RFID receivers have all protocols covered

RF Solutions has introduced a family of radio frequency identification (RFID) receiver modules, transponder cards and development/evaluation kits. The range, comprising five new basic products, will help engineers develop custom RFID solutions in what is a rapid growth market with a huge and diverse range of applications. The RF Solutions RFID product range comprises modules that each use a different popular protocol enabling more and varied applications to be addressed.

The protocols include: Hitag 1 and 2, EM Marin, Quad Tag and Mifare.

The 125kHz RFID Hitag 1/S (Philips Semiconductor) receiver module provides a good general-purpose solution with read/write capability, and a communication rate of up to 4Kbaud over a distance of up to 20cm.

The accompanying transponder card has a memory of 256byte plus a specification that includes data encryption and password support.

The Hitag 2 (Philips Semiconductor) protocol receiver/transponder combination offers a similar specification but with a 32byte transponder card memory and password exchange capability.

The more basic EM Marin (Philips Semiconductor) receiver module provides a basic read-only solution, without encryption, for simple access control applications.

A further option is the versatile Quad Tag receiver module which fully supports Hitag 1/S, Hitag 2 and EM Marin protocols.

The fifth and final RFID module in the RF Solutions range uses the Mifare protocol (Philips Semiconductor).

The receiver module is capable of both read and write operations to the transponder.

High-speed communication - up to 106Kbaud - is possible over distances of up to 10cm.

Operating frequency is 13.56MHz.

Mifare transponder keycards are available with either 1 or 4Kbyte memory and provide multiple keycodes and encryption.

Comprehensive kits for each of the five modules help engineers quickly and easily develop, implement and evaluate an RFID solution for their specific application.

The development kits typically comprise a host PCB for the RFID receiver, and RFID receiver module and antenna, a transponder card, an RS232 cable plus software and documentation.