Design & Development of Low Cost UHF RFID Reader

Design & Development of Low Cost UHF RFID Reader

Lalit Kumar, Chandan Maity, Arivendu Bhardwaj, Adarsh Pillai, H.P. Srivastava,
Rakesh Kumar

Abstract : This paper describes the design & development of low cost Ultra High
Frequency (UHF) RFID Reader. It consists of three different modules Power
supply, Microcontroller and Transceiver. The transceiver module uses the UHF
RFID reader chip to interface with microcontroller module and power
amplification module.

Keywords: RFID - Radio Frequency Identification.

1. Introduction

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) is an auto-ID technology that identifies any object
that contains a coded tag. A UHF RFID system consists of a reader ( or interrogator) that
transmits information to a tag by modulating an RF signals in the 860MHz-960MHz
frequency range [1]. UHF RFID readers are becoming more highly integrated and
innovative. Reader integrated circuits (ICs) have come to lead the market for UHF RFID,
enabling these technologies to be integrated into smaller, more power-efficient devices [3].
The EPC global Gen 2 passive UHF RFID standard has proved to be functional and robust
[2]. Department of Information Technology (DIT), Government of India, has sponsored a
project titled “National RFID Programme”, to popularize the use of RFID technology in
different applications areas in the country. This is a multi-institution project involving
CDAC, Noida, IIT Kanpur and SAMEER, Mumbai. The current project on development of
the reader was undertaken as part of this. The remaining sections of this paper are
organized as follows. Section 2 gives the detailed description of the UHF RFID reader.
Section 3 gives the system interfaces to the external world and how it works in a network.
Section 4 gives the costing aspects of the system being developed. Section 5 gives the
performance of the reader. Section 6 gives the conclusion.

2. Block Level Description Of System Developed

The low cost UHF RFID reader is designed using high speed ICs, RFID chip, passive and
active electronics components. A 32 bit microcontroller is used to control reader functions
like reading, writing of tags, adjust power gain etc [3]. UHF RFID reader is planned with
three modules viz. Power supply, Microcontroller and Transceiver. These are designed and
developed from initial stage i.e. from drawing schematics of circuit and development of
Gerber data using art work generation then PCB fabrication and assembly of electronics
components and then finally burning the software and integration. The modules are further
described as follows.

2.1 Power Supply Module

The module (Figure 1) will act as a power supply unit for the reader as a whole. The
specific voltages used in this whole design are 1.8V, 3.3V and 5V. The power supply
required to drive the ARM core and R1000 board is less than 2.2W. Power supply module
generates the various voltage nodes according to the board requirement of 3.3V, 1.8 V
Proceedings of ASCNT – 2009, CDAC, Noida, India, pp. 215 – 222
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(figure 2). All the boards( MCU board, Transceiver board) normally need the voltage level
of 1.8 and 3.3V DC.

Fig.1. Power supply module

Fig.2. Block diagram of power supply module

Only the receiver section of R1000 chip needs 5V DC to drive high gain internal amplifier
which has receiving sensitivity of arround -90 dBm.

2.2 Transceiver Module

The module (Figure 3) is the heart of the system with major components as INTEL R1000
chip, Balun and Dielectric Band Pass Filter. Antenna Ports for transmission and reception
of signals are available on this module. The R1000 chip is the master chip
for UHF RFID reader.

Fig.3. Transceiver Module

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Fig.4. Block diagram of transceiver module

It has a analog processing unit for analog RF front-end tightly coupled with digital back-
end for host connectivity (Figure 4). Digital configurable registers control the R1000 chip
to operate in various architecture of UHF protocol. R1000 incorporates the complete
transmit, receive, modulation, demodulation and baseband functions into one chip.

2.3 Microcontroller Module

A microcontroller contains a processor core, memory, and programmable input/output
peripherals.
32 Bit Microcontroller

Fig.5. Block diagram of microcontroller module

This has ATMEL’s AT91SAM7S256 with ARM7 core as microcontroller. It will support
the total firmware of the system which includes the Boot up, the mode of work of the
reader, configuration setting of the registers etc.MCU board is the heart of the reader. It
controls the R1000 based transceiver board. All the data and commands are being sent and
received through 20 MHz SPI buss. The EPC-C1G2/ISO 16k6c protocol stack runs at the
ARM7 core which is basically the AT91SAM7S256, the ARM7 product of Atmel. The
MCU board behaves like an interfacing buffer between R1000 chip and host (normally the
PC).

