Hi everybody
Could you please answer the question regarding the product “SparkFun Simultaneous RFID Reader - M6E Nano”,
https://www.sparkfun.com/products/14066
The questions I have:
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Our goal is to read a stack of tags. Is it capable of reading say 10-20-30 tags which are stacked on top of each other with, say, 0.5cm distance between the tags (tags shall be attached to plastic pieces which are approx. 0.3-0.5cm wide? Would the product be able to read these tags if located at the bottom of the stack?
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How reliable is distance measurement to the tags if the tags are stacked on top of each other? If at 1-2 m distance there are, say, 200-300 tags can one reliably identify what tags are closer to the receiver → E.g. If we want to solve whether a tag is in a dedicated area, marked by other “checkpoint” tags, with a receiver in the center of the area, is it possible to identify that tags are inside the enclosed by “checkpoints” area or not?
Thank you very much for your answer!
Knowing the M6E Nano I do not think it will do what you are looking for. You are looking for a more professional solution.
The M6E Nano has only 1 antenna, for your solution you would ideally be able to switch antennas to read the tags from a different positions.
The Sparkfun M6E driver is a scaled down version of the Jadak/Thingmagic MercuryAPI. The MercuryApi is able to use much more of the M6E capabilities including GEN2-sessions and GEN2-target setting, so that an identified /read tag is not responding anymore during this inventory phase to allow other tags to be found. Also the MercuryAPI allows you to make multiple-readplans in which you can switch antenna, hop-frequencies, set filters, within the allowed regional UHF band to increase detection.
For sure you need a strong power supply to increase the readpower with an external antenna.
I would advice to look at https://www.jadaktech.com/products/thingmagic-rfid/ and look for there different solutions. Also based on M6E, but designed for different purposes.