Long range RFID transmitter power tracking loop

Abstract

A high power amplifier having an automatic gain control circuit, the high power amplifier being coupled between the output end of an RF signal carrying coaxial cable and a transmitting antenna to automatically compensate for RF signal attenuation over the length of the coaxial cable.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an example RF detection system.

FIG. 2 is a simplified block diagram of the RF detection system of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is an electrical circuit diagram of an RF signal circuit that can be used to automatically compensate for the attenuation of RF signals sent to a transmitting antenna over a coaxial cable.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram representing one embodiment (spider) 10 of an RF detection system. The embodiment of FIG. 1, with the use of a plurality of separate RF receiving units, has already been disclosed in commonly assigned copending patent application Ser. No. 11/254,250, the subject matter of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. A designated area 12 of a facility 10 contains a plurality of zones represented by backscatter receivers Rx1-Rx10. Transmitter antennae Tx1 and Tx2 (ports) are coupled by coaxial cable to a MEU (Main Electronics Unit) 14 that provides command signals used to illuminate RF tags in a given zone. The RF tag responsive signals are received by the receivers Rx1-Rx10. A single MEU 14 may be used to cover an entire store, such as a drug store, as well as a sizable portion of grocery and mass merchandising stores. Entire grocery and mass merchandising stores could be covered by a small number of spiders. Only one Tx unit and one Rx unit are active at any one time in this embodiment. The MEU 14 (Spider) scans a given pair of Tx/Rx units over 51 channels at fixed power levels until all Tx/Rx unit pairs have been covered. For example, only Tx1 and Rx1 are enabled. In such case, Tx1 illuminates RF tags within its range and only Rx1 receives the responses from the illuminated RF tags. Tx1 and Rx1 are successively scanned at 51 channels. The RF signals are coupled to and from the Tx/Rx units and the MEU 14 by coaxial cables 16-34.

The MEU 14 could then scan a different zone using Tx1 and Rx2, for example, or Tx1 and Rx8. This process is repeated until all zones are interrogated. Further, Tx136 and Tx238 can be the selected transmitter units designated by the MEU. Thus, in this embodiment, the reader/transmitter electronics are centralized and the required RF signals are transmitted over coaxial cables to and from selected transmitters/receivers. Tx ports may be connected to small quadrifiler antennas to produce even broader and more efficient transmission patterns than patch antennas currently used on Back scatter Reader/Transmitters. An example quadrifiler antenna that may be used with the technology described herein is described in commonly-owned U.S. Pat. Ser. No. 11/417,768, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

FIG. 2 is a simplified block diagram of the system of FIG. 1. The MEU 14 transmits RF signals to antenna 36 over coaxial cable 40. The antenna 36 radiates those RF signals to a battery assisted RFID Tag 42. Tag 42 periodically wakes and modulates its antenna to produce a backscatter signal to the CW wave from antenna 36 and receiving antenna 44 couples the tag 42 response back to the MEU 14 over coaxial cable 46. Other possible inputs to the MEU 14 are shown at 52. Further, it is also well known that the MEU 14 may be powered from an AC/DC converter 48 that receives its power from wall socket plug 50.

It will be understood that with as many as four (4) transmitting antennae positioned at different locations within a facility, the coaxial cable lengths may be different and therefore a differently attenuated signal will be supplied to each transmitting antenna. Such systems for determining tag location within a retail environment should have consistent and predictable performance over a wide variety of conditions. In addition, different lengths of coaxial cable attenuate a signal applied thereto differently.

Thus, to accommodate and compensate for such RF signal attenuation, an RF signal compensating network 54 is added between the antenna end of coaxial cable 40 and transmitting antenna 36. As will be described hereinafter in relation to FIG. 3, the compensating network 54 includes a gain control circuit that causes a desired RF signal level to be applied to the antenna 36 regardless of the attenuation of the RF signal at the antenna end of the coaxial cable.

The RF signal compensating network 54 in FIG. 3 has an input jack 56 that receives the end of the coaxial cable from the MEU 14 that carries the RF signal to the antenna 36 and a 6 volt dc signal for powering the network 54. The dc signal is coupled on line 58 to regulator unit 60 that converts the 6 volt dc signal to a 3.3 volt dc signal at output terminal 62 for use in the remainder of the circuit 54 as shown.

