A Novel Compact and Lightweight Harmonic Tag for Insect Tracking

Authors

  • Zhan-Fei Su College of Electronic Information Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430072, China
  • Xian-Rong Wan College of Electronic Information Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430072, China
  • Jian-Xin Yi College of Electronic Information Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430072, China
  • Zi-Ping Gong College of Electronic Information Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430072, China
  • Zi-Yao Wang College of Electronic Information Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430072, China

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.13052/2024.ACES.J.400710

Keywords:

Compact size, frequency doubler, harmonic radar, harmonic tag, harmonic transponder, radio frequency identification (RFID), tag antenna

Abstract

Harmonic radar sensor systems is a special wireless sensor system that has been used in insect tracking in recent years due to its excellent anti-clutter capability. Generally, a harmonic radar sensor systems consists of a radar transceiver and a specially designed harmonic tag. However, tags tend to become entangled with vegetation in insect tracking experiments. This paper proposes a strong echo signal and miniaturized low-mass passive tag design method, which targets Internet-of-Things insect tracking applications. We introduce foldable structures in antenna designing with advanced non-linear selection criterion under the unified frequency operation environment. The conversion loss (CL) of the tag is not impacted by the measures taken to minimize its mass and size. The results using both simulated and real data demonstrate remarkable improvements in size of tags, weight of tags, and echo signal strength of tags within our proposed method on the passive tags. The effectiveness of the method is verified by the results of harmonic radar illuminate tag. This work possesses the advantages of a low profile, lightweight design, strong echo signal, and compact dimensions.

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Author Biographies

Zhan-Fei Su, College of Electronic Information Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430072, China

Zhan-Fei Su was born in Shandong, China. He received the M.S. degree in electronics and communication engineering from the Xi’an University of Posts and Telecommunications, Xian, China in 2021. He is currently working toward the Ph.D. Degree at the School of Electronic Information, Wuhan University, Wuhan, China. His research interests include antennas designs, nonlinear circuit designs, microwave circuit designs, harmonic transponders and their applications.

Xian-Rong Wan, College of Electronic Information Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430072, China

Xian-Rong Wan was born in Hubei, China. He received the B.E. degree from the former Wuhan Technical University of Surveying and Mapping, Wuhan, China, in 1997, and the Ph.D. degree from Wuhan University, Wuhan, in 2005. He is currently a Professor and the Ph.D. Candidate Supervisor with the School of Electronic Information, Wuhan University. In recent years, he has hosted and participated in more than ten national research projects and authored or coauthored more than 80 academic articles. His main research interests include design of new radar system such as passive radar, over-the-horizon radar, and array signal processing.

Jian-Xin Yi, College of Electronic Information Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430072, China

Jian-Xin Yi received the B.E. degree in electrical and electronic engineering and the Ph.D. degree in radio physics from Wuhan University, Wuhan, China, in 2011 and 2016, respectively. From August 2014 to August 2015, he was a Visiting Ph.D. Student with the University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada. He is currently an Associate Professor with the School of Electronic Information, Wuhan University. His main research interests include radar signal processing, target tracking, and information fusion. Dr. Yi was a recipient of the 2017 Excellent Doctoral Dissertation Award of the Chinese Institute of Electronics. He has been supported by the Post-Doctoral Innovation Talent Support Program of China.

Zi-Ping Gong, College of Electronic Information Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430072, China

Zi-Ping Gong was born in Hubei, China. He received the B.E. and Ph.D. degrees from Wuhan University, Wuhan, China, in 1999 and 2007, respectively. His main research interests include high frequency (HF) radio wave propagation, antenna theory analysis, and antenna design.

Zi-Yao Wang, College of Electronic Information Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430072, China

Zi-Yao Wang was born in Hubei, China. He received the B.E. degree in measurement and control technology and instrument in 2020 from Wuhan University, Wuhan, China, where he is currently working toward the Ph.D. degree in electronic science and technology. His research interests include design of harmonic radar system and radar signal processing.

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Published

2025-07-30

How to Cite

[1]
Z.-F. . Su, X.-R. . Wan, J.-X. . Yi, Z.-P. . Gong, and Z.-Y. . Wang, “A Novel Compact and Lightweight Harmonic Tag for Insect Tracking”, ACES Journal, vol. 40, no. 07, pp. 661–678, Jul. 2025.

Issue

2025: Vol 40 Iss 7

Section

General Submission

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