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2.4 UHF RFID Reader Prototype

The product (Figure 6) is a UHF RFID Reader which is an integrated solution of RFID
based hardware and firmware. UHF RFID Reader will read UHF EPC C1G2 RFID tags
with the help of UHF antennas. This reader is based on UHF R1000 chip which is
controlled by 32 bit Atmel microcontroller. Reader has 15000 6C protocol stack. This
product is a high end low cost solution for UHF RFID reader.

Fig.6. UHF RFID Reader prototype

3. System Interfaces

The core of the reader is the Intel R1000 UHF transceiver chip. The radio chip supports
multiple antenna ports, which can be used in monostatic or bistatic mode. The firmware of
this reader consists of the ARM based microprocessor, communicating with the radio
through a firmware interface (APIs). The underlying hardware interface between the reader
chip and ARM is based on SPI protocol. The host or the development platform can
communicate with system, trough USB or JTAG interface.

3.1 Device Physical layer Interface

The RFID reader consist of three modules which are interconnected (Figure 7). The MCU
board consists of the ARM7 microcontroller unit which always behaves as slave for
upstream interfaces like PC or other controlling unit and it behaves as master for the R1000
radio chip. Presently the upstream interfaces are RS232 or USB.

Fig.7. Physical Layer Interface

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The design of RFID reader board is enables it to be used either as a very small device like
handheld UHF RFID reader or as a standalone smart reader. To make the intelligent reader
it has been planned to incorporate another 32 bit processor (Figure 8) which will store and
run an operating system and will control the UHF reader board and will have a lots of
physical layer interface facility.

Fig.8. Intelligent Reader with another 32 bit Processor.

3.2 Software Interface Across Different Layers

The firmware binaries for the Intel R1000 based, UHF RFID Transceiver, run on the ARM
based firmware controller (Figure 9). For the user space applications to communicate with
the firmware, there is a thin firmware interface layer, that has the required API’s and
libraries specific to the R1000’s firmware. This interface layer enables the applications to
be portable across IA32 and IXP465 platforms based either on Windows XP or Linux, as
to port applications -coded in C language- across IA32 and IXP465 platforms, only the
firmware interface libraries need to be cross compiled, and there is no need to rewrite the
applications for different platforms.

Fig.9. Functional flow across different software layers

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4. Costing Aspects

Tables 1,2 and 3 shows the development cost of each module viz. Power supply board,
Microcontroller board and Transceiver Board respectively.

4.1 Power Supply Board

Table1. Development Cost of Power Supply Board
S.N. Name of Main Components Amount in
Rs.
1. Regulators(3x50) 150
2. PCB & Assembling 700
3. Misc 500
Total Cost Rs. 1350

4.2 Microcontroller Board

Table2. Development Cost of Microcontroller Board
S.N. Name of Main Components Amount in
Rs.
1. MCU 1000
2. Temp Sensor 100
3. MOSFET 100
4. Misc 2500
5. PCB & Assembling 700
Total Cost Rs 4400

4.3 Transceiver Board

Table3. Development Cost of Transceiver Board
S.N. Name of Main Components Amount in
Rs.
1. R1000 2800
2. Coupler 1200
3. Baluns 200
4. SMA_Plug 100
5. Oscillator 600
6. PCB & Assembling 700
7. Misc 5900
Total Cost Rs 11500

4.4 Other expenses

Other expenses include single time PCB design(stencil), shipping charges of components
and metallic or PVC Box fabrication to shield the reader and label etc. Total Cost Rs.
3800/- (Approximate)

4.5 Total cost of the Reader

The expected cost of complete reader will be approximately Rs. 21050 which will be
facilitated with all the features comparable with any standard available reader. The
development cost of amplifier circuit is not included.

5. Performance of the Reader

The major hurdle of the UHF RFID reader development is the protocol stack for ISO/EPC
standard. In the prototype model the EPC-C1G2/ ISO180006C has been implemented and

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the reader is communicating with tag fairly with a distance of 5-6 cm. The Power amplifier
module has to be added with the base model to get the maximum allowable output power
and corresponding large distance. The output power of 30 dBm with 6 dBi antenna and the
receiver sensitivity of -90dBm will make the reader to compare with any highly standard
reader.

