Washing Durability of PDMS-Conductive Fabric Composite: Realizing Washable UHF RFID Tags
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Scientific › peer-review
Details
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 1-1 |
| Number of pages | 1 |
| Journal | IEEE Antennas and Wireless Propagation Letters |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | E-pub ahead of print - 24 Sep 2019 |
| Publication type | A1 Journal article-refereed |
Abstract
In this paper, we present experimental investigations on washing durability of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS)-conductive fabric composite, to validate its applicability for realization of flexible wearable antennas that can withstand multiple washing cycles. For this purpose, we designed an ultra-high frequency (UHF) radio frequency identification (RFID) passive tag antenna and fabricated several prototypes using such materials combination. Understanding the challenge of having a robust integration of lumped electronic component (e.g., RFID IC) on a flexible antenna, a new way to improve the interconnection has also been investigated. The tag prototypes were subjected to recurrent machine-washing tests, and after each washing cycle, their performance was analyzed mainly in terms of read range. The results reveal that, with a proper treatment on the antenna-IC fixture interconnection, the tag antennas developed with PDMS-conductive fabric composite can maintain their performance very well, showing a minimum degradation in read range after 15 cycles of washing.
Keywords
- Fabrics, Integrated circuits, Antenna accessories, Coatings, Prototypes, Antenna measurements, Conductive fabric, flexible antennas, polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), radio frequency identification (RFID), recurrent washings, tag antennas, textile antennas