how far are RFID tags scanning distance?

Nov 22, 2005 12 Replies

hi,guys



Do you guys know if there is a place, link ,or whatever, shows how far(the scanning distance) different tags support? I know basically, passive tags, the distance only might be 10mm - less than 1meter, active tags might support 10 meter far, not sure. And recently, we need to buy some this kind of products, so we need to do some reasearch on that. The scanning distance we need would be around 3 meters. Do you guys have any suggestion about the tags, and tag readers?



Any help would be appreciated!



Thanks.



SAVI Technologies, Sunnyvale.

...Jim Thompson

| James E.Thompson, P.E. | mens | | Analog Innovations, Inc. | et | | Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC\'s and Discrete Systems | manus | | Phoenix, Arizona Voice:(480)460-2350 | | | E-mail Address at Website Fax:(480)460-2142 | Brass Rat | | http://www.analog-innovations.com | 1962 | I love to cook with wine. Sometimes I even put it in the food.

Yep. It's alright to buy from Intermec. Please support my clients and say "Hi" to Harley Heinrich for me ;-)

...Jim Thompson

| James E.Thompson, P.E. | mens | | Analog Innovations, Inc. | et | | Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC\'s and Discrete Systems | manus | | Phoenix, Arizona Voice:(480)460-2350 | | | E-mail Address at Website Fax:(480)460-2142 | Brass Rat | | http://www.analog-innovations.com | 1962 | I love to cook with wine. Sometimes I even put it in the food.

possibly enough to

For range, the TAG's of choice are battery-powered, but utilize sleep-mostly, wake-up-occasionally technologies to maximum battery life.

Transmit TO the TAG is usually a low frequency (say 132KHz) to optimize the receiver in the TAG.

Transmit FROM the TAG is usually UHF or up.

...Jim Thompson

| James E.Thompson, P.E. | mens | | Analog Innovations, Inc. | et | | Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC\'s and Discrete Systems | manus | | Phoenix, Arizona Voice:(480)460-2350 | | | E-mail Address at Website Fax:(480)460-2142 | Brass Rat | | http://www.analog-innovations.com | 1962 | I love to cook with wine. Sometimes I even put it in the food.

Why not ask the manufacturers as part of your requirements ?

Rene

Ing.Buero R.Tschaggelar - http://www.ibrtses.com & commercial newsgroups - http://www.talkto.net

You'd need a BIG antenna on the tag, and/or a LOT of transmit power though.. possibly enough to raise health concerns if users were exposed continuously to it.

Depending on circumstances 3 meters might be feasible with passive UHF tags. A lot depends on your exact application and requirements though.

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Sander

Thanks guys. We bought a type of socket RFID reader from socketcom for our PDA products and it supports 13.56MHz tag that conforms to ISO 15693. But the range is only 2.0 inchs. This is too short. So we are seeking a solution that supports at least 1 meter reading range. Do you guys have any suggestion?

If you use an illumination of 1 watt with a 30 degree beamwidth from the illuminator antenna, and the passive TAG has an RCS difference of 200 sq centimeters during modulation, and the receiver antenna has a

30 degree beamwidth , and the receiver has a -110 dbm tangential sensitivity and is a homodyne with I and Q outputs, you can easily read from 5 meters and usually from 15 meters, assuming no reflections. With reflections, all bets are off.. You will have a static pattern of nodes and nulls depending on the antenna angle with the ground.

You see, you did not give enough information about your system to get a valid answer that is specific to your needs..

The above description is based on the TIRIS passifve RFID tag which meets the CALTRAN Title 11 specifications for California........

Andy Sharpe , retired, (Inventor of the TIRIS RFID tag for Texas Instruments)

Which is a bit of a bugger at a mere 13MHz.

Ian

Andy replies:

Yeah. Especially for a modulated reflector tag...... I suspect that at 13 Mhz , active tags would be used, tho I haven't worked RFID at that frequency.

I think that four dipoles , in line, phased, might give you the

30 degrees at 13 Mhz. That array would be about 200 feet wide. Not too practical for toll lane purposes (grin).. At 915 Mhz, the four dipole array is around 8 feet wide.

CALTRAN Title 21 specifies 915 Mhz as the frequency band. But that is used for toll lane recording and automotive applications.

Andy

"Andy" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@g44g2000cwa.googlegroups.com:

The toll road antennas I've seen in the Orlando area are rectangular flat panels mounted in pairs,size I guesstimate at maybe 18 inches long,perhaps

8 inches wide,maybe two inches thick. (SunPass/E-Pass)

They are mounted over the lane maybe 10-12 ft above ground(AGL). I've also seen them at busy local intersections,mounted on a pole next to the road,or on an arm over the road at about 12-15 ft AGL. Like SR17-92 and SR436 in Casselberry.

Jim Yanik jyanik at kua.net

Andy writes: Yes. The antennae used by Amtech are similar.

Obviously, the beamwidths are much wider for these antennae.

The TIRIS antennae are used to provide a much narrower beam so that lane discrimination can be done without using buried loops, lasers, etc.

To do this, they required a much narrower beamwidth, so that only one lane can be illuminated at a time. See CALTRAN Title 21 -- you can probably call it up with google, if you are interested in the requirements.

SunPass is a much simpler system. It probably works very well , as there are several other items which work in conjunction with it to determine presence of vehicle, multiple cars, multiple lanes, etc.

The TIRIS system that I built had to do all this stuff without the auxiliary stuff, so different specification were required..... If memory serves me correctly, TIRIS had to read with 99.9% accuracy in bumper to bumper cars at about 150 mph , in multiple lanes without any lane dividers or other separators. While that condition will never happen, that what the spec was........

It was tested at a race track somewhere in southwest Texas using race drivers and cars and did what it was supposed to...... That was back around 1991......... the good old days.....

A damn fun project....

Andy W4OAH

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