User's Guide

Power Node Reader V2 User's Guide
25/33 Revision 3.2 07/03/2019
PN TIME
enter here the Transmit RF on time in milliseconds (ms). 2000ms to 10’000ms per antenna are
standard time to complete a read round.
Power Node Radio Power Amplifier is not meant to continuously deliver Power over more than 60s on all
channel Outputs.
Excessive current consumption may cause overheating of both radio part and battery pack. Make sure not to
exceed an overall 60s on time and an off time at least ten times the on time.
PN POWER
enter here the Transmit RF on power in dBm. Typical values range from 20 to 30dBm, optimum range
for standards 20mm by 40mm Tag antenna dimen
sions is 24 to 27dBm.
Start Mux
Tick or untick this option if desired
Enable
Tick or untick this option if you want the PN to be active or not for a specific round of measurement.
There after the Power Node does not need to be switched on to proceed further. Whenever powered by a battery or an external
PSU the Power Node will be ready to answer queries and actions commanded by the Hot Spot.
To check that we can properly communicate with the targeted Power Nodes (1 and 2 in our case) we just need to depress the “--
Test PN--” button. On the main window, some information about the hardware and the battery status will appear. Here PN1 and
PN2 return their battery voltage respectively 3’915mV and 4’088mV. Refer to the screen shot there below on Figure 17.
Figure 17 : Main Screen following a Test PN query
Do make sure that the battery voltage level is at least 3.6V before turning the RF on. Due to high inrush-
current and high battery resistivity when depleted, the battery voltage could drop below the 3.3V minimum
voltage and reduce the battery’s life expectancy.
At last, the “--read PN--“command can be launched to read all tags illuminated by all the declared PN antennas and received by the
Hot Spot.
A popup window will come up confirming the start of the first Power Node 1 of the list like displayed Figure 18.