The operation of an anti-collision RFID system is characterized by the interrogation zone which should be estimated in any direction of 3D space for a group of electronic transponders. The interrogation zone should be as large as possible. However, the many problems in this area are due to the fact that energy can be transferred to transponders only on a limited distance. The greatest flexibility in developing RFID applications and shaping the interrogation zone can be achieved using the system with an antenna multiplexer. Therefore the problem of the interrogation zone determination in HF RFID systems with two orthogonal RWD antennas is presented in the paper. The perceived issues have been effectively dealt with and the solution has been proposed on the basis of the elaborated model. Conducted studies have been used to develop the software tool JankoRFIDmuxHF in the Mathcad environment. The research results are analysed in an example system configuration. The specialized measuring stand has been used for experimental verification of the identification efficiency. The convergence of the measurements and calculations confirms a practical usefulness of the presented concept of interrogation zone determination in anti-collision systems. It also shows the practical utility of the developed model and software tools.

The operating principles of RFID antennas should be considered differently than it is applied in the classical theory of radio communication systems. The procedure of measuring the radiation pattern of antennas that could be applied to RFID transponders operating in the UHF band is seldom discussed correctly in the scientific literature. The problem consists in the variability of the RFID chip impedance that strongly influences measurement results. The authors propose the proper methodology for determining the radiation pattern with respect to an individual transponder as well as an electronically tagged object. The advantage of the solution consists in the possibility of using components of different measuring systems that are available in typical antenna laboratories. The proposed procedure is particularly important in terms of parameter validation - the identification efficiency and costs of an RFID system implementation can be evaluated properly only on the basis of real values of considered parameters.

The authors paid particular attention to the problem of antenna impedance measurements in the RFID technique. These measurements have to be realized by using two ports of a vector network analyzer and dedicated passive differential probes. Since the measurement process and estimated parameters depend on the frequency band, operating conditions, type of the system component and antenna designs used, appropriate verification of the impedance parameters on the basis of properly conducted experiments is a crucial stage in the antenna synthesis of transponders and read/write devices. Accordingly, a systematized procedure of impedance measurements is proposed. It can be easily implemented by designers preparing antennas for different kinds of RFID applications. The essence of indirect measurements of the differential impedance parameters is discussed in details. The experimental verification has been made on the basis of a few representative examples.