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EFFECT OF CONDUCTIVE MATERIAL IN OBJECTS ON
IDENTIFICATION WITH PASSIVE RFID TECHNOLOGY: A CASE
STUDY OF CIGARETTE CARTONS

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Leena Ukkonen , Mikael Soini , Daniel Engels , Lauri Sydanheimo 1 and Markku Kivikoski 1
'Tampere University of Technology, Institute of Electronics, Rauma Research Unit,
Kalliokatu 2, FI-26100 Rauma, Finland
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Auto-ID Labs,
77 Massachusetts Avenue, Bldg. 35-205, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA

ABSTRACT
This paper presents a comparison of the performances of two different passive tag antenna designs
attached to cigarette cartons. The aluminium foil in the cigarette packs makes the identification of
cigarette cartons difficult using passive RFID technology. Therefore, a novel microstrip patch-type tag
antenna for passive RFID of cigarette cartons was designed. The performance of the novel tag antenna
is compared to the performance of a label-fabricated folded dipole-type tag antenna. The maximum
read ranges of a single tagged carton and two tagged cartons are measured and compared. The effect
of the aluminium foil in the cigarette packs is studied by carrying the measurements out also using
cigarette packs without the foils and an empty carton. The novel tag antenna performed superior to the
folded dipole tag antenna on full cartons of cigarettes.

KEYWORDS
Automation, Communication system, Information equipment, Information storage, Measurement

T. INTRODUCTION

The increasing use of passive radio frequency identification (RFID) systems at ultra-high frequency
(UHF) spectrum requires finding solutions for RFID tags to be attached to different products and
packages (Foster & Burberry, 1999). RFID is being adopted for a wide range of applications, such as
applications within the supply chain, like tracing pallets, cases and individual products (Raza et al.,
1999, Glidden et al., 2004). Other emerging applications of RFID are identification of paper rolls and
numerous applications in health care industry (Raza et al., 1999). RFID system consists of a reader
unit, reader antenna, host computer and a transponder (i.e. tag). A tag contains a microchip and an
antenna. The microchip stores the identification data of the tag. Passive RFID tags have no internal
source of energy and thereby they get all the energy for functioning from the electromagnetic field
sent by the reader. Communication between the tag and the reader is based on backscattering: reader