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MRD2EVM: looking for the Check Tag Command

Part Number: MRD2EVM

Hello Guys,

Good day.

Our customer is working with the MicroReader2 software, and was just wondering about the Check Tag Type Command, it appears to be absent from any documentations and he just wanted clarification on how to translate the TX and RX information.

It would be very helpful to understand what it is saying to the MRD2 device and what is being returned back from transponder.

Thanks and regards,

Art

  • Hi Art,

    there is no special command to check which type of transponder is in the field. For most transponders, just the charge burst is send and the transponder will send a response. The response contains, depending on the transponder, different start-bytes. From these start-bytes the transponder type can be detected. (i.e. 0x7E for R/O Transponder; 0xFE for R/W transponder).

    The command send to the reader is a so called Bit Sequence Protocol (BSP) which can be found in the MRD Reference Guide in chapter 6.2:

    https://www.ti.com/lit/ug/scbu049/scbu049.pdf

    This command will only send a 50ms charge burst.

    The second command is for all HDX+ (TMS37190) based transponders. They have two configuration bytes which can be read with the command explained in chapter 6.3.6.13. This is part of the Easy Code Mode (ECM) commands.

    The coding of these config bytes is not an open specification but can be figured out checking known transponders.

    Best Regards,

    Helfried

  • Thanks Helfried.

    Customer have some follow-up inquiries:

    "I was looking to see if you guys have any evaluation boards for your PalFI transponders, we have designed our own and are getting it printed, but an evaluation board would still be helpful for guaranteeing whatever faults are user error. And from my understanding of power burst 1 and 2, power burst 1 simply charges the VCL capacitor on the transponder so that it has enough power to receive the data coming on power burst 2, is this the correct understanding?"

    Thanks and regards,

    Art

  • Hi Art,

    sorry, but the PaLFI evaluation board is no more available, so the customer has to rely on its own design.

    The first power burst charges the VCL capacitor . This stored energy is enough to operate commands like the read commands. In case of any commands that starts an internal programming cycle, like programming, lock and protect, the second power burst is needed to give the transponder additional energy to program the memory.

    Best Regards,

    Helfried