Polarization-Based Reconfigurable Tags for Robust Ambient Backscatter Communications

R. Fara (1, 2) , D.-T. Phan-Huy (1) , A. Ourir (3) , Y. Kokar (4) , J.-C. Prévotet (4, 5) , M. Helard (4) , M. Di Renzo (2) , J. de Rosny (3)

1 Orange Labs
2 L2S - Laboratoire des signaux et systèmes
3 ESPCI Paris - Ecole Superieure de Physique et de Chimie Industrielles de la Ville de Paris
4 IETR - Institut d'Électronique et des Technologies du numéRique
5 INSA Rennes - Institut National des Sciences Appliquées - Rennes

Ambient backscatter communication is an emerging and promising low-energy technology for the Internet of Things. In such a system, a tag sends a binary message to a reader by backscattering a radio frequency signal generated by an ambient source. The tag can operate without battery and without generating additional radio waves. However, the tag-to-reader link suffers from the source-to-reader interference. In this paper, we propose a polarization-based reconfigurable antenna in order to improve the robustness of the tag-to-reader link against the source-to-reader direct interference. More precisely, we compare different types of tags' antennas, different tags' encoding schemes, and different detectors at the reader. By using analysis, numerical simulations, and experiments, we show that a polarization-based reconfigurable tag with four polarization directions significantly outperforms a non-reconfigurable tag, and provides almost the same performance as an ideal reconfigurable tag with a large number of reconfigurable polarization patterns.

Mots clés: Backscatter; Dipole antennas; Encoding; Antenna radiation patterns; Interference; Detectors; Internet of Things; ambient backscatter communication; compact reconfigurable antennas

Domaines: Systèmes mésoscopiques et effet Hall quantique [cond-mat.mes-hall]

R. Fara, D.-T. Phan-Huy, A. Ourir, Y. Kokar, J.-C. Prévotet, et al.. Polarization-Based Reconfigurable Tags for Robust Ambient Backscatter Communications. IEEE Open Journal of the Communications Society, 2020, 1, pp.1140-1152. ⟨10.1109/OJCOMS.2020.3013239⟩. ⟨hal-03014533⟩