Specifications

Chapter 5

RFID Reader Design

The following subsections give a brief overview of RFID systems, their strengths

and weaknesses and suitability for this project. Thereafter, the design of an

independent RFID reader is discussed. Recall that two such units and a co-

ordinator are required for the penguin detection and identiﬁcation subsystem.

The design of the co-ordinator is discussed in Chapter 6.

5.1 Introduction

Radio Frequency Identiﬁcation (RFID) is a technology which allows objects

to be marked (or tagged) with small electronic identiﬁers which can be

detected wirelessly using radio-frequency waves. These tags (or transponders)

carry information in the form of an identiﬁcation number and possibly user-

deﬁned data as well. Readers (or interrogators) consist of antennas and

receiver circuitry which can retrieve the data from the tags for processing.

5.1.1 Operational Components

An RFID installation typically comprises:

1. RFID transponders

• Antenna

• Controller IC