The RF signal at jack 56 is coupled through capacitor 64 to High Power Amplifier 66. The output from the High Power Amplifier 66 is coupled through a Band Pass Filter 68 to an output jack 70. A node 72 couples the output RF signal from the High Power Amplifier on line 74 to an automatic gain control circuit 76. An RF signal detector 78 in automatic gain control circuit 76 converts the RF power output signal level at node 72 to a proportional dc signal on line 80. This proportional dc signal on line 80 representing the RF output signal level at node 72 is coupled to one input of a comparator 82. Comparator 82 is a gain control comparator and its output on line 84 represents a desired gain control signal to be applied to the High Power Amplifier 66 at its input port. To adjust the desired amount of gain to be applied to the High Power Amplifier 66 at its input port, a circuit 88 has a first adjustable gain control providing a HIGH gain and including a potentiometer 89 that has a manually adjustable arm 90 that can vary the dc voltage on line 91 that is coupled to the other input of the comparator 82 thereby providing a desired gain control signal to the high power amplifier gain control port (VCTRL) for enabling a desired RF output signal strength to be maintained and coupled to the transmitting antennae.

A second adjustable gain control in circuit is in parallel with the first adjustable gain circuit and provides a different gain control output signal to cause a different RF output signal from the high power amplifier 66 than that caused by the first adjustable gain control. The second adjustable gain control circuit forms a LOW gain circuit by means of potentiometer 92 and manually adjustable arm 93 that can also vary the dc voltage on line 91 to the other input of the comparator 82 to cause a lower gain. A switch, S1, can be used to select either the HIGH gain or the LOW gain level that is to be applied to the other input of the comparator 82. Thus, the gain control signal on line 84 to the input port (VCTRL) of the High Power Amplifier 66 can be adjusted or varied as either a HIGH or a LOW gain control signal by use of the potentiometers 89 or 92. Depending, therefore, on the signal attenuation at the output end of the coaxial cable 40 (FIG. 2), the gain of the High Power Amplifier 66 can be set to cause a desired RF signal level to be present at jack 70. Since the RF signal level at jack 70 is converted automatically to a proportional dc signal, if there is a variation in the RF signal level at jack 70, the gain control circuit 76 automatically varies the gain of the High Power Amplifier 66 to maintain the output RF signal level that is applied to transmitting antenna 94.

Thus, switch S1 allows two (2) RF power settings for the transmitter antenna. If, in the HIGH gain setting, too many tags are being read, switch S1 can be placed in the LOW gain position to correct that problem.

Once the gain of the High Power Amplifier 66 is set as explained above, a jumper 96 can be connected between jack 70 and jack 98 to couple the gain controlled RF signal to the antenna 94. Antenna 94 may be a quadrifiler antenna that is fed the signal by driver 100.

The RF signal attenuation varies with the length of the coaxial cable over which the RF signal is carried. Two examples are given as follows:

EXAMPLE 1
Parameters:
RF power output from the MEU 14  +18 dBm
Cable length from MEU to antenna 85 feet (12.75 dB loss)
Input Signal to antenna          +18 dBm − 12.75 dB
                                 loss = 5.25 dBm

loss

The input signal to the antenna is within the range of +4 to +18 dBm so the RF power leveling circuit (gain control circuit) 76 will automatically adjust the output RF power level to the antenna to +27 dBm.

EXAMPLE 2
Parameters:
RF power output from the MEU 14  +21 dBm
Cable length from MEU to antenna 25 feet (3.75 dB loss)
Input Signal to antenna          +21 dBm − 3.75 dB = 17.25 dBm

Again, the input signal to the antenna is within the range of +4 to +18 dBm so the RF power leveling circuit (gain control circuit) 76 will automatically adjust the output RF power level to the antenna to +27 dBm.

It will be understood by those skilled in the art that larger format stores (retail establishments), greater power may be necessary to be applied to the transmit antennae while lower power may be applied to the transmit antennae in smaller format retail establishments such as drug stores. In order to reduce manufacturing costs for making two different power gain controls. the HIGH and LOW gain control circuit 88 is all that is needed and is very economical.

