ThingMagic Astra-EX, User Manual

Page 1: ...1 Mercury6 M6 and Astra EX User Guide For firmware version 4 17 and later 875 0058 05 RevC...

Page 2: ...e the markings Any person other than the U S Government who has been provided access to such data must promptly notify ThingMagic ThingMagic Mercury Reads Any Tag and the ThingMagic logo are trademark...

Page 3: ...terfaces 13 MercuryAPI 13 Demo Applications 13 LLRP 13 On Reader Applications 14 Setting Up the Reader 15 Equipment Required 15 Setup Procedure 16 Connecting Antenna s to the Reader 16 Powering Up the...

Page 4: ...the USB Console Port 39 Using GPIO 40 Inputs 40 Outputs 40 Connector Pinout 41 Controlling the Reader 43 Using the Browser Based Interface 43 Status Page 44 Query Page 45 Settings Page 50 Restart Page...

Page 5: ...Interface 75 Power 75 Environmental 76 Physical Dimensions 76 Supported UHF Tag Protocols 76 Data Control Wireless Interfaces 76 Performance 77 Regulatory Safety 77 User Memory 77 Compliance and IP No...

Page 6: ...6 Troubleshooting Table 87 Reset to the Default Configuration 88 Collecting Diagnostic Data for ThingMagic Support 88 Analyzing the Boot Logs 89...

Page 7: ...pecifications and antenna information that are specific to the M6 and Astra EX Reader Applications to control the M6 and Astra EX can be written using the high level MercuryAPI The MercuryAPI supports...

Page 8: ...browser based interface and the configuration and testing options available through it Advanced Reader Functionality Provides descriptions of the M6 and Astra EX advanced protocol specific configurati...

Page 9: ...nectors Antenna Connections The M6 supports four monostatic bidirectional RF antennas through four Reverse Polarity TNC RP TNC or R TNC connectors labeled RFID1 through RFID4 on the M6 Figure 1 The As...

Page 10: ...ring operation or if the M6 and Astra EX sees an open or short circuit at its antenna port W A R N I N G To comply with FCC s RF radiation exposure requirements the antenna s used for this transmitter...

Page 11: ...r See Power for DC Power supply requirements The connector used Switchcraft Inc 761KS12 has the following specifications 2 5mm hollow center pin Lock Ring Thread Size 7 16 32 UN2B thread Handle Thread...

Page 12: ...Hardware Overview M6 and Astra EX User Guide 12 moisture protection the Reset button is covered by a screw To press the Reset the screw must be removed...

Page 13: ...available on rfid thingmagic com devkit under cs samples exe Universal Reader Assistant2 0 exe See the Universal Reader Assistant 2 0 User Guide on rfid thingmagic com devkit for usage details LLRP LL...

Page 14: ...and API v1 19 for Astra EX support running custom applications on the reader built using the MercuryAPI C Language interface Most programs written using the C API can be compiled to run as a client a...

Page 15: ...some additional hardware The additional hardware required includes A computer with a Java enabled web browser Ethernet cable CAT5e shielded 5 Wideband antenna s not required for Astra EX Coax cable s...

Page 16: ...eader The M6 Reader supports up to four monostatic antennas The default power setting that you configure is applicable to all antennas although per antenna settings are supported See Settings Page for...

Page 17: ...provided to the M6 and Astra EX Reader the Reader will use only the DC power supply as the source of power In this situation if DC power is turned off then the Reader requires a hard power cycle a sof...

Page 18: ...e IP Addressing on Windows to get a link local address To connect your Reader directly to your PC 1 Connect an Ethernet cable to your PC 2 Connect the other end of the Ethernet cable to the Reader s P...

Page 19: ...rlier did not support link local addressing By default the reader would fallback to a static IP address 10 0 0 101 if a DCHP server was not available If this functionality is desired please contact Th...

Page 20: ...k the Properties button The Local Area Connections Properties window appears as shown in Figure 5 Figure 5 Local Area Connection Properties Window 6 Scroll down and select the Internet Protocol TCP IP...

Page 21: ...hould have both Obtain an IP Address automatically and Obtain DNS server address automatically selected On the Alternate Configuration tab Automatic private IP address should be selected as shown in F...

Page 22: ...xxxxx or Astra EX xxxxxx in the address bar 2 Press Enter The Login dialog box appears 3 Enter the following Default user name web Password radio all lower case 4 Click OK The Reader displays its brow...

Page 23: ...Setting Up the Reader M6 and Astra EX User Guide 23 Figure 7 M6 and Astra EX Status Page...

