Avery Dennison RFID - Manual (Page 15)

HowToRFID
Revision: 13 Date: 31 August 2009
Page 15 of 53
2.4.6 Hotspot-/Profile test
How to execute the hotspot-/profile test
To find an optimized antenna position, execute a “Hotspot test”. To execute a hotspot test use the menu item
“RFID Parameters / Hotspot test”.
Repeat the Hotspot test with different power level settings to find a combination of power level and antenna offset
which makes sure only the inlay in direct contact (located nearby) the antenna is processed and no adjacent read
or writes occur.
With attenuation power control (firmware version <= X.33):
Start with minimum power (high value, for example 245) and increase the power (decrease the power level value)
in steps of 5 or 10. Starting with low power identifies the most sensitive position.
With dBm power control (firmware version >= X.34):
Start with minimum power (low value, for example 5) and increase the power (increase the power level value) in
steps of 5. Starting with low power identifies the most sensitive position.
How to hotspot-/profile test works
At the beginning the printer positions the start of label (top of label) to the center of the printer’s antenna. During the
test the label gets feed stepwise by 2.0 mm until the end of the label reaches the position of the printers antenna.
The length of the label is determined by the current material length setting.
At each position the printer tries to write an EPC code to the tag with different power levels. The range of the power
level to be tested is determined by the current power level and ranges from current value -5 dBm ... current value +
5 dBm. At each test point (position / power level) a single write attempt is made and the result (success or failure)
gets recorded into the printer’s memory.
After the complete label has been processed, a test result graph is generated and printed to the same or a
following label. For short labels the printout can be printed to a following label due to slight slippage during feeding
and gap detection. If it’s required to print exactly to the same label, decreasing the material length by 1..3 mm may
help, especially if material length was adjusted with the auto-calibrate feature.
Hot to read the result printout
The Y-axis (feeding direction) direction shows the position (unit mm) of the “hotspot” relative to top of label (begin
of label = 0 mm). The position determined during analysis of the printout can be transferred 1:1 to the antenna-
offset parameter of the EasyPlug #IM command.
The X-axis (across the label) shows the power level (unit dBm). Power level increases from left to right side (0 dBm
at the left side ca. 30 dBm on the right side). Possible range depends from the capabilities of the RFID reader
module.
A black dot (filled square) shows a successful encoding for the related position and power level. The complete
tested range (position and power level) is indicated by the dotted line rectangle.
Current settings of the RFID components (RFID reader module, firmware version, current power level) are shown in
the top right corner.
The thick dotted line across the label shows the position of the printer’s antenna (if TOL is at the print-head).