Security Paper Design with Frequency-Selective Structure for X-Band Electromagnetic Detection System

This study designed and fabricated a frequency-selective structure-based security paper for the electromagnetic detection system of a security gate, which aims to prevent leakage of confidential documents. When a functional paper embedded with a frequency-selective pattern that selectively reflects a specific frequency is being leaked out of a security zone, the electromagnetic detection system receives and detects the intensity of the electromagnetic wave reflected from the security paper passing through an antenna gate, which transmits/receives RF signals. A stable detection performance of the security paper can be ensured by improving the incidence angle stability for incident waves and reducing the reflection loss. This study designed a frequency-selective structure with stable frequency reflection properties at the X-band by utilizing a Jerusalem cross structure. The proposed design was realized using the screen printing technique, which could implement a circuit, to print silver ink on a plain paper. To verify the applicability of the frequency-selective structure-based security paper, an RF detection system with a multiple antenna array was constructed and the intensity of the received signals was measured. The measurement was performed for various scenarios, and the result showed that the proposed security paper was well detected.