Active RFID tag - small, light and long range?

majobi

We need a very small, very light tag with 200yd read range.
The tag cannot be larger than 1/6 inches in diameter.
We have some flexibility about the length and the tag could be 12 inches or longer.

I am seeking guidance on how to source and develop this unit.
Any and all suggestions are welcome.

kwinn

This is more of an rf transmitter (think garage door opener) than an rfid tag. An rfid tag is generally powered by the rf field of the reader, so needs to be close to the reader.

majobi

Thanks!
I have seen some active RFID with specs of 100yds, 200yds.
A transmitter will be fine.

My true requirement is to track an item. My tracker has to be small, light and be identifiable within a couple hundred yards.
The length of the tag/transmitter is not as critical but the diameter is very important. I have to produce this tag/transmitter in a unit size that is less than 1/6 inch diameter.
Any suggestions for a transmitter in this size are also greatly appreciated.

Publison

majobi wrote: »

Thanks!
I have seen some active RFID with specs of 100yds, 200yds.
A transmitter will be fine.

My true requirement is to track an item. My tracker has to be small, light and be identifiable within a couple hundred yards.
The length of the tag/transmitter is not as critical but the diameter is very important. I have to produce this tag/transmitter in a unit size that is less than 1/6 inch diameter.
Any suggestions for a transmitter in this size are also greatly appreciated.

Not sure if you realize the transmitter, (the active tag), will also need a power source, such as a battery. That might not fight your size restraints.

kwinn

The 1/6" diameter is going to be the sticking point for this. Perhaps it's possible with hearing aid batteries and smt components but it will not be easy.

Tracy Allen

D.P., knowing my interest in RF tagging bees, sent me a link to this article about research at Max Plank Institut. A link is tracking-honeybees-to-save-them.

They claim a range of 1/3 mile. I'm highly skeptical for various reasons, but there you have it. It is DIY. The battery pictured is the biggest item, maybe 1/6 inch--I hope it is less for the bee's sake.

majobi

Thanks! That can work!
I have a battery for the project that is already available.
However, I am not quite capable of building this device without some type of a schematic.
Does anyone have a suggestion where I can obtain some drawings and/or a parts list?

Thanks for the help!!

Tracy Allen

There's an open access paper about the RF tag for tracking orchid bees in Panama. Large-Range Movements of Neotropical Orchid Bees Observed via Radio Telemetry, http://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0010738. Quite interesting in and of itself. There is a large photo of the radio and a video showing how they attach it and release the bee, and maps of activity.

Another more technical article on the wireless network is in Computer Journal, Tracking Animal Location and Activity with an Automated Radio Telemetry System in a Tropical Rainforest

It appears that the tracking tags were supplied by Sparrow Systems of Fisher IL, but there is not info there about much of anything.

I learned about this stuff from Stuart Mackay's classic, [URL="http://Bio-Medical Telemetry: Sensing and Transmitting Biological Information from Animals and Man"]Bio-Medical Telemetry: Sensing and Transmitting Biological Information from Animals and Man[/URL]. (Note that there are used library copies going for a song) It is long out of date, except for the fundamentals, but it appears to me that the bee tags may indeed utilize that old KISS technology.

All I know about the bee tag is that it puts out pulses, ~2Hz at ~378MHz, no digital coding mentioned, and that it weighs 300mg including the battery.