Sun Java System RFID Software 3.0 Administration Guide

This appendix describes the supported RFID device profiles (also known as adapters) and their properties. This information can be seen and modified using the RFID Configuration Manager. See Managing Device Profiles for procedures.

The following tables list the properties (also known as attributes), a description and the valid values. Additional descriptive information for some properties follows the table where necessary to expand on the property usage. The properties that are common to all device profiles are described in detail in the section Device Profiles for Supported RFID Devices. The complete list of supported readers and other devices described in TABLE 2-3 found in Chapter 2

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Adapter for AWID Readers

This adapter is used to communicate with the AWID MPR-2010 reader. The adapter properties are defined in the following table.

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Adapter for Feig LRU1000 Readers

This adapter is used to communicate with the Feig LRU1000 reader. The adapter properties are shown in the following table.

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Adapter for Feig ISCMR100/PR100 Readers

This adapter is used to communicate with the Feig Electronic ID ISC MR.100 and Feig Electronic ID ISC PR.100 readers. The adapter properties are shown in the following table.

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Adapter for Intermec IF5 Readers

This adapter is used to communicate with Intermec Intellitag IF5 readers. The adapter properties are shown in the following table.

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PML Adapter

The PML Adapter is used to communicate with the software utility PML core reader. The PMLReader typically listens for connection on one or multiple ports. The adapter properties are shown in the following table.

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Adapter for Alien Readers

This adapter communicates with the Alien ALR-9780 or Alien NanoScanner 915 RFID readers. The adapter properties are shown in the following table.

Additional Properties Information for Alien Reader

• readerepcANT0, readerepcANT1 - This property overrides the value specified by the readerepc property for this particular antenna. (The readerepc property applies to the entire system as long as an EPC has not been specified for a particular antenna.) This property enables the events from two or more antennae from a single reader to be handled by two or more separate processing chains of filters and connectors. Setting the EPC identifier for the antenna tells the RFID Event Manager to discriminate between the antennae if they are enabled, but enabling the antenna is done through the use of the antennaSequence property.
• persisttime - This property should not be confused with the functionality provided by the Smoothing filter. The persisttime property is managed by the Alien RFID reader, not the RFID Event Manager. Refer to the Alien Reader documentation.

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Adapter for ThingMagic Mercury 3 and Sensormatic SensorID Agile 1 Readers

This adapter communicates with the ThingMagic Mercury 3 and the Sensormatic SensorID Agile 1 RFID Reader. The adapter properties are shown in the following table.

Additional Properties Information for Mercury 3 and Agile 1 Reader

• readerepcUHF1 - The variable portion of the property name, UHF1, can be UHF1, UHF2, HF1, or HF2. This is the EPC reader value associated with the UHF1, UHF2, HF1, and HF2 antennae of the reader. This property overrides the value specified by readerepc for this particular antenna. The readerepc property applies to the entire system as long as an EPC has not been specified for a particular antenna. This property is useful for handling the events from two or more antennae from a single reader by two or more separate processing chains of filters and connectors.

To activate only UHF1, use the following antenna property:

	<ems:properties>

		<ems:property>antenna</ems:property>

		<ems:value>1</ems:value>

	</ems:properties>

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Adapter for ThingMagic Mercury4 and Sensormatic Agile 2 Readers

This adapter is used to communicate with the ThingMagic Mercury4 and the Sensormatic Agile 2 RFID Reader. The adapter properties are shown in the following table.

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Adapter for Matrics Readers

This adapter is used to communicate with the Matrics RDR-001 and Matrics AR-400 RFID readers. The adapter properties are shown in the following table.

Additional Properties Information for Matrics Reader

• readerepcANTn - Specifies the reader antenna EPC identifier, an EPC value associated with antenna 1, 2, 3, and 4 of the reader where the variable n is the number of the antenna. This property overrides the value specified by readerepc for this particular antenna. The readerepc property applies to the entire system as long as an EPC has not been specified for a particular antenna. This property is useful for handling the events from two or more antennae from a single reader by two or more separate processing chains (filters and connectors). See readerepc. The following example specifies the EPC for antenna 1. Replace 0 with 1, 2, or 3 for the other antennae.


<ems:properties> <ems:property>readerepcANT0</ems:property> <ems:value>urn:epc:tag:gid-96:1.1.1</ems:value> </ems:properties>

readerepcANT0 corresponds to physical antenna 1, readerepcANT1 corresponds to antenna 2, readerepcANT2 corresponds to antenna 3, and readerepcANT3 corresponds to antenna 4.

• Node - The Matrics reader sits on an RS 485 bus, a form of serial bus where multiple serial devices can operate, unlike RS 232, where only one device can operate at a time. Each node on a RS 485 bus must have an address. The serial-to-network adapter relays commands to the reader based on this address. If additional readers are present then they have other addresses. For normal operation, no more than one reader is on the RS 485 bus. Each reader has its own serial-to-network adapter port interface and is directly IP-addressable. The following RS 485 address must be the same for all readers.