Thus, there has been disclosed a novel system and method for automatically compensating for RF signal transmission loss over a coaxial cable to a signal transmitting antenna. In systems where the coaxial cable length varies, the RF power received by the transmitting antenna varies and, in some cases, may adversely affect the operation of an RFID tag identification system in a retail establishment.

For instance, commonly assigned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/418,319, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety, describes systems and methods for determining the location of an RFID tag in an RFID system. The operation of such a location determination system may be adversely affected by signal attenuation in different lengths of cable feeding the transmission antennas because the location determination algorithms may require that the signal strengths of the RF signals broadcast from the transmission antennas are substantially the same. The systems and methods described herein may thus be used in such an RFID system to improve its location determination functions by helping to ensure that the signal strengths of the signals broadcast from each of the transmission antennas are substantially the same.

This written description uses examples to disclose the invention, including the best mode, and also to enable a person skilled in the art to make and use the invention. The patentable scope of the invention may include other examples that occur to those skilled in the art.

Claims

1. An RFID system configured to determine a location of an RFID tag in a retail environment, comprising a central transmitter for generating an RF signal for transmission to an RFID tag;a first transmission antenna coupled to the central transmitter via a first transmission medium;a second transmission antenna coupled to the central transmitter via a second transmission medium;a first RF signal compensating circuit coupled between the central transmitter and the first transmission antenna that applies a first variable gain to the RF signal to compensate for attenuation of the RF signal caused by the first transmission medium; anda second RF signal compensating circuit coupled between the central transmitter and the second transmission antenna that applies a second variable gain to the RF signal to compensate for attenuation of the RF signal caused by the second transmission medium;the first and second RF signal compensating circuits causing the first and second transmission antennas to broadcast the RF signal with substantially the same signal strength;the RFID system relying in part on the substantial equality of the signal strengths in determining the location of the RFID tag in the retail environment.

2. The RFID system of claim 1, wherein the first and second RF signal compensating circuits comprise: a first adjustable gain control circuit for applying a first adjustable gain to the RF signal;a second adjustable gain control circuit for applying a second adjustable gain to the RF signal; anda switching circuit configured to select either the first adjustable gain circuit or the second adjustable gain circuit to apply the variable gain to the RF signal.

3. The RFID system of claim 2, wherein the first adjustable gain control circuit is configured to apply a first range of gains to the RF signal and the second adjustable gain control circuit is configured to apply a second range of gains to the RF signal, the first range of gains being different that the second range of gains.

4. The RFID system of claim 1, wherein the first and second transmission medium are coaxial cables of different lengths.

5. The RFID system of claim 1, wherein the location of the RFID tag is determines based on received signal strength indicator (RSSI) values.

6. An RFID transmitter power tracking loop for use in RFID systems that are capable of determining the location of RFID tags within a given area comprising: a central transmitter within the given area for transmitting signals to at least two spaced apart transmitter antennae located within the given area;a coaxial cable connected between the central transmitter and each of the at least two transmitter antennae; the coaxial cable for each of the transmitter antennae being of a different length and different attenuation; andan RF signal circuit coupled between each RF signal output from a central transmitter coaxial cable and each RF signal transmitter antenna for maintaining a desired RF signal strength provided to each of the at least two spaced transmitter antenna regardless of RF signal attenuation over the coaxial cable.

7. The tracking loop of claim 6 wherein each RF signal circuit further comprises: a high power amplifier for receiving the RF output signal from a given one of the central transmitter coaxial cables and providing an amplified RF signal to its associated transmitter antenna;a gain control port associated with the high power amplifier for receiving an input signal for controlling the gain of the high power amplifier; anda gain control circuit that provides a gain control signal to the high power amplifier gain control port for enabling a desired RF output signal strength to be maintained and coupled to the transmitting antennae.

8. The tracking loop of claim 7 wherein the gain control circuit comprises: a comparator having first and second inputs;a reference signal representing the actual RF signal output level of the high power amplifier coupled to one input of the comparator; anda first adjustable gain control circuit including a manually set control signal representing the desired gain of the high power amplifier applied to the second input of the comparator such that the comparator output provides the desired gain to the high power amplifier.

