Test & Measurement

Evaluating and optimizing RFID and NFC systems using real-time spectrum analysis
Developing systems based on increasingly complex RFID technology, as well as achieving compliance with RFID regulations, requires advanced instrumentation. One instrument, the real-time spectrum analyzer, is particularly useful.
By Darren McCarthy

he evolution of radio frequency identication (RFID) technologies is transpiring at a frenzied pace. RFID is also associated with the term near eld communications (NFC) on mobile appliances such as cell phones, new appliances and utilities in a range of industries that continue to emerge. These include commercial applications, such as automated inventory control and ticketless entry; agricultural applications, with electronic tracking of livestock and food; and transport applications, such as automated toll collection, airline baggage tracking, tire pressure monitoring systems (TPMS) and vehicle management systems like real-time locations systems (RTLS). The latest RFID technologies are yielding larger memory capacities for extended article identication, wider frequency reading ranges to adapt to dynamic RF environments and faster processing to improve system throughput. Over time, tags are becoming lighter, smaller, cheaper and able to hold more informationin many cases, personal information. Instead of a simple one or zero or an ON or OFF signal for theft-deterrent systems like electronic article surveillance (EAS), tags will send user name, account number and billing information for secure banking applications. This ability to transmit personal data wirelessly is bringing to the forefront the most important issues RFID manufacturers will face: information privacy, security and communication assurance. As the future unfolds, RFID manufacturers will be tasked with rigid adherence to regulations and standards to meet interoperability, privacy and security mandates. In fact, key technical issues are already impacting the deployment of RFID systems, namely interoperability, radiated emissions conformance and assurance of operations in a complex RF environment.

Figure 1. RTSA shows a multidomain view of RFID system interaction.

To assure the operation of the installed system, the physics involved with setting up and maintaining the tag and reader system in a complex RF operating environment must be considered. Consideration of interference signals, tag read times, speed of the tagged article through the reading system, the number of tags read at a time, the RF frequency and propagation characteristics of the material and environment are all important factors in determining the appropriate tag and reader system. To confront these challenges, RFID engineers must have the ability to characterize and troubleshoot their increasingly complex, transient RF systems in accordance with RF standards and regulations. Of course, they must also meet the tight time-to-market deadlines required by a progressively demanding and competitive market. Real-time spectral analysis can be a valuable aid for efciently evaluating an RFID systems compliance to ISO/IEC standards, as well as government regulations regarding intentional transmitters. While an oscilloscope is a useful bench tool in RFID applications, a real-time spectrum analyzer (RTSA) is optimized for the types of RF measurements required for conformance testing and optimization of RFID systems. For example, an RTSA offers the advantage of a signicant increase in dynamic range and record length of tag/reader interaction when compared to the use of an oscilloscope. This is important in RFID testing because the response from the tag is often at the same frequency as the reader but at a signicantly lower power level (on the order of 50 dB to 80 dB depending on tag type, distance and RF propagation characteristics). The RTSA allows a user to see a complete time record of reader and tag interaction using an over-the-air trigger, memory capture and demodulation of analog and digital signals. It is able to capture, measure and display RFID system interactions in multiple domains, including frequency vs. time (spectrogram), time (pulse response) and demodulation. Previously, the ability to view and analyze a signal in these various domains required the use of an oscilloscope, swept spectrum analyzer and vector signal analyzer. The RSA3408A from Tektronix can instantaneously capture 36 MHz of spectrum. This will enable the entire hopping range of the tag/reader system to be analyzed for proper operation. The RTSA records more than one second of data (increased as analysis bandwidth is reduced) to capture the entire tag/reader interactions to be recorded especially during a multitag environment where collisions require multiple transmit/receive events. Detailed analysis of timing events with a 20 ns timing resolution enables precise system performance characteristics to be validated. Once captured in memory, the data can be analyzed in multiple domains including frequency, frequency over time for hopping signals, power over time for pulsed signals, modulation and more (Figure 1). These capabilities render the RTSA an optimal instrument for measuring and analyzing collision, modulation rate and quality, frequency deviation, occupied bandwidth, transmission spurious emissions and eld strength of RFID systems.

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Subcarrier 212 kHz

Data stream baseband coded

ASK- Modulation 1

Modulated subcarrier

ASK- Modulation 2 = Load modulation

Carrier signal 13.56 MHz

Load modulated signal with subcarrier

Figure 3. Demodulation of BPSK subcarrier signal that shows power vs. time (bottom), frequency vs. time (upper left), demodulated symbol table (upper right).

Figure 2. Load modulation diagram.