<ems:properties> <ems:property>Node</ems:property> <ems:value>4</ems:value> </ems:properties>

• Power - This property controls the power level transmitted during a given read or write interval. The normal transmit power of a North American Matrics RDR-001 reader is 4 watts. In other locales, this value might be less. The actual value is a percentage value. The minimum value is 01hex. The maximum value is FFhex, which specifies a full power condition (in our case 4 watts). The power level is logarithmic. With the reader RDR-001, the maximum power is about 30dBm. The value C0hex is about 50 percent and 80hex is about 25 percent of the maximum power.


<ems:properties> <ems:property>Power</ems:property> <ems:value>C0</ems:value> </ems:properties>

• Environment - This property determines how long the reader tries to read tags during a Read Full command. A larger number means longer, more intense reading (more frequencies in an FCC part 15 reader are used). This property is useful for applications where tagged items are not moving (stationary), such as in a shelf application, to overcome issues with interference and RF-Null's on a fixed pool of tags.

In an environment where tags move in and out of the read field of a reader, it is important to read as fast as possible to be able to start negotiating with new tags coming into the read field. That is why in dynamic environments the variable is usually small. The environment property is dependent on the location of the system. Generally, it is safe to start with the smallest value (00 for dynamic, 04 for static) to evaluate the performance. To improve reads, adjusting the property up or down might be necessary.

Practically, this value should remain at 4. There are few benefits to changing this value, unless you are sure that your environmental conditions are relatively constant.

	<ems:properties>

		<ems:property>Environment</ems:property>

		<ems:value>4</ems:value>

	</ems:properties>

• CombinedAntenna - This property indicates that all the antennas marked with "included" are grouped. That means a host has only to address the antenna with the smallest index to get reads from all combined antennas. For example, if antenna 1, 3 and 4 are combined, the host executes Read Full only for antenna 1 to get reads from antenna 1, 3 and 4.

This property only works for antenna 1. The reader tends to produce antenna faults whenever a value other than antenna 1 is chosen.

Because you generally want to distinguish between antennas, using this property is discouraged and is not connected. The property has been kept in case those interested in using it want to make future modifications.

	<ems:properties>

		<ems:property>CombinedAntenna</ems:property>

		<ems:value>1</ems:value>

	</ems:properties>

• Wait - Specifies the reader wait time that is used by the underlying adapter framework to pause between read cycles. The normal operation of the reader is to issue a read command, because autoread is simulated, one read command is required for each read cycle. The reader returns all tags read during this time, after which, the adapter framework waits for the time specified by this property.


<ems:properties> <ems:property>Wait</ems:property> <ems:value>80</ems:value> </ems:properties>

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Adapter for Printronix RFID Printers

This adapter is used to communicate with the Printronix SL 5000e RFID printer. The adapter properties are shown in following table.

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Adapter for SAMSys Readers

This adapter is used to communicate with the SAMSys MP9320 EPC V2.7 Reader. The adapter properties are shown in the following table.

Additional Properties Information for SAMSys Reader

• communicationTimeout - This property is used exclusively for all commands and responses on the device, except tag read commands and the respective responses. The property defines the inactivity threshold for reader responses. Performance can be highly dependent on this property, therefore reduce it from the default value of 10000 msec (10 seconds). You can start with a value of 1500msec, and make further reductions after observing deployment-specific performance. Observe the read performance with log levels set to FINEST. For more information, refer to TABLE 2-4.

Both the communicationTimeout and observationSetTimeout properties are used for detecting responses to the read command. The communicationTimeout property is used for the initial response, while observationSetTimeout is used for all subsequent observation responses. communicationTimeout behaves this way for all other commands.

The observationSetTimeout property sets the inactivity threshold for signalling that an observation set has completed. Default is 100 msec. This value can be reduced after observing deployment-specific performance.

• enableCommandResponseCRC - Specifies the Command Response Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC). Each command response received from the reader is provided with a CRC checksum. The SAMSysAdapter enables you to verify that the command response arrived without any transmission error. Alternatively, this check can be omitted. This property is used to establish whether these checks are performed. The valid values are true and false.
• enableTagReadResponseCRC - Specifies the Response Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC). Each reported tag observation sent from the reader is provided with a CRC checksum. The SAMSysAdapter enables you to verify that the transmitted tag data arrived without any transmission error. Alternatively, this check can be omitted to achieve greater system throughput. This property is used to establish whether these checks are performed. The valid values are true and false.
• scanDuration - The SAMsys reader does not offer the ability to poll for a specified duration as some other reader devices do. The adapter for the SAMSys reader emulates this capability. The adapter waits for the end of transmission from the reader (which could exceed the specified value) and dwells for the remaining time if the elapsed time is less than the value specified in the scanDuration property.
• protocol - The SAMSys reader supports reading a number of different RFID tags. The value of this property specifies the types being used during data capture. The default is ALL. Multiple property definitions can be combined by using a comma-separated list.The following protocols have been tested:
• For ISO 18000-6A, the value is IS186A.
• For ISO 18000-6B, Intermec Intellitag, Philips I-CODE HSL, the value is IS186B.
• For Alien EPC, the value is EPC1.
• For EM 4022, EM4222 the value is STG.
• For EPC0, the value is EPC0.

