Active Load Modulation(有源负载调制)

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• Active Load Modulation
• 2. Limiting Factors
• 3. Principles
• 4. Antenna Size
• 5. Interface ASIC
• 6. Demo Video
• All Pages

1. Introduction

Inductive coupled RFID systems are being used in a huge number of applications such as payment (credit cards), ticketing (public transport and events), access control (company card) and identity verification (ePass, eID). Inductive coupled RFID systems operated in the 13.56 MHz band and are primarily covered by the ISO/IEC standards 14443, 15693, 18000-3 and 18092. The majority of applications, mentioned above, operate according to ISO/IEC 14443. This standard is designed for high security communication with ID1 sized (smart card) transponders at proximity distances of 10 cm or less. Transponders are field powered and use load modulation to transmit data back to a reader.

Inductive coupled RFID System with passive transponder

The operating range is limited by the coupling factor between the reader/interrogator antenna and the transponder antenna. If the size of the transponder antenna gets very small, the operating distance drops until there is no more communication possible. 
In this aricle, we discuss the possibility to enhance the performance of very small transponder, in the size of a micro SD memory card.

2 Limiting factors

Contactless transponders according to ISO/IEC 14443 are powered from the high frequency field, generated by the reader. The field strength of the magnetic field in zero distance is defined between 1.5 and 7.5 A/m. If a transponder comes into proximity of a reader, this strong magnetic field induces a voltage which can be used to supply the transponder with energy. To transfer data from the reader to the transponder, simple amplitude shift keying (ASK) is used.

To transfer data from a transponder back to a reader, load modulation is used. To do so, a modulation resistance connected in parallel with the antenna of the transponder is switched on and off at the clock rate of the signal to be transmitted. ISO/IEC 14443 specifies that the load resistor is keyed by a modulated subcarrier (fc = 848 kHz). The subcarrier itself is ASK modulated with the Manchester coded data signal at a bitrate of 106 kBit/s.

The limiting factors of such a system with regard to the communication range are:

1. the ability to supply a contactless smart card with adequatepower for operation in the power range of the readerand in parallel
2.  the reception of data transmitted by the reader, and
3. the ability to transmit data back from the smart card to the reader, which requires sufficient magnetic coupling between the reader antenna and the smart card antenna (coupling factor k and mutual magnetic inductance M).

 

Limiting factors of an inductive coupled RFID system

A range of approximately 5 to 10 cm can be reached in contactless systems compliant with ISO/IEC 14443 using smart cards in the typical ID1 format. However, the achievable range drops dramatically when very small antennas are used (SIM cards, micro SD cards). If a small contactless card of this type is used in a mobile telephone or a PDA for example, the already small reader range, additional shielding caused by the battery and metal layers in the phone, quickly leads to problems, so that the transponder can no longer be accessed by an external reader.

3. Principles of active load modulation

To solve this problem, the limiting factors must be eliminated. In the case of the power range (1), this problem can be solved very simply. To do this, it is only necessary to supply the contactless smart card with power by means of an electrical contact. In a mobile phone, power is already available for devices such as a micro SD card.

The problem of data transmission (3) from the card to a reader is somewhat more complex. Even with a card having a supplementary source of power (an active card), conventional load modulation is not a satisfactory solution because it provides only marginal improvement over a passive card unless the magnetic coupling is improved. A possible solution is to use an other method to generate a signal with the same spectral characteristics as a load modulation signal and to actively transmit this signal to the reader. This is precisely the method to be used in small battery supplied tags.

frequency spectrum at the reader antenna resulting from a common passive load modulation with a subcarrier, according to ISO/IEC 14443-2.

If we observe the frequency spectrum at the reader antenna resulting from load modulation, in the case of
ISO/IEC 14443 we see two additional spectral lines (at 12.712 MHz and 14.408 MHz) along with the carrier signal (at 13.56 MHz). These additional signals are separated from the carrier signal by the subcarrier frequency (848 kHz), with modulation sidebands on each side of these signals. The transmitted data is contained exclusively in this modulation sidebands. To transmit data from an active transponder to a reader, it is only necessary to generate the two subcarrier spectral lines along with the sidebands containing the data and transmit them to the reader. Containing no information, a constant 13.56 MHz carrier signal does not need to be transmitted by the transponder, and it is anyway transmitted constantly by the reader. A signal with these properties is known as dual sideband (DSB) modulation. A basic telecommunication circuit that can be used to generate such a DSB modulation is the ring modulator.

