Subscriber Discussion

Will Two RFID Readers Read Further Than One?

U
Undisclosed #1
Sep 28, 2016
IPVMU Certified

Bought this RFID reader for smartphone thing to play around with.

Its great except for one thing; it sucks.

The range that is, its about 8 ft max, (using the small passive rfid stickers I have). So I was wondering if I could extend the range by having another unit blasting it with radio waves at the same time.

The theory would be that the output of the RFID is proportional to its input so two readers would generate a stronger signal.  

Though two things might work against that

  1. Phase cancellation/comb filtering
  2. The direct output of one reader interfering with the other.

Wild speculation encouraged...

U
Undisclosed #1
Sep 29, 2016
IPVMU Certified

I remember reading about two readers placed back to back interefering with each other, and a metal plate had to be used. Can't find it though.

Anybody remember that one?

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Brian Rhodes
Sep 29, 2016
IPVMU Certified

This depends on the antenna design of the reader unit. Not all readers require such a plate, especially mid-long range units with a directional bias.

U
Undisclosed #1
Sep 29, 2016
IPVMU Certified

Thanks.

Any guess as to whether two directional readers side-by-side pointing at the same target will read at greater distances than one alone?

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