ODIN Labs, the scientific testing division of RFID software provider ODIN, intends to release Sept.8 testing results for eight RFID hand held readers. The RFID Hand held Reader Benchmark is designed to help end users differentiate between the many hand held models available and provide scientific input into the procurement process.
The hand-held RFID readers include:
- Motorola MC3090-Z (FCC)
- Motorola MC3190-Z (ETSI)
- Intermec IP30 (FCC)
- Intermec IP30 (ETSI)
- CSL CS101
- Unitech RHS767
- MacSema PCE 4050
- Symbol MC9000
The benchmark covers several areas of evaluation and includes a discussion on the impact of antenna technology on performance. One of the key tests was Orientation Sensitivity, which evaluates an RFID hand held antenna’s ability to pick up a tag regardless of orientation. This is particularly important with a hand-held since it is seldom held in the same plane.
A user will pick up a hand held reader and wave it in a general direction which will vary each time. On a tag grid, a circularly polarized antenna picks up close to 100% of the tags when the tag field is orientated horizontally and also when rotated 90 degrees. This is in contrast to a linearly polarized antenna which only has a high read rate for a specific orientation. ![[end]](/resources/bullet/rfidnews-4.gif)
