UHF RFID Temperature Sensor Tag Integrated into a Textile Yarn.

Area of Science:

• Textile Engineering
• Sensor Technology
• Radio Frequency Identification (RFID)

Background:

• Traditional temperature sensors can be bulky and require complex integration.
• There is a need for integrated, low-profile sensing solutions in textiles.
• Existing RFID tags lack integrated sensing capabilities for environmental parameters.

Purpose of the Study:

• To design and develop an ultra-high-frequency (UHF) RFID sensor tag integrated into textile yarn.
• To enable temperature detection using impedance matching variations within the RFID tag.
• To implement an environment-independent sensing approach avoiding pre-calibration.

Main Methods:

• Integration of a thermistor into an RFID sensor tag manufactured using E-Thread® technology.
• Utilizing changes in antenna-chip impedance matching due to thermistor resistance variation.
• Employing a differential measurement approach with a reference tag for calibration-free operation.

Main Results:

• Successful demonstration of a UHF RFID sensor tag embedded in textile yarn.
• The sensor accurately detects temperature variations between 25 °C and 70 °C.
• Temperature detection is achieved by measuring the variation in transmitted differential activation power.

Conclusions:

• The developed textile-integrated RFID sensor offers a novel solution for temperature monitoring in smart textiles.
• The differential approach ensures reliable and calibration-free temperature sensing.
• This technology has potential applications in various fields requiring embedded environmental sensing.