9. The tracking loop of claim 8 further comprising a variable potentiometer for providing the manually set control signal that is applied to the second comparator input.

10. The tracking loop of claim 9 further comprising: a second adjustable gain control circuit coupled in parallel with the first adjustable gain control circuit for providing a different gain control output signal to cause a different RF output signal strength from the high power amplifier than the desired minimum RF output signal strength caused by the first adjustable gain control circuit; anda switch coupled between the first and second adjustable gain control circuits to enable manual selection of the amount of RF signal gain to be applied to a respective transmitter antenna.

11. A system for automatically compensating for RF signal transmission attenuation over a coaxial cable to a signal transmitting antenna in a given area comprising: the signal transmitting antenna being coupled to one end of the coaxial cable that provides the attenuated RF signal transmission;a high power amplifier coupled between the one end of the coaxial cable and the transmitting antenna;a gain control circuit for providing a dc signal representing the actual RF signal level output from the high power amplifier; anda comparator for comparing the provided dc signal with a manually set dc signal representing a desired gain of the high power amplifier and generating an output signal that is used to control the gain of the high power amplifier to compensate for RF signal transmission attenuation.

12. A method of maintaining RF signal strength substantially constant at the output of one end of a coaxial cable connected to at least one transmitter antenna over a wide range of RF signal levels caused by the attenuation of RF signals depending upon the length of the coaxial cable carrying the RF signals to the transmitter antenna comprising the steps of: coupling one of the wide range of RF signal input levels to the input of an RF signal circuit whose output is coupled to a transmitter antenna;detecting the RF level generated at the output of the RF signal circuit for the given RF input signal dBm level and converting the detected RF signal output to a proportional dc signal;comparing the proportional dc signal representing the detected RF dBm level with a manually generated dc signal representing a desired RF dBm level to generate a gain control signal; andcoupling the gain control signal to the RF signal circuit to cause a desired RF output signal to be generated at the output of the RF signal circuit for powering the transmitter antenna over a wide range of RF signal strengths input to the RF signal circuit that vary with length of coaxial cable, signal frequency, coaxial cable specifications, electronics aging, and temperature variations.

13. The method of claim 12 further comprising the steps of: receiving the RF output signals from the output of the one end of each coaxial cable with a high power amplifier as the RF signal circuit;controlling the gain of the high power amplifier with a gain control signal applied to a signal port of the high power amplifier; andproviding a gain control signal to the signal port of the high power amplifier with a first manually adjustable gain control circuit for enabling the desired RF output signal strength to be maintained and coupled to the transmitting antenna.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein the step of providing a gain control signal further comprises the steps of: coupling a reference dc signal based on the actual RF output signal from the high power amplifier as one input to a comparator having first and second inputs. andgenerating a manually set control signal that is coupled to the other input of the comparator to cause the comparator to generate a gain control signal sufficient to cause the high power amplifier to generate and maintain the desired RF output signal strength to be delivered to the transmitter associated antenna.

15. The method of claim 14 further comprising the step of providing the manually set control signal to the other input of the comparator with the use of a first gain control circuit having a variable potentiometer that is manually adjusted.

16. The method of claim 15 further comprising the steps of: coupling a second gain control circuit in parallel with the first gain control circuit;adjusting the gain of the second gain control circuit to be different from the set gain of the first gain control circuit; andcoupling the output of a selected one of the first and second gain control circuits to the comparator for causing a desired signal power level from the High Power Amplifier to the transmitting antenna.

17. A method for automatically compensating for RF signal attenuation loss over a coaxial cable coupled at one end to a signal transmitting antenna in a given area comprising the steps of: coupling a high power amplifier between the one end of the coaxial cable and the signal transmitting antenna;converting the actual RF signal level output from the high power amplifier to a variable dc level signal; andcomparing the variable dc level signal with a manually set desired RF signal level output from the high power amplifier to generate a control signal that is used to automatically vary the gain of the high power amplifier to compensate for RF signal transmission attenuation over the coaxial cable and provide a substantially constant output level RF signal to the signal transmitting antenna.