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Identifying RF Identification Cards from Measurements of Resonance and Carrier Harmonics

Published

Author(s)

Henry Romero, Kate Remley, Dylan Williams, Chih-Ming Wang, Timothy X. Brown

Abstract

We show that careful measurements of the unloaded resonant frequency and quality factor of radio frequency identification proximity cards allow identification of different card models and, for the set of cards we studied, identification with minimal error of individual cards of the same model. Furthermore, we show that card identification performance is improved by considering an electromagnetic signature that combines measurements of the energy at carrier harmonics during a reader-card transaction together with unloaded resonant frequency and quality factor measurements.
Citation
IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques
Volume
58
Issue
0018-9480

Keywords

Authentication, Electromagnetic Signature, Radio-Frequency Identification Card, Resonant Frequency

Citation

Romero, H. , Remley, K. , Williams, D. , Wang, C. and Brown, T. (2010), Identifying RF Identification Cards from Measurements of Resonance and Carrier Harmonics, IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=904644 (Accessed March 28, 2024)
Created May 26, 2010, Updated October 12, 2021