User's Manual

2 Stationary Reader User’s Manual  2001-2002 Matrics, Inc.
Section 2. System Description
Matrics develops and markets Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) solutions that are effective and
affordable by offering a combination of low cost, long read range, and a very high read rate unmatched
by other RFID systems. A Matrics RFID System gives you real-time, end-to-end visibility of products
and assets in your factory, distribution center, retail outlet, or other facility. A typical Matrics RFID
system consists of three main components:
• Silicon-based RFID tags that can be attached to containers, pallets, boxes, trays, etc., to create a
“people-free” wireless environment for tracking objects as they travel through the supply chain,
• Reader network components (readers, antennas, cables, connectors, power supplies, etc.) that
power and communicate with the tags, and
• The Matrics Visibility Manager (MVM) software that runs on your choice of host computer and
collects tag data automatically.
Product Description
The Matrics Stationary Reader (PN: RDR-001) is an industrial strength fixed Reader targeted to indoor
applications, such as warehouses. The Reader offers superior and robust read range capabilities, anti-
collision features, and very high data read rates unmatched by other systems. It can be easily mounted in
areas of ingress and egress where large numbers of tagged objects are inbound or outbound in a logistics
process. It is packaged ready to be interfaced to your host computer, and can easily be programmed to
perform specific tasks.
The Reader provides all of the RF and control functions required to power and communicate with
Matrics passive RFID tags (PN: SDR-001 and DDS-001.) It sends digital data to the tag (through one
antenna at any given time) on a pulse width modulated On Off Keyed (OOK) transmitter signal,
demodulates the identification signal received from the tag, and then sends the data to your host
computer.
The Matrics Reader network is structured to allow for flexibility in system configurations and in the
arrangement of read points to optimize coverage at a low overall cost. In its maximum configuration, a
single Reader can support a total of thirty-two (32) lower performance antennas [with eight (8) lower
performance antennas attached to each of up to four (4) multiplexers attached to a Reader], or four (4)
high performance antennas attached directly to a Reader. Any combination (up to the maximum) of high
performance antennas (directly attached to the Reader) and lower performance antennas (attached to the
Reader via multiplexers) can be implemented.
The system also employs a unique, patented reader-driven interrogation protocol that allows up to two
hundred (200) tags to be read each second. This powerful read rate supplies the muscle to overcome
interference in noisy environments, and to guarantee acceptable read rates at each read point when large
numbers of antennas are multiplexed together.
Readers can be powered either locally or through the network cable in the event there is not a local power
source near by, and to minimize overall network infrastructure costs.