14
Figure: Completing the installation
6.3 Operation
In the following section, the ReaderStart v2 demo software for the ifm electronic RFID reader DTE is de-
scribed� Before the description addresses the user interface and the individual configuration features and
controls, the principle of operation of this RFID reader system is described�
6.3.1 General information
An RFID system consists of the control computer, the reader itself, the antennas, antenna connection
cables and the tags� The figure below shows the schematic layout of the system:
T: ID Tag ; 1: Ethernet-Interface
Figure: RFID system
The tags consist of an antenna and a small chip� They are the real carriers of the information, the EPC�
These numbers identify the products or product groups� Alternatively the EPC can also be overwritten
with your own information�
To read information from an EPC tag, the reader emits an RF carrier via the active antenna and in this
way supplies all the tags in this RF field with power� If now it is desired to read the information from a tag,
this tag must be selected from the population of tags (singularisation)� After successful completion of the
singularisation, a handle is requested from the tag� The rest of the communication with the tag is under-
taken using this handle and the EPC is read� The description of the tag is performed in the same way�
The tag's EPC is transmitted by the reader to the PC and can be displayed there with additional informa-
tion� This information includes, along with the time the tag was read, also the antenna used for communi-
cation with the tag� It is always possible to communicate directly with the tag using this EPC, as soon as
the tag is within range of the reader�
