Wireless interrogation of small animal phantoms with a miniature implanted UHF RFID tag

In this article, the RSSI measurement with a miniature implanted tag into a small animal phantom, intended to work in the European UHF RFID band is presented. The miniaturization of the radiating element while preserving its efficiency allows the reliable communication between an external interrogation device and the identification tag aimed to be implanted into a small animal. The paper first presents the design of the miniature radiating element. Then, the detailed process to calculate the link budget allowing the estimation of the theoretical power received by the reader is described, showing that the gain of the proposed antenna is adapted to the application. Finally, the measurement of the Received Signal Strength Indication (RSSI) level received by the reader antenna for different positions of a mouse phantom model in a cage is presented. Results show that the proposed antenna can allow the identification of the small animal whatever its position in the cage.

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