I am looking for the best medium-range (1 to 3 meter) miniature interrogator—ideally, one with its own battery power source. What would the experts suggest?
—Name withheld
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I am unaware of any reader that would fit your needs. A read range of 3 meters (approximately 10 feet) means you will need a passive ultrahigh-frequency (UHF) reader. There are many UHF interrogators on the market, but most are not “miniature,” and most lack a power source. You will likely need to either choose one that is small, or that has a battery, or create something yourself.
ThingMagic offers its M5e-Compact UHF reader module, which is the size of a compact flash card. It consumes less power than larger readers, and has a read range of up to 6 meters (18 feet). It doesn’t have a power source, but you could potentially add your own.
Applied Wireless Identifications (AWID), Feig Electronic, SkyeTek RFID and others also produce UHF reader modules that might do what you require.
In addition, Motorola offers its RD5000 Mobile RFID Reader, which has an interrogator, an antenna and a battery housed in a ruggedized case, but that is not “miniature” either. It is seven inches long, nine inches wide and two inches deep—about the size of a netbook computer.
If RFID Journal‘s readers have any other suggestions, please post them below.
—Mark Roberti, Founder and Editor, RFID Journal