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Abstract: It is a challenge for passive RFID tags to be mounted on the surface of metal because the parameters of tag antennas, such as the impedance matching, the radiation efficiency and the radiation pattern, are seriously affected by the metallic surface. This paper presents the characteristics of the dipole-like antennas of ultra high frequency (UHF) radio frequency identification (RFID) tags that are placed close to metallic surfaces. The finite element method (FEM) and method of moment (MoM) were used to simulate the changes of the antenna parameters near the metallic surface. Two typical dipole-like antennas close to the metallic surface, a closed loop antenna and a loaded meander antenna, were modeled, and the performance was evaluated. Experiment was carried out and the results were in good agreement with the simulation, showing that a distance of 0.05λ~0.1λ (λ is the free space wavelength) from the metallic surface could make the dipole-like UHF RFID tag performance be acceptable.

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