Page 24: ...following steps To connect the Reader to the network and log in remotely see Networking the Reader To start reading tags and controlling the Reader see Controlling the Reader This section guides you t...

Page 25: ...following section explains how to set up your PC and Reader Using DHCP This section also explains how to manually configure the Reader without a DHCP server how to setup advanced Fallback Interface O...

Page 26: ...y for the Wireless Interface fields 4 Once the wireless settings are entered click the Test Wifi button This will temporarily bring down the active network interface and try to connect to the wireless...

Page 27: ...nitial config uration prior to switching to wireless it maybe useful to configure the wired interface as a fallback as described in Fallback Interface Options If the wireless settings were not configu...

Page 28: ...Networking the Reader M6 and Astra EX User Guide 28 Figure 8 M6 and Astra EX Settings Page...

Page 29: ...Astra EX EU hardware SKU only you must use the Ferrite Bead included with the M6 and Astra EX Reader when powering up the Reader over a PoE network in order to meet ETSI regulatory requirements For p...

Page 30: ...lly assign your PC s IP address to insure common configuration with the M6 and Astra EX Reader 1 Select Start from the Start bar and then select Control Panel 2 Double click the Network Connections ic...

Page 31: ...Properties Window 8 Select the Obtain an IP address automatically button 9 Click OK to save and exit the window 10 Click OK in the Local Area Connection Properties window 11 Click OK in the Local Area...

Page 32: ...m6 21071f local MAC Address The Reader s MAC address is printed on a white label on the side of the Reader as LAN You can also find the Reader s MAC address on the Status page The first six characters...

Page 33: ...enable the use of fallback select Use Fallback Interface Yes Once fallback is enabled the fallback interface can be selected using Fallback Network interface Wired Wireless Fallback to the Same Physi...

Page 34: ...Networking the Reader M6 and Astra EX User Guide 34 Figure 11 Fallback Interface Flowchard...

Page 35: ...ck and forth between the two interfaces One of the two should always fallback to a known static configuration C A U T I O N When setting up and testing the Wireless interface as the primary inter face...

Page 36: ...over other Readers available on the network Note Each ThingMagic Reader in the Bonjour frame is referenced by the domain name ThingMagic followed by the hostname M6 or Astra EX and the last six charac...

Page 37: ...enu The M6 and Astra EX Reader Listing Page appears as shown in the Figure 12 Identify Reader In the last column of the list of readers found there is a button labelled IdentifyReader When clicked thi...

Page 38: ...Networking the Reader M6 and Astra EX User Guide 38 Figure 12 M6 and Astra EX Reader Listing Page...

Page 39: ...l0 or simlar When you have completed setting up the serial port you must set the following four parameters to allow the terminal program to talk to the Reader Data Rate 115200 Parity None Data Bits 8...

Page 40: ...or GPIO L Com Part DGBH15FT Inputs The four opto isolated inputs support the following input levels V low Logic 0 0 0 8V V high Logic 1 3 30V 5mA max current with 24V input It is recommended that exte...

Page 41: ...13 DE15 GPIO Pinout 1 M6 and Astra EX 5V non isolated power from M6 and Astra EX 2 N A 3 N A 4 User Output 2 GPIO_1 5 V GPO Isolated source power for outputs 6 ISO GND Isolated ground for outputs 7 M6...

Page 42: ...Using GPIO M6 and Astra EX User Guide 42 Note Note that Pin 9 is normally not populated on standard VGA cables The M6 and Astra EX internally connects Pin 9 to Pin 4 to permit the use of such cables...

Page 43: ...tion between the M6 and Astra EX and a client application The M6 and Astra EX should be drop in compatible with systems supporting the standard LLRP protocol Using the Browser Based Interface The M6 a...

Page 44: ...erface may cause a Reader error If this happens reboot the Reader or restart it using the browser based interface 2 Start a Java enabled web browser from any network enabled PC 3 Type the IP address o...

Page 45: ...connect it is likely either another client already has an open connection or port 5084 is being blocked by a firewall The basic steps to connect read modify the read behavior and display options are...

Page 46: ...order each tag was read EPC The EPC ID of the tag typically 96 bits of data shown in Hex ReadCount The number of times the tag was read on Antenna Antenna The antenna on with the tag was read If the s...

Page 47: ...option is selected If the tag doesn t have the requested data Read Data failed will be returned Figure 16 Add Meta Data Columns Query Settings The default reading mode of continuous reading can be ch...

Page 48: ...e Read button Read Once Each click of Read causes a single query for the time specified Read Continuously Clicking Read causes a continuous read to be run until Stop Reading is clicked Optionally sele...