• readerepcANTn - Specifies the EPC value associated with the ANT1, ANT2, ANT3, and ANT4 antennae of the reader, where the variable n equals the number of the antenna. This property overrides the value specified by readerepc for this particular antenna. The readerepc property applies to the entire system as long as an EPC has not been specified for a particular antenna. The readerepcANTn property is useful for specifying that the events from two or more antennae from a single reader be handled by two or more separate processing chains. See also readerepc.

• cycles - Specifies the Antenna Inventory Round Operations. The SAMSys reader enables the Multiplexer Configuration Word (MCW) register to be set to specify the number of inventory operations per round. This property defines the number of inventory operations performed on each antenna before moving to the next antenna in the antenna sequence. See the SAMSys Comprehensive Heuristic Unified Messaging Protocol in the SAMSys documentation for more detailed information.
• antennanPower - Specifies the desired power level. The SAMSys reader has 48 power settings. The lowest setting is 60, translating to 12 dBm and 16 mW. 02 corresponds to 34.7 dBm 2.95 W.


60, 5e, 5c, 5a, 58, 56, 54, 52, 50, 4e, 4c, 4a, 48, 46, 44, 42, 40, 4e, 4c, 4a, 48, 46, 44, 42, 40, 3e, 3c, 3a, 38, 36, 34, 32, 30, 2e, 2c, 2a, 28, 26, 24, 22, 20, 1e, 1c, 1a, 18, 16, 14, 12, 10, 0e, 0c, oa, 08, 06, 04, 02

• regulatoryParty - Sets the Transmit Power Configuration (TPC) register within the SAMSys reader. Setting the value of this property to FCC sets the reader for FCC operation. Setting the value to ETSI sets the reader to ETSI operation with frequency hopping. Leaving the property unset leaves the reader register unchanged. SAMSys recommends changing this parameter only at the direction of SAMSys personnel. See the SAMSys Comprehensive Heuristic Unified Messaging Protocol in the SAMSys documentation for more detailed information.

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Adapter for Symbol MC9000-G Readers

This adapter communicates with a custom software program hosted on the Symbol MC9000 device. This adapter opens a server socket over TCP and listens for connections from the Symbol MC9000-G device. The data payload consists of one or more lines of text with two possible formats containing the data fields as shown in the following table.

• Format A - "tag,count\n". An example of Format A looks similar to the following:
• H40001403EA000001,1
• H40001403EA000002,3
• H40001403EA000028,15

In this example, the adapter receives three 64-bit EPC tags from the reader. The first tag was detected once, the second tag was detected three times, and the third tag was detected fifteen times. In release 3.0, the adapter ignores the count, and does not pass it to the event listeners.

• Format B - "timestamp,tag,classType,count\n". An example of Format B looks similar to the following:
• 2005-07-15T11:23:10-05:00,H40001403EA000001,C1,1
• 2005-07-15T11:23:13-05:00,H40001403EA000002,C1,3
• 2005-07-15T11:23:20-05:00,H40001403EA000028,C1,15

In this example, the adapter receives three class 1, 64-bit EPC tags from the reader. The first tag was detected once, the second tag was detected three times, and the third tag was detected fifteen times. In release 3.0 , the time that the tag was read is used as the current time. The adapter ignores the count and class type, which are not passed up stream to the event listeners.

Any application hosted on the Symbol MC9000-G device that conforms to this protocol will suffice. In most cases, these applications are built for a specific engagement. Contact your Sun Microsystems, Inc. representative to obtain a sample hand-held application that reads the contents of the comma-separated RFIDTagList.csv file that is generated by the Symbol RFID sample application that is shipped with your device. After reading this file, the sample Sun application sends the tag data that is read to this adapter using the format previously defined.

Applications are expected to use the RFID Software reader or web service APIs to query the tag list. In this case, set the autoread property to false, and have the application control how often to query for tags. Alternatively, a connector can be chained to this adapter to post a list of tags to a listening application. In this case, you might set the autoread property to true. Setting the autoread property to true enables a periodic set of queries can be generated to the handheld device and the list of tags posted when the reader posts its data.

Two consecutive queries to the adapter for a list of tags results in two separate attempts to collect RFID data from the device. Typically, the adapter queries the device for a list of tags on cycle n, resulting in tag list L1. On attempt n+1, the adapter might get an empty list if the hand-held device is not connected. On attempt n+2, the adapter might get tag list L2. A tag list is erased from the adapter buffer after the list is posted to its listeners.

The adapter properties for this reader are shown in TABLE A-13.

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Adapter for Zebra Technologies Printers

This adapter is used to communicate with the Zebra Technologies R110XiIIIPlus Printer. The adapter properties are shown in the following table.

Sun Java System RFID Software 3.0 Administration Guide

819-4685-10

Copyright © 2006, Sun Microsystems, Inc. All Rights Reserved.