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I.
A. Microcontroller
We decided to use an Olimex microcontroller kit based on
MSP430F5510 processor [12]. It includes standard JTAG
interface besides the standard I/O interfaces, an LCD (useful
for displaying the tag information), SD card slot (to potentially
store data from read tags), charger for the external
rechargeable 850 mAh battery and a prototyping area.
INTRODUCTION
B. Transmitter
We found and used readily available off-the-shelf low
power transmitter from the TH7203x IC family by Melexis.
These ICs operate on low voltage battery and can generate
carrier in 850-930 MHz band. It is a simple inexpensive
solution which can be readily integrated into the reader design.
We used TH72035 evaluation board [13] tuned to 915 MHz.
To increase the output power, we fed it directly from the
battery rather than from the Olimex onboard 3.3 V voltage
regulator. Transmitter IC is modulated using direct ASK data
input pin on TH72035. For the front end isolator, we used a
low cost surface mounted 10 dB coupler with integrated low
pass filter (Johanson 0910CF15B0100), also on evaluation
board but other coupler or circulator could be used too. The
output power of the reader at the antenna port was 9 dBm.
C. Receiver
We used a very simple receiver circuit based on an
envelope detector and a comparator, similar to the one found
in many UHF RFID ICs. The schematic is shown in Figure 2,
we largely followed the application note by Maxim on
building a data slicer circuit for UHF ASK receivers [14]. For
circuit simulation, we used free simulator CircuitLab. We
picked
the
values
of
the
circuit
components
(R1=R2=R3=931K, C1=75 pF) so that the time constant R1C1
is roughly 3 bit intervals for 44 KHz backlink rate. For diodes,
we used SOT-23 Schottky pairs. For an op amp, we used
MAX931 but any other comparator can be used too. The
circuit was assembled on the prototyping area of the Olimex
microcontroller board.
THE READER
126
III.
EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS
IV.
REFERENCES
B. Reader Sensitivity
We measured our reader sensitivity using conducted RFID
chip assembly (Monza 2 IC matched to 50 Ohm) with the
threshold sensitivity of -11.5 dBm and threshold modulation
efficiency of -10 dB. The transmit and receive paths were
isolated using circulators so that their attenuations could be
controlled independently as shown in Figure 4. The measured
reader sensitivity was approximately -35 dBm.
[1]
[2]
[3]
[4]
[5]
[6]
[7]
[8]
[9]
[10]
[11]
[12]
[13]
[14]
C. Power Consumption
The power consumption of our reader is 60 mW (the
average current is 15 mA at 4 V battery voltage). It can
operate continuously for more than 50 hrs on a single charge.
[15]
[16]
127
AMS
RFID
products:
http://www.ams.com/eng/Products/RFProducts/RFID
Impinj
Indy
UHF
RFID
reader
chips:
http://www.impinj.com/Indy_RFID_Reader_Chips.aspx
Experimental
front
end
for
UHF
RFID
reader:
http://www.elektrorevue.cz/en/articles/analoguetechnics/0/experimental-front-end-for-uhf-rfid-reader/
Designing an FPGA based RFID reader, Xcell Journal, 2006:
www.linear.com/docs/40013
Chen Ying and Zhang Fu-Hong, A system design for UHF RFID
reader, IEEE ICCT conference, pp. 301-304, 2008
Ettus Research: www.ettus.com/
L. Catarinucci, D. De Donno, et.al., "A cost-effective SDR platform for
performance characterization of RFID tags," IEEE Transactions on
Instrumentation and Measurement, vol. 1, no. 4, pp.903-911, April 2012
M. Buettner and D. Wetherall, "A software radio-based UHF RFID
reader for PHY/MAC experimentation," IEEE RFID Conference, 2011
OpenPCD Passive RFID Project: http://www.openpcd.org/
Open Beacon active RFID project: http://www.openbeacon.org/
WISP RFID: http://sensor.cs.washington.edu/WISP.html
Olimex MSP430-5510STK development and prototype board kit::
https://www.olimex.com/Products/MSP430/Starter/MSP430-5510STK
Melexis TH72035 transmitter IC - 868/915MHz, FSK/ASK:
http://www.melexis.com/General/General/TH72035-131.aspx
Data slicing techniques for UHF ASK receivers, Maxim application
note: http://www.maximintegrated.com/app-notes/index.mvp/id/3671
SolidDigi
UHF
RFID
reader:
http://www.soliddigi.com/product/showproduct.php?lang=en&id=32
TI MSP430 LaunchPad Kit: http://www.ti.com/tool/msp-exp430g2