Fabric-Based Battery-Assisted Passive RFID Tags

We introduce a new class of fully-flexible BAP (Battery-Assisted Passive) RFID tags that are exclusively printed on fabric. Our tags rely on: a) E-textile antennas for wireless communication and b) electrochemical fabric-based batteries for powering (as required to extend the read range). They can also be readily integrated with off-the-shelf RFID chips. Contrary to conventional BAP RFID tags, the proposed design is fully-flexible, feeling and behaving like regular clothing. Example applications include smart garments for open-wound detection, smart bed-sheets for wetness sensing, and so on. Specifically, E-textile antennas are realized via automated embroidery of conductive E-threads, while electrochemical batteries are realized via deposition of silver- and zinc-based electrodes directly upon the fabric. Bodily conductive liquids such as wound fluid, sweat, or urine, may readily activate the battery. In this work, we present a proof-of-concept demonstration using the EM4325 IC chip.Academic Major: Electrical and Computer Engineerin