. 1. Geometry and dimensions of the proposed antenna. All
dimensions are in mm. (L1=55, W1=46.5, H1=4.6, H2=1.2,
R1=13, W3=17, L3=4, L4=1, L5=58, W4=52.5, L6=6, W5=10,
L7=2, W6=7, L8=1, W7=4, L9=3, W8=1.4, L10=2, W9=16,
L11=4.)
box and the antenna will be seriously affected by an adjacent
box right in front of the RFID module. This phenomenon
degrades significantly the read range in the stacking
environment.
II. ANTENNA DESIGN
To solve the above problem, the tag antenna is designed to
have a lateral omni-directional radiation pattern to launch
waves along the gaps of the stacking boxes in this paper. Thus,
a low-profile dipole RFID tag antenna with lateral omni-
directional radiation properties is proposed here, as shown in
Fig. 1. Resonant currents are distributed on the shorting pins,
top and bottom layers to act as a hat-loaded short dipole
embedded with the RFID module, which results in lateral
omni-directional radiations with respect to the surface of the
box mounting the module. The proposed antenna is designed
as a three-layer structure with the FR4 substrates of 0.8 mm
thick on the top and bottom, and 1 mm thick in the middle. The
RFID chip is in the middle layer together with other circuits for
the module. However, the top and bottom layers of the
proposed antenna can be part of the module enclosure for an
embedded design.
This antenna has been integrated with an RFID chip
(EM4325) [7] having an input impendence of 7.6-j114 Ω at
925 MHz. The shorting pins of the antenna are inductively
1522 AP-S 2014
 0

S im .
-1 0 M ea.
S11 (dB)

-2 0
Fig. 4. Simulated current distribution of the proposed antenna
at 925 MHz.
-3 0
860 880 900 920 940 960 980 1000 Z
F re q u e n c y (M H z )

Fig. 2. Simulated and measured S11 of the proposed antenna.

400
M ea.
M ea.
(R e )
(Im ) X Y
S im . (R e ) Fig. 5. Simulated 3D radiation pattern of the proposed antenna
Impedance(Ω)

S im . ( Im )
200
at 925 MHz.

0
IV. CONCLUSION
-2 0 0
A novel design of the low-profile dipole RFID tag antenna
860 880 900 920 940 960 980 1000 with a lateral omni-directional pattern for cold-chain logistics
F re q u e n c y (M H z )
Fig. 3. Simulated and measured input impedance of the applications has been presented. The proposed antenna
proposed antenna. structure can be part of the module enclosure for an embedded
design and easily integrated into a size-limited RFID module.
excited to compensate the high capacitance of the chip and the This antenna design is verified by simulations and
hat-loaded dipole. The inductive loading variation can be measurements. Good agreements have been obtained. With the
adjusted by varying the length of the L-shaped slots to have a lateral omni-directional pattern, the proposed antenna performs
conjugate match to the chip impedance for improving power better in stacking environments and is suitable for the logistics
transfer. applications.

III. RESULTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Fig. 2 and Fig. 3 show the simulated and measured We are grateful to the National Center for High
reflection coefficients and input impedances of the proposed Performance Computing for computer time and facilities. This
antenna, respectively. The simulated and measured results work was supported by the National Science Council, R.O.C.,
reveal good agreements. The proposed antenna is connected to under Grant NSC-101-2221-E-009-094-MY2, and the Ministry
two ports of the vector network analyzer E8364B through a of Economic Affairs, R.O.C., Taiwan under Grant 102-EC-17-
balanced test fixture. The input impedance is characterized by A-01-S1-180.
the methodology described in [8]. Also, Fig. 4 shows the
simulated currents at 925 MHz, which are distributed over the REFERENCES
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