1. Integrated Project – EC FP7 215417 AspireRfid Solution Deployment Best Practices (beyond RFID Software and Middleware) ASPIRE Consortium Advanced Sensors and lightweight Programmable middleware for Innovative Rfid Enterprise applications: ASPIRE

2. AspireRFID Best Practices are applied in the scope of typical RFID Deployment Steps Integrated Project – EC FP7 215417  Site Survey and Assessment  Ensure Best Tag Design and Placement: Tag Selection Process Tag Placement Process  Testing the RFID elements: Readers, RF Components,… Emphasize reader testing, selection and installation  Start working with Middleware and Software: AspireRFID middleware modules and tools

3. AspireRFID Deployment Best Practices Integrated Project – EC FP7 215417  Middleware and Software are among the key elements of any non-trivial RFID Solution deployment AspireRFID provides RFID middleware and tooling solutions  Successful Deployment depends however in other (non- software related) technical issues and factors as well Deployers must be able to successfully deal with them  Confronting such issues requires: Experience Testing (Trial and Error) A continuous improvement discipline

4. Best Practice Areas (Beyond RFID Middleware / Software) Integrated Project – EC FP7 215417  Tag Selection  Antenna Positioning  Cable Selection  Reader Configuration  Printer Location  RF Interference  MultiPath Fading  Integration with Legacy Applications

5. Tag Selection Considerations (1) Integrated Project – EC FP7 215417  Three important considerations Tag Materials Impedance Matching Position of Tags on Items or Containers  Materials: Coper offers a higher conductivity than aluminium Tags built from coper have a longer reading range

6. Tag Selection Considerations (2) Integrated Project – EC FP7 215417  Impendance matching between the chip and the antenna: Usually chips and antennas manufactured from the same vendor are better matched Better overall quality  Positions of tags on items or containers: Assure that the attached tags are aligned with the near by antennas Yields better electromagnetic reflections and thus more accurate readings

7. Antenna Positioning Considerations Integrated Project – EC FP7 215417  Angle of the Antenna while mounting The angle should be chosen in such a way that tags remain as much time as possible in the antenna field of view  Field of view of antennas connected to different readers: Dhould have no intersection  Antenna beams: Should be known so as to create intense, well contained read zones Little spillover beyond exterior faces

8. Cable Selection Integrated Project – EC FP7 215417  Cables should have: Minimum attenuation Short length No breakings

9. Reader Configuration Integrated Project – EC FP7 215417  Readers should be configured as follows: Inventory should start and stop with the use of general purpose inputs and outputs, as this type of operation is well suited in industrial environments Antenna inventory should not be stopped if the antenna field is not stable, i.e., new tags are being read. The highest transmit power is not always beneficial.  Lowering the transmit power can sometimes yield better performance  RF interference from other devices can be avoided

10. Printer Location Integrated Project – EC FP7 215417  Printer should be placed away from dock doors Impossible for tags generated by RFID printers to be immediately read by readers in dock doors  The performance of readers degrades  Those particular tags, depending on the middleware configuration, may not participate in any other process

11. RF Interference Integrated Project – EC FP7 215417  The interference from surrounding devices should be measured by elecromagnetic field meters, in order to identify interference problems  This should typically occur during the site survey

12. Multipath Fading Integrated Project – EC FP7 215417  Reflective surfaces in the surrounding environment should be recognized before antenna installation.  Electromagnetic waves from antennas should not propagate towards reflective surfaces This could result into stray tags

13. Enterprise Applications Integration Integrated Project – EC FP7 215417  Available interfaces in Enterprise Applications and Corporate Databases should be studied prior to integration, e.g.,: XML interfaces Web Services Database Connectivity / Sychrnonization  Latency and Synchronization issues should be studied: On a per use case basis  The applicability and use of the AspireRFID connector interface should be studied

14. AspireRFID Best Practices are applied in the scope of typical RFID Deployment Steps Integrated Project – EC FP7 215417  Site Survey and Assessment  Ensure Best Tag Design and Placement: Tag Selection Process Tag Placement Process  Testing the RFID elements: Readers, RF Components,… Emphasize reader testing, selection and installation  Start working with Middleware and Software: AspireRFID middleware modules and tools Enterprise Apps Integration will be addressed as part of middleware integration