Page 49: ...Specify 0 to read the full contents of the memory bank from Start Address on Up to 128 bytes Note If the address and or words to read value specified exceeds the contents of the tag no data will be r...

Page 50: ...lications The values shown on these pages do not necessarily reflect the active settings of the Reader if configuration parameters are transiently changed through the MercuryAPI or LLRP All changes ma...

Page 51: ...and antenna and both read and write power settings the value of Antenna Read Write Power Antenna Read Power dBm The power setting used for Read operations on antenna This setting is only used when RF...

Page 52: ...rcuryAPI Programmers Guide Performance Tuning section for more details on these settings Tag Population Size Settings Automatically adjust settings as tag population changes Reader dynamically adjusts...

Page 53: ...d allows the M6 and Astra EX Reader to resolve hostnames to IP addresses Secondary DNS Server This field allows the M6 and Astra EX Reader to resolve hostnames to IP addresses Setting Description Use...

Page 54: ...lback Gateway This network configuration will be used by the Reader if DHCP is enabled but fails to acquire an IP address Setting Description Use DHCP If set to Yes the Reader will automatically look...

Page 55: ...quire an IP address Wireless Fallback Netmask This network configuration will be used by the Reader if DHCP is enabled but fails to acquire an IP address Wireless Fallback Gateway This network configu...

Page 56: ...scription Reader Description This is a user defined identifier string to describe the Reader that gets echoed back verbatim via the web interface SNMP or the API Reader Role This is a user defined ide...

Page 57: ...n menu The Restart Reader page appears as shown in Figure 18 Figure 18 M6 and Astra EX Restart Reader Page 2 Click the Restart System button 3 Click OK The following message appears as shown in Figure...

Page 58: ...stra EX User Guide 58 Diagnostics Page The Diagnostics page expands on information found on the Status Page including the current settings of the Reader comprehensive version information and the curre...

Page 59: ...interface More information on these statistics can be found at the following URL http www epcglobalinc org standards rm rm_1_0_1 standard 20070531 pdf Firmware Upgrade Utility M6 and Astra EX provide...

Page 60: ...A U T I O N If you select the Erase contents before installing check box you will erase all user installed programs or files residing on the reader DO NOT select this option if you wish to preserve an...

Page 61: ...Shell server run in Safe Mode however none of the RFID features are activated In most cases after starting in Safe Mode the Reader will need to be reconfigured for operation with the Reader applicatio...

Page 62: ...le Port Enter the following to log into the console Default UserID root Password secure 2 Type the command touch tm etc safe boot 3 Click the Enter button 4 Type the command reboot 5 Click the Enter b...

Page 63: ...ol Configuration Options The M6 and Astra EX supports multiple ISO 18000 6C profiles including the ability to specify the Link Frequency encoding schemes Tari value and modulation scheme The protocol...

Page 64: ...ng from inventory operation each TagReadData see MercuryAPI for code details contains meta data about how where and when the tag was read The specific meta data available for each tag read is as follo...

Page 65: ...with the same TagID but different Tag Data can be considered unique and each get a Tag Buffer entry if set in the reader configuration parameter reader tagReadData uniqueByData By default it is not Fr...

Page 66: ...onal installer Power Settings for Authorized Antennas and Cables This device has been designed to operate with the antennas listed in Authorized Antennas list using the cables in the Authorized Cables...

Page 67: ...Reader RF Power M6 and Astra EX User Guide 67 Note Be sure to read Compliance and IP Notices to maintain compliance with FCC or other applicable regional regulations...

Page 68: ...Power Its factory default value is 30 dBm 3 Enter the maximum setting based on your cable type length and antenna type 4 Scroll down to the bottom of the M6 and Astra EX Settings Page and click Save...

Page 69: ...pplication As an alternative 10 x 1 1 2 in screws and washers may be used if mounting directly to a wall stud Follow these steps to mount the reader on a ceiling or wall 1 Hold the reader in its mount...

Page 70: ...Reader performance Test Reader performance with moving machinery turned off Fluorescent lighting fixtures are a source of strong electromagnetic interference and if possible should be replaced If fluo...

Page 71: ...ach model has its own performance characteristics Multiple Readers The Reader adversely affect performance of 900 MHz devices These devices also may degrade performance of the Reader Antennas on other...

Page 72: ...operate up to 30dBm In the worst case scenario each time the derated channel is used it will stay on that channel for 400ms The fastest it will move to the next channel in the case where no tags are f...

