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    Investigation, design and fabrication of miniaturized CMOS novel active RFID tags : Doctor of Philosophy in Engineering-Electronics, Information and Communication Systems at Massey University, Albany campus
    (Massey University, 2021) Kumari, Meera
    The drastic decline in the bee population in the past few years is alarming given the quantity and quality of global food reliance on these insect pollinators. To ensure sustainable crop production and maintain biodiversity, it has become an important area of research for entomologists to study the factors involved in the dramatic population decline of these tiny insects. Understanding the insect’s biology and their foraging behavior tracking in the agricultural landscape is crucial. However, due to the large size of the available PCB-based tracking tags knowing their true behaviours in the presence of various chemical fertilizers and pesticides is still a challenge. In this research, a very new VHF radio telemeter architecture has been developed which could facilitate tracking of a large number of small insects and bees wirelessly in real-time at a distance of around 1km. The architecture is based on a novel circuit topology to generate an extremely low duty cycle signal digitally which for the first time does not require any passive elements. This digital generation technique of the low duty cycle has made it possible to realize the complete telemeter design on 1mmX 1mm ASIC chip, except for the antenna and the battery, and eliminated the need for discreet components which are mounted on PCB. Due to inconsistent fabrication facilities, the telemeter circuit parts were implemented in CMOS8RF-130nm and 8HPP-28nm, but the final ASIC telemeter prototype is realized in TSMC 65nm process technology and the fabricated chip is experimentally tested in the lab to verify its performance in the manufacturing environment. The design consists of a digital core circuit to generate 8-bit binary-coded 0.0078 duty-cycled burst mode signaling and a full on-chip analog power management circuit to locally generate the required voltage supplies with predefined dependence on temperature for the digital circuitry with the compensation for the temperature variation on the telemeter performance. A white paper calculation has been presented to package the insect telemeter ASIC, along with 10cm antenna directly over 80mg, 5mmX5mmX1mm silver oxide battery to yield a 95mg complete telemeter package, making it to be the world’s smallest and the lightest VHF radio telemeter.
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    The efficacy of using the EPCIS standard for livestock and meat traceability : thesis for Master of Logistics and Supply Chain Management at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2013) Hartley, Gary L.
    Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) systems have been used for many years in identification applications. The efficacy of using UHF RFID technologies for livestock traceability and related applications has been widely repudiated within the global livestock sector. Technical inadequacies and constraints of physics are typically identified as the basis for discrediting the RFID form. The EPCglobal Network is a secure means to connect servers containing information related to items identified by using globally unique numbers known as EPC (Electronic Product Code) numbers. The servers, called Electronic Product Code Information Services – or EPCIS - is an open public standard used to track the progress of objects as they move through the supply chain. Published research into the use and efficacy of using the suite of EPC RFID standards, especially the EPCIS Standard to assess traceability performance outcomes in any industry sector, let alone the livestock sector is minimal. This thesis investigates, examines and assesses the use of UHF RFID technology within the context of the EPCglobal suite of standards, focusing specifically on the component EPCIS standard to determine efficacy for livestock traceability. The thesis examines regulatory based definitions of traceability in order to adopt a reference definition and uses a multi-stage proof of concept process model to assess and draw conclusions in determining the efficacy of using the EPCIS Standard for livestock traceability. A definition of Chain Traceability, defined by the Food Business Forum (CIES 2005 p.7) was adopted as a benchmark reference against which objectives were measured and assessed. Because all EPC identifiers and relevant associations used in the research was able to be identified, recorded and reported using the EPCIS standard and database, chain traceability was demonstrated, thereby verifying traceability objectives and the efficacy of the EPCIS standard as a tool for livestock traceability.
