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By jpnast
#199948
Hi all, having a great time with the Simultaneous RFID Ready - M6E Nano... Several questions for the group...

Since my project will be run at a remote location on battery for many hours at a time, I would like to investigate using the "Duty Cycle" feature. Along with the power setting, this should cut down on battery consumption, as well as generated heat.

In the "Hookup Guide" under the topic "Thermal Considerations", there is mention of "The module also supports changing read duty cycle to reduce the heat dissipation as well."

Also in the "ThingMagic Nano Design Guide" on page 39 the mention of Duty Cycle. The Design Guide says that adjusting both the "/reader/read/asynchOffTime" and "/reader/read/asynchOnTime" to 250ms will give a 50% Duty Cycle.

Question 1: I have looked through the supplied "SparkFun_UHF_RFID_Reader.h" and "SparkFun_UHF_RFID_Reader.cpp" files and cannot see anything obvious that would support this. Is setting the Duty Cycle setting out of scope, or am I not looking in the right place(s)?

Question 2: Would changing the Duty Cycle be dynamic, on the fly? Or does the continuous read need to stop first, thus adding an unwanted delay to stop continuous read? Would love to be able to change this dynamically as busy conditions change.

Question 3: There is also mention that when the reader is in continuous read (when "/reader/read/asyncOffTime" is "0") there is no deduplication. By changing the "/reader/read/asyncOffTime" to something other than "0", does that mean there will be deduplication? Reference "Mercury API Programmers Guide" on page 24. ( http://www.corerfid.com/rfid%20shop/thi ... _Jan12.pdf )

Question 4: Is the temperature sensor also accessible? Again, conditions may dictate adjusting power/duty cycle to compensate for increased heat generation.

Thank you!
-Jeff