6. Conclusion

By developing Intel R1000 based UHF RFID reader, we are providing alternate to the
existing high cost UHF RFID reader. This product will drastically reduce the total cost of
the existing RFID readers.

Acknowledgement

This paper is the result of research efforts for the Development of a Low Cost UHF RFID
reader as a sub project under the National RFID Programme which is sponsored and
funded by the Department of Information Technology (DIT), Government of India and
CDAC, Noida. The author expresses his gratitude to the DIT, Government of India and
CDAC management committee for giving the opportunity to work on this project.

References

[1] Secrets of RF circuit Design By Joseph J. Carr, Tata McGraw-Hill

[2] RFID Essentials By Bill Glover & Himanshu Bhatt O’Reilly
[3] www.intel.com/products/embedded/rfid

About Authors

Mr. Lalit Kumar received his Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science &
Engineering, from KIET Ghaziabad, Dr. B R Ambedkar University,
Agra, UP, India. He joined BEL Ghaziabad in 2004 and worked on
EMCCA and CAIO Projects and Battlefield Surveillance System
Project in Central Research Lab. He joined CDAC NOIDA in 2005,
and presently working here in R&D as a Project Engineer in Embedded
Systems Lab. He has worked on Design and Development (core level )
of small Linux Operating system for Browser Based Digital Set Top
Box and Linux internals. He is presently working as a team leader in the
UHF RFID domain and developed low cost UHF RFID Reader. His
areas of interest include Embedded Linux and kernel internals.
Mr. Chandan Maity received BE degree in Electrical Engineering from
the Burdwan University, WB, India. Presently he is a research Fellow in
CDAC, Noida, India in Embedded system dept. He served as executive
electrical engineer in wartsila india Ltd., as Research associate in IIT
Kanpur, India. He took the responsibility as R&D and technical head in
Iaito Infotech Pvt. Ltd, Kanpur, India. His interests cover the domain of
RFID, GSM, AI, Sensor Network, Mobile computing, Ubiquitous
system.

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Mr. Arivendu Bhardwaj received his Bachelor’s degree in Electronics

and Communication, from Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra, and
P.G Diploma in Embedded Systems and VLSI Design, from CDAC
NOIDA. He joined CDAC NOIDA in 2005, and presently working here
as a Project Engineer, in Embedded Systems Lab. He has worked on
system programming for 8/16 bit micro controllers, GSM/GPRS engine,
IP Set top Box and Linux internals. He is presently working in the UHF
RFID domain, involving single chip RFID Radio and ARM firmware
controller. His areas of interest include ARM architecture, Linux kernel
internals and inter chip communication protocols.
Mr. Adarsh Pillai received his Bachelors of Engineering in Electronics
and Communication from Maharishi Dayanand University, Rohtak,
India in 2004 and Post Graduation in Embedded and VLSI Design from
C-DAC, Noida in 2006. Presently he is working as Project Engineer in
Ubiquitous computing Group at C-DAC, Noida. He has worked with
Reliance Communications, Noida as Deployment Engineer in Fixed
Access Team. His main interest covers working on EDA tools,
Embedded C programming and Linux Internals.
Mr. H P Srivastava received his two years Diploma in Electronics. He
joined C-DAC Noida in 1994. He is presently working as Sr. Technical
Assistant in Ubiquitous Computing group at C-DAC, Noida. He has
been involved in various projects like cable modem, uninterrupted
power supply and Set Top Box etc. and he involved in designing the
PCB of UHF RFID Reader. His area of interest covers the multilayer
PCB Layout design using EDA tools.
Mr. Rakesh Kumar received his A.M.I.E Degree in Electronics &
Communication Engineering from The Institution of Engineers (India).
He joined C-DAC, Noida in Jan 2007.Presently he is working as
Contract Engineer(II) in the Ubiquitous Computing Group. He has been
involved in various projects of R&D. Previously he was involved in
numerous fields like Microprocessor, Analog & Digital Electronics,
Power Electronics, Microwave, Optical Fiber Communication and
Analog & Digital Communication. His area of interest covers RFID
technology and PCB Designing using EDA tools.

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