Hi!
I am experimenting with Sparkfun Simultaneous M6E-nano with an external antenna. I have connected the reader to a Redboard, which I power with barrel jack. It works really nice, but I would like to extend the read range, so it would be nice to have at least two antennas. Is it possible to multiplex two antennas to the M6E-nano?
Thanks for your help!
Best regards,
Leo
Hi Leo,
According to the [M6E Design Guide the antenna port is capable of multiplexing up to 4 antennas but we have no documentation available to help you beyond the documents from the manufacturer. The [datasheet and the [documentation page for the Nano from Jadak may have some more information to help you with this.](You are being redirected...)](https://cdn.sparkfun.com/assets/4/e/5/5/0/SEN-14066_datasheet.pdf)](https://cdn.sparkfun.com/datasheets/Sensors/ID/Nano_Design_Guide_rev01E.pdf)
I’m also using a multiplexer, but the arduino library produced doesn’t seem provide for programming the GPIO ports, or setting up the antenna list or read plans. I’ve tried controlling the multiplexer directly from the arduino board, but whilst I can switch between ports I don’t get any returns from the attached antennae.
Has anyone successfully achieved multiplexing with the M6e Nano / Sparkfun simultaneous RFID tag reader?
HI
I have not tried this, but know some about the M6E Nano.
The Sparkfun driver only support a simple read plan, hard coded in the driver. It will set for one antenna and one antenna in the search-list. In the Mercury-API from Jadak they will do the same for the Nano (which has only one logical antenna). Other M6E versions can have up to 4 logical antenna’s and can support multiplexing up to 16 physical antenna’s with the M6E GPIO.
In my opinion it should be a possible to switch Antenna with external multiplexer controlled with an Arduino GPIO, but it has to follow a certain order or commands. Instead of flooding this forum, drop me an PM.