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Introduction to the RIFD System
7
Introduction to the RIFD System
7.1
RFID System
An RFID system is comprised of the control computer of the reader, antennas, antenna connection cables and the tags.
T
he figur
e below shows the schematic structure of the system:
Ethernet
or
serial interface
RFID UHF
Gen2 Tag
Fig. 1:
RFID system (example)
The tags consist of an antenna and a small chip. The chip is the true carrier of the information, the EPC (
Electronic Product
Code
) number. This number can identify products or product groups. Alternatively, the EPC can be overwritten with new
information.
To read the tag information, the reader switches on an RF carrier by means of a selected antenna, thus supplying the
tags in the RF field with ener
gy.
To read the information from a tag, it is necessary to inventory the tags and then select a tag from the population of
tags. Upon successful completion of the inventory, the EPC number of each tag can be read and sent to the PC. It is
possible to attach additional information to the EPC, for example, the antenna which read it or the time at which it was
read.
NOTICE
The reader operates using the frequency hopping process to avoid faults and interference between readers.
Within the FCC area, this procedure is mandatory. The reader changes its transmission frequency randomly,
with equal distribution acr
oss the 52 available channels. Each channel is used for max. 400 ms in an interval
of 20 s.
The
ReaderStart v3
software can be used for testing and parametrising.
The communication between the
ReaderStart v3
and the reader is based on the DLL (
Dynamic Link Library
), which includes the
communication protocol, see
Communication Protocol Kathrein RFID UHF Readers
. For specific applications, the user can build its
own control software based on the reader DLL. The DLL includes all the relevant commands and functions required to
control the reader.
It is necessary for the user to create his own control software. T
he user-specific contr
ol software can run directly on the
reader. Therefore, a stand-alone operation without permanent network connection is possible.
