News | September 3, 2010

Does The New Motorola RFID Handheld Reader Performance Match The Hype?

ODIN Labs, the scientific testing division of ODIN, the world leader in RFID software and solutions, has spent the past three months testing six different RFID handheld readers and will publish the RFID Handheld Reader Benchmark™ on September 8th. The Benchmark is designed to help end users differentiate between the many handheld models available today and provide scientific input into the procurement process.

Preorders of the Benchmark are offered today through next Tuesday at a 20% discount off the $750 retail price. You can place your order by going to http://bit.ly/9osddX and registering for the discount code.

The eight hand-held RFID readers include:

  • Motorola MC3090-Z (FCC)
  • Motorola MC3190-Z (ETSI)
  • Intermec IP30 (FCC)
  • Intermec IP30 (ETSI)
  • CSL CS101
  • Unitech RHS767
  • MacSema PCE 4050
  • Symbol MC9000 (FCC model also included in 2005 Benchmark)

Each of the RFID readers was subjected to a rigorous scientific test protocol and a battery of head-to-head competitions. The benchmark covers several areas of evaluation and includes a discussion on the impact of antenna technology on performance. One of the key tests is Orientation Sensitivity.

Orientation Sensitivity evaluates an RFID handheld antenna's ability to pick up a tag regardless of orientation. This is particularly important with a hand-held since it is seldom held in the same plane. A user will pick up a handheld reader and wave it in a general direction which will vary each time.

On a tag grid, a circularly polarized antenna picks up close to 100% of the tags when the tag field is orientated horizontally and also when rotated 90°. This is in contrast to a linearly polarized antenna which only has a high read rate for a specific orientation.

Motorola's much-hyped new RFID handheld reader, the MC3090-Z, looks very slick and it has an interesting new antenna design based on RFID MAX Antenna technology. This technology employs a combination of a linear and circularly polarized antenna, taking advantage of the orientation insensitivity of a circularly polarized antenna and read distance capability of a linearly polarized antenna. The following graph outlines results for the MC3090-Z side by side with a handheld with a circularly polarized antenna and one with a linearly polarized antenna.

SOURCE: ODIN