International Operation (more information)
The USA and Europe use slightly different radio parameters for their RFID systems.
The USA uses a base frequency of 925Mhz, whilst Europe uses a base frequency of 865Mhz. However, the USA has many more channels available than Europe, which means that the effective permitted frequency range in the USA is 902MHz - 925MHz (50 Channels), whereas in Europe it's only 865.6MHz - 867.6MHz (10 Channels). Additionally, in the USA the power output of the RFID reader is 4W whilst in Europe it's only 2W.
As many of our customers have operations in both the USA and Europe we needed to use a "world tag" which has been designed to perform well at both the USA and European frequencies.
This is because the radio system is tuned to work optimally across a specific frequency range (in this case approx 865 MHz - 925 MHz) and provide the greatest amount of signal efficiency when used at these frequencies.
Typically a standard passive RFID tag responds with 100,000 times less signal than they receive from the RFID reader. Thus this efficiency is extremely important.
Tag in free air
However, if the efficiency is reduced, the amount of signal returned by the RFID tag is reduced and soon becomes too small to be read.
This problem occurs when these standard tags are used in the vicinity of metal, rubber or a liquid.
These substances detune the radio system, which greatly reduces its efficiency.
If the efficiency is reduced, the amount of signal returned by the RFID tag is reduced and soon becomes too small to be read.
Tag near metal
When a tag is detuned, it affects the extremes of the frequencies it is designed to work with more than the frequencies in the middle of its range.
This becomes a major problem for use in Europe, as the permitted frequencies for use in Europe appear at the lower end of the tag's range, whereas with the USA frequencies, although some fall at the higher end of the tag's range many fall in the middle of the tag's range.
Thus, many of the channels available to the USA are less affected by this detuning.
Detuning Problem
Additionally, the power transmitted from the reader in Europe is only half that permitted in the USA, so combining the reduced power plus the greater reduction in efficiency at the European frequency range, means that there are more problems to overcome when using standard tags near these problem substances in Europe than in the USA.
It is possible to limit the effect of this detuning by physically separating the tag's radio system from the adjacent problem material, however, the minimum separation is different at European frequencies from USA frequencies.
This means that a tag which may work acceptably within the vicinity of metal when using a radio system utilising the USA frequency range, may completely fail to perform when used in Europe.
Accordingly, all HireTAGs have been tested for usability at both frequency ranges in these adverse conditions.
Orientation Sensitivity and adjacent object detuning
As the equipment being presented to the 'Arch' or ''portal' is in a random orientation, all HireTAGs have been designed to produce the maximum possible sensitivity in all presentations.
For instance a standard tag has a 'Figure of 8' response in free air.
however when the tag is placed parallel to a cable, the cable shields the tag and also acts as a reflector so the resultant response is almost hyper-cardioid. This reduces the acceptance angle that the tag can be read from to a very narrow range of +/- 30 degrees.
The HireTAG cable tag's patented design overcomes this effect to present a near 360 degree acceptance angle.
If the cable is coiled the effect of an adjacent turn of cable lying against the tag can block and detune the tag unless sufficient separation is achieved between the turns.
The HireTAG cable tag allows adjacent turns to be close to the tag with minimum detuning, ensuring a much higher read rate than with other tags in similar circumstances.
