The present invention relates generally to temperature measurement.
In particular, the method relates to temperature measurement with RFID technology.
Existing sensor tags are expensive custom ICs, manufactured in limited quantity, and require specific commands and readers.
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a new method for temperature measurement.
This invention describes how a standard RFID tag can be used to measure the environment temperature remotely, without specific command or custom tag. The principle is demonstrated with the Gen2 EPC protocol, but can be applied to other tags containing on-chip oscillators. The measurement is based on the variation of frequency of the tag internal oscillator, and the preamble of the transmission EPC protocol.
According to an aspect of the invention, the frequency variation is determined by a RFID reader device 2 by varying the transmission timing sequence TRcal, 3.
More specifically, the method according to the invention is characterized by what is stated in the characterizing portion of claim 1.
For its part, the use according to the invention is characterized by what is stated in claims 8-12.
Considerable advantages are gained with the aid of the invention.
The invention also has several embodiments that may provide certain advantages over the previously known temperature measurement methods.
According to an embodiment invention can be used by reader manufacturer to add the temperature sensor functionality to their system, with cheap, widely available, standard tags.
This invention does not need specific hardware on the tag and does not increase the power consumption, thus the reading distance remains identical. Each tag can be calibrated and the data stored in the tag memory itself.
Compared to existing RFID sensor tags, the solution described in this invention uses standard tags, widely available for a fraction of the price of proprietary tags. The principle is simple to implement in the reader software. The temperature sensing functionality does not increase the power consumption, so the same reading range is available for the measure (typically up to 10 meters). The required calibration information can be stored in the tag memory itself.
In several cases, a direct measurement of a quantity can be converted into a temperature measurement, e.g., the opacity of the liquid prevent light from penetrating through the liquid and the temperature of the illuminated tag will be reduced. By measuring the tag temperature, the liquid opacity can be deduced. This only means that many quantities can be measured with a wireless temperature sensor.
The invention has also several other embodiments providing associated advantages.
For a more complete understanding of the present invention and the advantages thereof, the invention is now described with the aid of the examples and with reference to the following drawings, in which:
a and 4b present the block diagrams of the system used to demonstrate the invention, and the possible future integration;
In the following, the theory and examples in accordance with the invention are discussed more thoroughly.
In accordance with
In accordance with
Following things are assumed:
Temperature affects every electronic device. In a UHF RFID tag, the local oscillator frequency is proportional to the temperature, as shown in
The EPC protocol used at UHF does not use the local oscillator frequency to backscatter the tag answer, but a function of the reader preamble duration as shown in
With this invention it is possible to determine the tag local oscillator frequency, as the value of TRcal inducing a jump of the link frequency decreases with the temperature. This is simulated on the
The
In the
In accordance with
At constant temperature the LF ‘jumps’ as expected.
The incoming signal is very noisy, the measurement of LF is not accurate (noise is visible on this figure).
The TRcal value inducing a jump in LF is easy to determine with an appropriate threshold.
By sweeping the TRcal parameter and measuring the Link Frequency of the backscattered tag response, the reader can acquire a curve similar to
By using one or more couple (TRcal, LF) it is possible for the reader to determine the tag oscillator frequency, and thus the tag temperature. The reader can use:
To show how the TRcal sweep information (
First method: using one ΔLF
A simulation of the method is presented in
Second method: using the jump TRcal value
Another method to determine the tag temperature is to observe the variation with temperature of the jump TRcal value 3. The
The performance of the temperature measurement depends heavily on the tag family. The sensibility given below is an example; some tag family may more sensitive while other families may appear less sensitive. The sensitivity is usually temperature dependant. The sensitivity is greater at low temperature.
The measurement range is the same as the tag operating temperature range. Usually the tags operate from −40° C. to +80° C.
The acquisition time is equivalent to n reading operations. Usually n<10. The acquisition time is therefore smaller than one second. For better accuracy the measurement can be averaged.
The polynomial function fitting the evolution of TRcal jump value with temperature can be obtained by measuring a tag at different ambient temperatures. For a better accuracy, the tags can be calibrated individually. For a lower cost, the calibration can be unique for the family of tag. The coefficients can be stored in the tag memory, or in a centralized database.
In one advantageous solution the temperature dependence of the tag 1 is determined for a set of RFID-tags based on the manufacturer of the tag 1, or for precise measurement each tag 1 is calibrated individually. Alternatively the calibration of tags is made for samples of manufactured tags 1.
In accordance with the invention the local oscillator frequency information of a RFID tag can be used for temperature measurement, especially for temperature measurement of human body. The invention may be used also for determining humidity information by temperature measurement. One implementation for the invention is also temperature measurement of food, especially temperature control of food cold chain.
In connection with the invention following things may be needed in connection with the invention:
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PCT/FI2010/050880 | 11/3/2010 | WO | 00 | 7/23/2012 |
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WO2011/055014 | 5/12/2011 | WO | A |
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Number | Date | Country | |
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20120275489 A1 | Nov 2012 | US |