D3.7 A Structured Collection on Information and Literature on Technological and Usability Aspects of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID)

Untitled READERS

The fundamental role of the reader is to interrogate the tag and retrieve its stored data. In the case of active tags this role is extended to bidirectional communication. Whilst this is a seemingly simple task, the reader actually has to deal with potentially complex streams of data. This is, in part, because at any given times several RFID tags may well be within the polling range of the reader. When this happens the reader must be able to ensure the integrity of the data it is receiving. The functions of the reader are controlled by ‘middleware’, the software which runs inside the reader. This allows basic error checking, filtering, and low level control over the polling and tag reading. It also forms the interface between the reader module and the backend system. Readers can use one or more antennas.