The November technology evening was held at the Umhambi lodge and sponsored by SICK Automation. Mark Madeley, the product manager responsible for identification products, gave a presentation on the basics of RFID. Mark started off by explaining the principles of inductive coupling used on the near field low frequency (LF) and high frequency (HF) ID tags as well as the backscatter method used on the far field ultra high frequency (UHF) tags. He then went on to discuss the possible ranges that can be achieved by the different RFID techniques including the relationship between the range and energy emitted by the antenna.
From left to right: Mark Madeley, Mervyn Govender, and Prishan Chain.
Mark went on to explain the different types of tags available on the market: passive, semi-passive and the active tags, from the very cheap plastic types to the robust outdoor models, as well as the generic tag architecture. The memory organisation was also reviewed as well as the RFID industry standards. The RFID market from the automated vehicle ID, car body skid identification, conveyor belts product ID (airport systems), smart warehouses, rail wagons, container, and pallet identification were also points of interest and, according to Mark, the market vast and still growing.
Mark introduced SICK’s RFID readers and explained their capability to read tags in any orientation. He then did a practical demonstration where he wrote to an ID tag and read back the data.
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