User Guide

Table Of Contents
Power Amplifier Protection
Functionality of the Embedded Modules 23
Note
Power calibration only occurs once when the RF power is turned on. It does
not occur periodically when the RF field is on.
This is not an issue during normal operation,= since a frequency hop occurs within the
regulatory hop interval (see
Maximum Frequency Hop Interval for region specific values)
and thermal drift does not affect the power level significantly. However, in CW waveform
mode (Transmit CW Signal), no power calibration occurs unless the power or frequency
is changed. Thus, it is possible to experience thermal drift in this usage if the unit is left to
transmit continuously for a significant period of time.
TX Read Power
The TX read power is used for all non-write commands to tags. This may include, but is
not limited to, commands to read a tag ID and read tag data.
TX Write Power
The TX write power is used only during commands that change a tag’s state. This
includes commands for Lock, Kill, as well as Tag ID Write and Tag Data Write.
Note
During Write commands, which both write to and verify the written contents,
the entire operation will be done at the Tx Write Power, including tag
singulation and the write verify.
Power Amplifier Protection
Certain usage scenarios can cause the M6e-TC to operate into very low return loss
situations and/or cause a considerable amount of reflected power to feed back into the
M6e-TC power amplifier (PA). M6e-TC firmware versions prior to v1.13 had software PA
protection functionality that would protect against such conditions. This was required by
the original M6e-TC (pre-2012 hardware) modules. The M6e-TC2 (2012 Hardware
update) includes a more robust PA which can tolerate such conditions and does not
require software protection. Firmware version v1.13 no longer contains software PA
protection and should not be installed on older hardware.