Design Guide

Antenna Port
A DIVISION OF TRIMBLE
80 Functionality of the ThingMagic Nano
Antenna Port
The ThingMagic Nano has one monostatic antenna port. This port is capable of both
transmitting and receiving. The module also supports Using a Multiplexer
, allowing up to 4
total logical antenna ports, controlled using two GPIO lines.
Note
The ThingMagic Nano does not support bistatic (separate transmit and
receive port) operation.
Using a Multiplexer
Multiplexer switching is controlled through the use of one or two of the General Purpose
Input/Output (GPIO) lines. In order to enable automatic multiplexer port switching the
module must be configured to use Use GPIO as Antenna Switch in /reader/antenna/
portSwitchGpos.
Once the GPIO line(s) usage has been enabled the following control line states are
applied when the different Logical Antenna settings are used. The tables below show the
mapping that results using GPIO 1 and 2 for multiplexer control (as is used by the
ThingMagic 1 to 4 multiplexer) allowing for 4 logical antenna ports.
Note
The Logical Antenna values are static labels that correspond to the control
line states. The mapping is shown here:
GPIO 1 & 2 Used for Antenna Switching
If only one GPIO Output line is used for antenna control, the combinations of the available
output control line states (the GPIO line in use and the module port) result in a subset of
logical antenna settings which can be used.
GPIO
Output 1
State
GPIO
Output 2
State
Logical Antenna
Setting
Low Low 1
Low High 2
High Low 3
High High 4