UHF RFID Antenna (TNC) connection with arduino

Sensors NFC & RFID
1

Hello,

Sorry if my questions are little random but i’m a beginner with Arduino :confused:

I have the project to create a box, with the system inside that allow us to know what products are in the box.

I’m planning to buy the UHF RFID Antenna (TNC) to detect all products in the same time, but i’m afraid to don’t know exactly how to connect it to an Arduino.

Currently i have a Arduino Mega 2560.

Is it necessary to use a Simultaneous RFID Reader - M6E Nano ? is it compatible with my arduino ?

And how to connect the Antenna, with TNC jack, to the reader ? Is a breadboard necessary (maybe with SMA adapter or something like that ?) ?

I’m available if you need other information.

Bye

2

Hi RBAUDOIN.

The UHF RFID Antenna (TNC) is just an antenna and won’t work without being attached to a RFID reader like our [M6E Nano board. Unfortunately the M6E Nano doesn’t work on a Mega though and you’d need an Uno.

Connecting the antenna to the M6E nano is done through a pair of cables, part numbers WRL-00662 and CAB-14132. You do need to change a few solder jumpers on the M6E Nano board to select an external antenna. This procedure is covered in the [M6E Nano hookup guide.](Simultaneous RFID Tag Reader Hookup Guide - SparkFun Learn)](https://www.sparkfun.com/products/14066)

3

Ok perfect, thank you for your answer :slight_smile:

I’ll try that !

4

Hello,

Following your advices, i bought everything to build the system.

Now, i have a new problem : I want to put information in a different form, but i’m afraid to damage the code (i’m not really a specialist).

I don’t want to have information in list form in the serial monitor.

The ACTUAL CODE :

    {
      //If we have a full record we can pull out the fun bits
      int rssi = nano.getTagRSSI(); //Get the RSSI for this tag read

      long freq = nano.getTagFreq(); //Get the frequency this tag was detected at

      long timeStamp = nano.getTagTimestamp(); //Get the time this was read, (ms) since last keep-alive message

      byte tagEPCBytes = nano.getTagEPCBytes(); //Get the number of bytes of EPC from response

      Serial.print(F(" rssi["));
      Serial.print(rssi);
      Serial.print(F("]"));

      Serial.print(F(" freq["));
      Serial.print(freq);
      Serial.print(F("]"));

      Serial.print(F(" time["));
      Serial.print(timeStamp);
      Serial.print(F("]"));

      //Print EPC bytes, this is a subsection of bytes from the response/msg array
      Serial.print(F(" epc["));
      for (byte x = 0 ; x < tagEPCBytes ; x++)
      {
        if (nano.msg[31 + x] < 0x10) Serial.print(F("0")); //Pretty print
        Serial.print(nano.msg[31 + x], HEX);
        Serial.print(F(" "));
      }
      Serial.print(F("]"));

I tought to change the code by removing all parts that are not interesting for me, like that :

    {
  
      byte tagEPCBytes = nano.getTagEPCBytes(); //Get the number of bytes of EPC from response

      //Print EPC bytes, this is a subsection of bytes from the response/msg array
      Serial.print(F(" epc["));
      for (byte x = 0 ; x < tagEPCBytes ; x++)
      {
        if (nano.msg[31 + x] < 0x10) Serial.print(F("0")); //Pretty print
        Serial.print(nano.msg[31 + x], HEX);
        Serial.print(F(" "));
      }
      Serial.print(F("]"));

Is it a good solution, or there is a risk of malfunction ?

Regards

5

I wouldn’t recommend changing the code unless you know exactly what you’re doing.

Feel free to experiment, but if something breaks, you’re going to want to change it back.

6

Hello RBAUDOIN,

can i ask how your project is working?

I’m currently in the same position as you. We also would like to create a setup like you did a few months ago.

We also want to label our items and put them in a box, when this box is full we want to read the items in the box and create a list.

is it possible to share some experience, scheme or setup, so we can learn from it?

i’m happy to know that i’m not the only one trying to learn to use these interesting electronics!

regards