Page 73: ...ed accordingly Storage Temperature 40 C to 85 C Physical Dimensions 19 cm L x 17 8 cm W x 3 4 cm H 7 5 in L x 7 0 in W x 1 3 in H 2 lbs 0 9kg Supported UHF Tag Protocols EPC Class 1 GEN2 ISO 18000 6C...

Page 74: ...ndicators switches and GPIOs 1 two color LED status indicator reset switch Isolated GPIOs 4 Inputs 4 Outputs plus 5 VDC and ground references Performance Over 400 tags second Over 30 ft 9m read distan...

Page 75: ...nnels operate up to 30dBm In the worst case scenario each time the derated channel is used it will stay on that channel for 400ms The fastest it will move to the next channel in the case where no tags...

Page 76: ...duced accordingly Storage Temperature 40 C to 85 C Physical Dimensions 25 9 cm L x 25 9 cm W x 7 72 cm H 10 2 in L x 10 2 in W x 3 0 in H 4 lbs 1 8kg Supported UHF Tag Protocols EPC Class 1 GEN2 ISO 1...

Page 77: ...ndicators switches and GPIOs 1 two color LED status indicator reset switch Isolated GPIOs 4 Inputs 4 Outputs plus 5 VDC and ground references Performance Over 400 tags second Over 30 ft 9m read distan...

Page 78: ...ff and on the user is encouraged to try to correct the interference by one of the following measures Reorient or relocate the receiving antenna Increase the separation between the equipment and receiv...

Page 79: ...controlled exposure the antenna s used for this transmitter must be installed to provide a separation distance of at least 25 cm from all persons and must not be collocated or operating in conjunction...

Page 80: ...nte PIRE ne d passe pas celle n cessaire pour une communication r ussie Au but de conformer aux limites d exposition RF pour la population g n rale exposition non contr l e les antennes utilis s doive...

Page 81: ...Compliance and IP Notices M6 and Astra EX User Guide 81 EU RED Declaration of Conformity...

Page 82: ...on Legislation Directives Identifier Date 2014 53 EU 16 April 2014 2011 65 EU w Amendments M1 M30 19 April 2016 The object described above conforms to the requirements of EU directives through full co...

Page 83: ...Compliance and IP Notices M6 and Astra EX User Guide 83...

Page 84: ...armonization Legislation Directives Identifier Date 2014 53 EU 16 April 2014 2011 65 EU w Amendments M1 M30 19 April 2016 The object described above conforms to the requirements of EU directives throu...

Page 85: ...not included in this list or having a gain greater than 6 dBiL are strictly prohibited for use with this device The required antenna impedance is 50 ohms Table 9 Authorized Antennas Note IMPORTANT No...

Page 86: ...the cable loss values for authorized shielded coaxial cables provided by ThingMagic Cable Description ThingMagic Part Number Insertion Loss 6 RTNC to RTNC Cable CBL P6 0 8 dB 12 RTNC to RTNC Cable CB...

Page 87: ...Appendix B M6 and Astra EX Dimensions M6 and Astra EX User Guide 87 Appendix B M6 and Astra EX Dimensions M6 Dimensions Astra EX Dimensions Figure 21 M6 Dimensions...

Page 88: ...Appendix B M6 and Astra EX Dimensions M6 and Astra EX User Guide 88 Figure 22 Astra EX Dimensions...

Page 89: ...add a user to an existing file root m6 21071f cd tmp root m6 21071f cp etc appWeb users db tmp users db root m6 21071f httpPassword users db thingmagic another_user New password Confirm password root...

Page 90: ...g user passwords Changing console root password To change the root password used by the command line interface and console access use standard linux passwd userid command root m6 21071f passwd Changin...

Page 91: ...RF make sure tags are in range Check antenna cables Try known good Gen2 tags Increase Reader RF Power Reader error LED stays on Following Collecting Diagnostic Data for ThingMagic Support and send to...

Page 92: ...n reader files and applications will be erased DO NOT select this option if you wish to preserve the reader s current configuration settings Collecting Diagnostic Data for ThingMagic Support When expe...

Page 93: ...ed configuration using DHCP Common failures are not finding a DHCP address If the wireless interface was being used it would indicate ath0 instead of ixp0 Setting up Bonjour killall dns sd no process...

Page 94: ...hooting M6 and Astra EX User Guide 94 RX packets 0 errors 0 dropped 0 overruns 0 frame 0 TX packets 0 errors 0 dropped 0 overruns 0 carrier 0 collisions 0 txqueuelen 0 snip 4 9 2 2011 10 20T10 15 18 0...