The figure below illustrates the use of such a circuit as a RF interface in an active RFID transponder, using a simple ASK modulator instead of a ring modulator. The inputs to the modulator are a 13.56-MHz carrier signal (CF), the subcarrier (SC) and the baseband data signal (BS). The output signal of the ASK modulator works similar as the required DSB signal. The amplitude of this signal is increased by an amplifier, and the amplified signal is radiated by the antenna.

ASK modulator to generate an ASK type active load modulation

As the required signals are binary signals (high/low states) instead of analogue signals, the required modulation can also be generated in a much simpler manner. As is well known, an amplitude modulated analogue signal can be generated by multiplying two sinusoidal signals with different frequencies:

Umod = U1·sin(ω1·t)·U2·sin(ω2·t)

Multiplication of binary signals, which is equivalent to (binary) ASK modulation, can be implemented with a
simple AND operation.

4. Influence of the antenna size

The influence of the antenna size on the data transmission range of a tag using active load modulation was determined experimentally. The measurements were made using an ISO 14443 type A compliant reader such as the well known NXP Pegoda reader. This reader can read contactless smart cards (ID1) over a range of typically about 7 cm. Using the same antenna size together with a circuit generating active load modulation, the resulting reader range was full 50 cm.

As can be seen, even with an antenna having only 10% of the area of a contactless smart card  it was possible to achieve a communication range of 25 cm. In principle, reducing the antenna area by 10 reduces the reading range by approximately two, which equals approximately the 3rd root of the area ratio between two antennas.

Difference in the ranges of active and passive systems with different antenna sizes.

This technology is thus especially suitable for achieving an acceptable operating range, even with a very small antenna for example in a data storage device. With an antenna having the same size as a micro SD card, it is easily possible to achieve a range of nearly 10 cm. So even if the card is installed in a mobile phone, suffering from additional shielding, an acceptable communication range of a few centimetres can be achieved.

5. Active RFID interface ASIC

To generate the modulation signal required to increase the reading range and to deal with the very weak reader signals received by the antenna due to a small antenna are (e.g. a contactless memory card inside a mobile phone), a special RF interface which is connected with the secure element, is required.

A simplified block diagram of the active RFID interface module is shown in the Figure below. The interface module consists of an amplifier, a modulator (M), an oscillator (OSC) with a frequency divider, and a signal conditioner. At the RF side, the interface module is connected with an antenna coil. On the digital side, the interface module has one signal output, SIGOUT, and one signal input, SIGIN, both of which are connected with the secure element. SIGIN and SIGOUT are used to link the smart card microcontroller with the active RFID interface module.

 

Simplified block diagram of the required active RFID interface module, connected with a smart card chip (secure element)

SIGOUT corresponds to the RF signal received by the reader and is a 13.56-MHz clock signal, which is suppressed during the modulation pulses of the reader. SIGIN corresponds to the control signal used to drive a common load modulator in a passive transponder and consists of the modulated subcarrier signal. This interface is known as NFC-wired interface (NFC-WI) and normally used to connect a secure element with a NFC front end in a mobile phone.

When the interface module is in transmit mode, which means that data is being sent from the connected smart card chip to an external contactless reader, the modulated subcarrier signal is fed to the signal input SIGIN by the smart card chip. The SIGIN signal is provided together with a 13.56-MHz carrier signal to the modulator whose output then feeds the power amplifier. The antenna and the series capacitor form a seriesresonant circuit connected to outputs of the power amplifier, with the result that under resonant conditions the RF current flowing in the antenna resonant circuit is limited only by the DC resistance of the conductors and the amplifier, which means that the maximum possible transmit power is obtained.

In receive mode, the receive signal picked up by the antenna is amplified and fed to the smart card chip from the SIGOUT output. The signal conditioner acts as an amplifier to enable reception of very weak signals (in order to achieve maximum operation range) and as a threshold comparator (Schmitt trigger) to provide a digital signal at the output of the signal conditioner.

A 13.56-MHz clock signal and the signals from the NFCWI are needed to process the modulation signals. As it is not possible to receive the reader signal while transmitting the active load modulation signal, the oscillator (OSC) generates the 13.56-MHz carrier signal required for transmission on board.

6. Demo Video

The following video finally shows an impressive demonstration of active load modulation, using a microSD® Card to make a mobile phone a contactless device:

Demonstration of active load modulation in a microSD® Card

For more information, please feel free to download some papers from 2011: 
http://rfid-handbook.de/download/paper-presentations.html