An intelligent antenna system for extending the effective communication range of a machine-readable passive tag. The system may include intelligence that allows one of a plurality of extension antennas in an antenna network to be active at any given time. The machine-readable tag and antenna network may further be embedded in a structure. For example, the system may include multiple passive tags that are active in correspondence to a display or advertisement currently being exhibited. The system may include means for operatively coupling the corresponding machine-readable tag to the embedded antenna network.