Design of the Antenna Embedded in Handheld Reader for RFID

A compact reader PIFA antenna for 2.4 GHz radio frequency identification (RFID) near-field applications is presented in this letter. This antenna with a small dimension of only 40(L)×16(W)×6(H) mm^3 embedded inside a handheld reader consists of a radiating patch, a shorting wall and a pair of shorting strips. By using a thin slot etched on the radiator to generate uniform and strong electric field distributions in the near-zone region around the antenna. Therefore, the dipole-like tags can be identified in the near-zone through the capacitive coupling. The experiments on tag reading with a commercial RFID reader have been performed, which exhibit satisfactory results for the antenna. Also, the antenna's resonance can be also optimized by tuning the slot. Simulated and measured results are performed and discussed.