Overview

Tag performance rarely happens by accident. It is the product of careful processes including product selection, site analysis, and testing. It requires careful calibration of readers and antennas. Above all, it involves testing in a rigorous, scientific manner so that your systems will read tags reliably and consistently. This chapter describes how to do the analysis, calibration, and testing to engineer the performance of your tags.

The testing must be done at the correct frequency ranges in the location(s) of your application. Determine in which region(s) your usage will occur, and then use Table 12-1 to determine the correct frequency settings (UHF only).

Throughout this chapter, we will refer to this as the local frequency.

12.1 Your Test Department

You will need a way to perform a variety of tests throughout your project. You will need to test the following items:

• Readers and antennas, in order to decide which to purchase, and which to use in particular circumstances. These tests will also enable you to design read zones, tune your antennas and readers, and discover the performance characteristics of your RFID systems.

• Tags, in order to find out which will work well on your various packages, cartons, and products. These tests will also enable you to document performance and discover the small differences in placement and orientation that enable tags to communicate with readers at satisfactory levels...