Impinj Releases Compact High-Performance EPC RFID Portal

The reader also uses Impinj's Autopilot technology, which the company debuted in August 2009, with the launch of its Speedway Revolution interrogator (see New Impinj Reader Goes on Autopilot). Autopilot, which allows the reader to adapt to the environment in which it is located, includes a dynamic antenna switch that enables the device to devote its attention to the antennas receiving signals from a higher quantity of tags, rather than those receiving signals from a smaller quantity. In that way, if a handcart with tagged items low to the floor passes by the xPortal, the interrogator focuses on the location at which the tags are being read, while if several pallets are stacked one on top of another, with tags at multiple heights, the device will spread that attention out to the entire antenna array.

Scot Stelter, Impinj's senior director of product marketing

The xPortal's two DLPA antennas transmit a 60-degree horizontal beam from left to right and an 80-degree vertical beam from top to bottom, providing complete coverage for typical portal scenarios. Autopilot's antenna switching feature automatically adjusts the amount of time the antennas spend in each state (vertical or horizontal) to optimize performance. Typically the reader will switch between states within 20 and 200 milliseconds, says Bowman.

With Autopilot, the reader can also adjust to changing RF environments, by sensing environmental noise and interference, and then responding to that external environment by adjusting its RF signal accordingly (such as increasing its read sensitivity when necessary). Additionally, the Revolution has a low-duty cycle, which means it ceases transmitting an RF signal if it fails to detect any tags within its vicinity. In this way, the device not only conserves power, but also reduces RF noise for other readers that might be in the area. The interrogator periodically pings out a signal to check if any RFID tags come within range, then resumes full operation if it receives a response.

The xPortal is designed for retail settings, offices, hospitals or other indoor environments in which tags would need to be read on files, assets, pallets or individuals passing through doorways or hallways. Generally, there would be two readers installed at each doorway, which could be mounted on a wall, the ceiling or their own bases.

The xPortal has used pilot applications involving several retailers, though Impinj declines to name the participants in those pilots. The company plans to begin shipping the product in June of this year, Stelter says, and is now taking orders. "Our message," he states, "is that if you switch to this approach [xPortal readers, rather than traditional AC-powered devices], you can save $1,000 per doorway." He notes that in a typical deployment with two readers—one on each side of a doorway—the savings would be realized in the reduced cost of installing the interrogators, as well as in the lower expenses of powering, shipping and handling them. According to Impinj, the xPortal sells for $2,495.