EPCglobal Class1 Generation 2 UHF RFID

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EPCglobal Class-1 Generation 2UHF RFID

• Todd Humes, CTOImpinj, Inc.501 N 34th Street,
  Suite 100 Seattle, WA 98103todd.humes_at_impinj.co
  m

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An RFID Chip
More transistors than the processor in a 1985 IBM
PC-AT Lower power consumption than a honeybees
brain
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RFID Hardware Overview
Wafers
Tags
Reader
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RFID is Old, whats New

• New standards at UHF (900 MHz) vs HF (13.56MHz)
• UHF - 10X range of HF RFID
• Faster data rates up to 640kbps
• But, presents many new challenges
• How to identify and read/write single tags from
  hundreds within a reader field...
• Tag and reader RF interference...
• Security....
• Tag data processing...
• Solution - EPCglobal Gen2 standard

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RFID Systems
Network layer
Air Interface
RFID Reader
IP Network
RFID Reader
RFID Reader
Example data exchange Forward Return
Link parameters Tag inventory
Link rates and encoding formats Singulation
parameters, tag identification
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Tag Identification

• Supposeyou are all tags
• You are all blindfolded
• You are nearly deaf
• You talk by whispering
• You cant hear each other
• SupposeIm a reader
• Im blindfolded
• I dont know who is in the room
• I need to yell so you can hear me
• If two of you talk at once, I cant understand
  you
• Im not allowed to say your name
• I may hear many others like me screaming in the
  same room
• I need to identify everybody in the room

What do I do?
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Reader Environments

• Operating Environment
• A region within which a readers RF transmissions
  are attenuated by less than 90dB (roughly a
  sphere with a 1km radius)
• Single-reader environment
• A single reader operating in the environment
• Multiple-reader environment
• of simultaneously active readers lt of
  available channels
• Example 10 readers operating in 50 channels
• Dense-reader environment
• of simultaneously active readers ? of
  available channels
• Example 50 readers operating in 50 channels

Readers require knowledge of operational
deployment and the ability to adjust their RF
parameters for a given environment -ie. One
non-dense reader in a dense reader deployment
will spoil the whole frequency plan
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Air Interface Control