Collision

The RTSA offers the ability to store signals to internal memory for post-capture analysis. This can be useful for measuring interactions between multiple tags to verify collision management. ISO/IEC 18000-3 section 6.2.7.9 calls for reading 500 tags within 390 ms. It also calls for reading 50 words of data within 930 ms from static tags and 944 ms from active tags. If only using a PC to time stamp the interactions and test for compliance, there is no way to know why the interaction takes so long, which particular tag is being problematic or at what point a collision is occurring. However, by using a RTSA

and monitoring the over-the-air interface during polling, it is possible to troubleshoot when a collision occurs and determine the cause. The basis of a collision may be interference, faulty tag or hopping pattern error, to name a few. The RTSA can be valuable in maximizing system performance in a competitive market. Turn around time (TAT) is often a benchmark for system throughput and capacity. Overall capacity can be increased making it appealing for high-volume applications. For these complex environments using multiple tags, the RTSA allows a user to set up a record length of seconds, minutes or even hours, depending on the frequency span. In instances where frequency hopping is used, the RTSA can seamlessly capture and record signals in a 36 MHz bandwidth, allowing the RFID hopping sequence to be viewed and

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analyzed. The RTSA then displays the tag/ reader interactions. If desired, no trigger event need occur; the RTSA will gather data without any time gaps in a free run mode for the length of the time record set by the user.

Modulation rate and quality

The RTSA permits measurement and analysis of interrogator and transponder modulation rate and quality. The modulation used in RFID (as dened by ISO/IEC 18000-3) is ASK (either 10% or 100%) for the downlink (reader

to tag) and load modulation for the uplink with a rate dened as a division of the carrier. As illustrated in Figure 2, the load modulation produces subcarriers, which use binary phase shift keying (BPSK) modulation. Future development of RFID devices will include more complex modulation to enable more information to be transmitted. The RTSA offers the ability to demodulate complex digital signals such as BPSK, QPSK, GMSK and QAM. It is possible to simultaneously view three domains (constellation, frequency,

time or spectogram), as well as display signal quality measurements, such as EVM, frequency error or symbol data (Figure 3).

Bending tags or placing them in close proximity to conductive objects and other tags can detune the tag antenna, prevent them from going into resonance and render them inoperative or signicantly reduce their operating range. RFID systems must also operate within a specied bandwidth to prevent interference with other signals. For these reasons, frequency deviation and occupied bandwidth measurements are critical to ensuring compliance with RFID and transmitter standards. The RTSA can make extremely accurate frequency and bandwidth measurements with a resolution of 1 Hz. For example, frequency accuracy for a 13.56 MHz RFID interrogator is typically specied at 7 kHz. By enabling the carrier frequency feature found on the RTSA, a user can scroll through the captured reader/tag interaction and measure to an accuracy of 4 Hz. Figure 4 shows the occupied bandwidth capability of the RTSA.

Frequency deviation and occupied bandwidth

RFID readers and tags are intentional transmitters that fall under regional regulations, such as FCC 47 Part 15 in the United States, EN 300 330 in Europe and ARIB STDT60/ T-82 in Japan. As RFID heads toward global acceptance, the most stringent of these regulations will apply. Also under close scrutiny is the effect of human exposure to RFID electromagnetic elds as spelled out in documents such as IEEE C.95-1 and EN50364. Various regulations will define limits in different units. The power ux density S [mW/cm2], electric eld strength E [V/m] and magnetic eld strength H [A/m] are interchangeable according to the equation below. S = E2 / (3700) = (37.7) H2 By use of a directional antenna (and, in some cases, a pre-amplier), effective isotropic radiated power (EIRP) and eld-strength measurements can be made with a RTSA. A frequency mask trigger found in newer RTSAs allows a user to create a pass/fail mask by using the mouse to draw the allowable EIRP parameters (Figure 5). The RFID and NFC industries encompass a broad array of technologies and applications. From low frequency to high frequency, to ultrahigh frequency and up to microwave frequencies, the tag and reader systems are selected for environmental considerations, system capacity and function. These often must

Interrogator transmission spurious emissions and eld strength

The RTSA suits RFID

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Figure 4. A reader signal being measured for compliance with ISO/IEC 18000-6, which allows 423.75 kHz 40 kHz for a single subcarrier modulated signal.

Figure 5. When violated (as shown here), a RTSAs frequency mask trigger can capture and store the spectral data.

share the same frequency allocations of other communications systems and interoperate with other tag/reader systems in the same frequency. Whether developing a tag and reader system to optimize performance in the lab, performing testing during manufacturing or diagnosing the system installation and operating in situ, the RTSA delivers advantages to designers working with RFID signals of all kinds. With the rst comprehensive RFID analysis software package, the real-time spectrum analyzer supports a variety of international RFID and NFC standards. Only the RTSA offers the over-the-air triggering, memory storage and analysis features to help designers understand the range of RFID interrogator and transponder behavior. Perhaps most important, the RTSA is the solution that can and will evolve with emerging trends in RFID design. RFD

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Darren McCarthy is a market development manager for RF Test at Tektronix. He has worked in test and measurement positions for the last 17 years, including R&D engineer, R&D management, product planning and business development. Much of his career has been focused on the development and applications of signal surveillance, monitoring and analysis for commercial and defense electronics applications. He has represented the United States on IEC technical committees for international EMC standards. He holds a BSEE from Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill.

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