With fewer overall components, the new chips consume less power and take up less space than existing models.
The new reader chips enable reads in the 13.56 MHz band, which is designated high-frequency in the US. They can be used in both fixed and handheld readers.
The chips are small, measuring just 5mm by 5mm, and support ISO/IEC 14443A/B, ISO/IEC 15693 and ISO/IEC 18000-3 protocols, as well as TI’s own Tag-It RFID silicon portfolio.
Notably, TI’s new TRF7969 line of chips have dual receiver input, which helps to eliminate read holes that occur when an RFID tag’s antenna changes the tag return signal from AM, or amplitude modulation, to PM, phase modulation.
And to give readers greater range, TI said it integrated on-board linear voltage regulators that turn up the analog, digital and power amplifiers to provide power supply noise isolation.
The Dallas, Texas-based chipmaker was able to shrink the size of the chips in part by using an internal clock for the controller, which uses only a single 13.56MHz crystal rather than the standard two crystals.
Power consumption is reduced thanks to seven manual or automated configuration settings that shut down unused sections of the reader to save power. Consequently, the chips operate in 2.7 to 5.5 Vdc input supply voltage and when in power down mode, consumption is less than 1 micro Amp.
The chips also boast error checking, data formatting, framing and anti-collision support for multi-reader environments.