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    Wireless indoor mobile robot with RFID navigation map and live video : a thesis in the partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Engineering in Mechatronics, Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2011) Garratt, Samuel
    A mobile robot was designed in order to move freely within a map built in an indoor environment. The aim is for the robot to move between passive RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) tags in an environment that has been previously mapped by the designed software. Passive RFID tags are inexpensive, the same size and shape as a credit card and are attached to other objects. They don’t require any power of their own but operate through an RFID reader that induces a magnetic field in their antenna, which then creates power for the tag. This makes the tags inexpensive, and easy to setup and maintain. The robot is a three wheeled vehicle driven by two stepper motors and is controlled wirelessly through a PC. It has a third omniwheel at the front for maintaining the balance of the robot. Since the PC communicates continuously with the robot, all the major processing and data management can be done on the computer making the microcontroller much simpler and less expensive. Infrared distance sensors are placed around the robot to detect short range obstacles and a sonar sensor at the front can detect obstacles further away. This data is used so that the robot can avoid obstacles in its path between tags. An electronic compass is used to provide absolute orientation of the robot at all times to correct for errors in estimating the angle. A camera is attached to the front of the robot so that an operator can see the robot and manually control it if necessary. This could also be used to a video a certain environment from a robot’s perspective. The sensors and the RFID tags are all inexpensive, making the mass reproduction of the robot feasible and implementation practically possible for small firms. The RFID tags can be quickly attached or detached from an environment leaving no trace of their prior existence. A map can then be formed on a PC automatically by the robot through its detection of the tags. This makes the entire system very flexible and quick to set up, something that is needed in the present day as changes to buildings and factories become more common. There are still many improvements needed to improve the stability of the compass’s signal in the presence of magnetic fields, the stability of the wheels so that slippage is rare, and the range of the wireless signal and camera. A flexible, easily configurable moving robot could be used to serve fields such as the medical field by transporting goods within a hospital, or in factories where goods need to be transported between locations. Since the system is flexible, and maps can be formed quickly, the robot can fit in with the changes to an industry’s environment and requirements. However, since the robot can only move to approximately five metres from the computer controlling it and the inaccuracy in sensor data, it is not currently ready for industrial use. For example, the sensors are only placed at 6 orientations around the robot and so do not cover a full span of the robots area. These sensors also only detect a two dimensional plane around the robot so could not detect obscure objects that have a part sticking out at height higher than the sensors. Therefore, further work is needed to be done to make the robot reliable, safe, and fault-proof before it could be used in industry. Since the movement of the robot with inexpensive sensors and motors is bound to have problems in perfectly moving between RFID tags, due to small dead reckoning errors, simple algorithms are shown in this research that moves the robot around its current location until it finds a tag. These algorithms involve finding a path between two RFID tags that will make use of any tags in between them to localise itself and moving in a spiral to search for a tag when, due to odometry errors, it is not detected where it is expected to be. The robot built has demonstrated being able to navigate between RFID tags within a small lab environment. It has proven to be able to avoid obstacles with a size of 30 x 30 cm.
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    Nano-metric optimised CMOS RF receiver front-end components for UHF RFID readers : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Engineering at Massey University, Auckland, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2011) Li, Jie
    As the capabilities of wireless hand-held devices continue to increase, more pressure is placed on the performance of RF transceiver front-ends. The primary objective of this research is to investigate optimal methods of implementing a receiver front-end with reduced power dissipation, reduced design complexity and minimised cost. This design will be implemented on CMOS technology due to its advantages in system integration and low-cost mass production. This thesis presents the optimisation of a CMOS RF receiver front-end components design for 866 MHz UHF RFID readers. The completed receiver front-end was fabricated on an IBM 130nm CMOS process. Circuit-level techniques were employed to reduce chip size and power consumption while providing enhanced performance. The inclusion of the finite drain-source conductance 𝑔𝑑𝑠 effect improves the nano-metric design optimisation algorithm. Simulated results and experimental data are presented that demonstrate the RF receiver design with low power dissipation and low noise while providing high performance. Low-noise amplifiers using a power-constrained simultaneous noise and input matching (PCSNIM) technique are presented first. In contrast to previously published narrow-band LNA designs, the proposed design methodology includes the finite drain-source conductance of devices, thus achieving simultaneous impedance and minimum noise matching at the very low power drain of 1.6mW from a 1V supply. The LNA delivers a power gain (S21) of 17dB, a reverse isolation (S12) of -34dB and an input power reflection (S11@866 MHz) of -30dB. It has a minimum pass-band NF of around 2dB and a 3rd order input referred intercept point (IIP3) of -16dBm. A low noise mixer is also presented utilising the PCSNIM topology with current bleeding techniques. This design is proposed to replace the conventional Gilbert cell mixer that usually exhibits a high noise figure. The proposed mixer has demonstrated the ability to scale to the targeted 130nm process and meets design requirement at the required operating frequency. It has a power conversion gain of 14.5dB, DSB noise figure of 8.7dB DSB and an IIP3 of -5.1dBM. The mixer core itself only consumes 6mW from a 1.2V supply and the complete test circuit consumes 10mW with a balun at each port. Finally, a voltage controlled oscillator (VCO) is presented. A quadrature VCO (QVCO) structure is selected to overcome the image rejection issue. Since the main goal for this work is to design a low power receiver front-end, a folded-cascode topology is employed to enable the QVCO to operate under 1V power supply. The proposed VCO has a phase noise of -140dBc/Hz at 3-MHz offset from the carrier with only 5mW of power dissipation. This gives a FoM value of -181dBc/Hz that compares favourably to recently published designs.
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    A real-time tracking system using RFID in Mecca : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Engineering in Electronics and Computer Systems Engineering
    (Massey University, 2011) Alnizari, Nezar Amer
    Muslims from all over the world visit the holy city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia every year to perform the Hajj, which is the largest annual pilgrimage in the world. Ministry of Hajj statistics have shown that the number of pilgrims is increasing annually. The continuous increase has made the Hajj more difficult for the pilgrims and the authorities. Many pilgrims die and get injured every year due the congestion. Therefore, new technologies have become critical to control the crowds. Recently a few projects have been conducted in Mecca. However, the need for more practical and economical solutions is still required. The aim of this project is to track missing people and determine their current location on a map during the season of the Hajj. This project is mainly aimed at children and elderly. However, the system can also be implemented in many different places including airports, shopping malls, parks, offices and industrial fields, and it also can monitor assets as well as people.