Intermec PM4I User manual

User’s Guide
RFID Kit
(Gen 2, 869/915
MHz)
for the EasyCoder®
PM4i Printer

ii RFID Kit (Gen 2, 869/915 MHz) User’s Guide
Intermec Technologies Corporation
Corporate Headquarters
6001 36th Ave. W.
Everett, WA 98203
U.S.A.
www.intermec.com
e information contained herein is proprietary and is provided solely
for the purpose of allowing customers to operate and service Intermec-
manufactured equipment and is not to be released, reproduced, or used
for any other purpose without written permission of Intermec.
Information and specifications contained in this document are subject to
change without prior notice and do not represent a commitment on the
part of Intermec Technologies Corporation.
© 2005, 2006 by Intermec Technologies Corporation. All rights
reserved.
e word Intermec, the Intermec logo, Norand, ArciTech, Beverage
Routebook, CrossBar, dcBrowser, Duratherm, EasyADC, EasyCoder,
EasySet, Fingerprint, INCA (under license), i-gistics, Intellitag, Intellitag
Gen2, JANUS, LabelShop, MobileLAN, Picolink, Ready-to-Work,
RoutePower, Sabre, ScanPlus, ShopScan, Smart Mobile Computing,
SmartSystems, TE 2000, Trakker Antares, and Vista Powered are
either trademarks or registered trademarks of Intermec Technologies
Corporation.
roughout this manual, trademarked names may be used. Rather than
put a trademark (™ or ®) symbol in every occurrence of a trademarked
name, we state that we are using the names only in an editorial fashion,
and to the benefit of the trademark owner, with no intention of
infringement.
ere are U.S. and foreign patents pending.

RFID Kit (Gen 2, 869/915 MHz) User's Guide iii
Contents
Before You Begin............................................................................ v
Global Services and Support ............................................ v
Who Should Read is Manual?...................................... v
Related Documents ........................................................ vi
Patent Information ........................................................ vi
Installation.....................................................................................1
Introduction to RFID....................................................................1
Applications of Use ........................................................................3
Media Recommendations...............................................................3
RFID Operation in Fingerprint .....................................................4
Limitations ......................................................................4
Printing ...........................................................................4
RFID Setup.....................................................................5
Changing the Setup.........................................................7
Accessing RFID setup via TCP/IP ...................................7
RFID Operation in IPL .................................................................8
Limitations ......................................................................8
Printing ...........................................................................8
RFID Setup.....................................................................9
Changing the Setup.......................................................10
Accessing RFID Setup via TCP/IP.................................11
Troubleshooting...........................................................................12

iv RFID Kit (Gen 2, 869/915 MHz) User’s Guide

RFID Kit (Gen 2, 869/915 MHz) User's Guide v
Before You Begin
is section provides you with technical support information, and
sources for additional product information.
Global Services and Support
Warranty Information
To understand the warranty for your Intermec product, visit the
Intermec web site at www.intermec.com and click Service & Support >
Warranty.
Disclaimer of warranties: e sample code included in this document
is presented for reference only. e code does not necessarily represent
complete, tested programs. e code is provided “as is with all faults.” All
warranties are expressly disclaimed, including the implied warranties of
merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose.
Web Support
Visit the Intermec web site at www.intermec.com to download our
current manuals (in PDF). To order printed versions of the Intermec
manuals, contact your local Intermec representative or distributor.
Visit the Intermec technical knowledge base (Knowledge Central) at
intermec.custhelp.com to review technical information or to request
technical support for your Intermec product.
Telephone Support
In the USA and Canada, call 1-800-755-5505. Outside the USA and
Canada, contact your local Intermec representative. To search for your
local representative, go to the Intermec web site and click Contact.
Who Should Read This Manual?
is document is for the person who is responsible for configuring and
operating the EasyCoder PM4i equipped with an RFID Kit (Gen 2,
869/915 Mhz).
is document provides you with information about the features of
the RFID Kit (Gen 2, 869/915 Mhz) and how to configure, operate,
maintain, and troubleshoot it.

vi RFID Kit (Gen 2, 869/915 MHz) User’s Guide
Related Documents
Document Title Part Number
EasyCoder PM4i User’s Guide 1-960583-xx
Fingerprint 8.70.0 Programmer’s Reference Manual 1-960582-07
IPL Programmer’s Reference Manual 006396-012
e Intermec web site at www.intermec.com contains our documents (as
PDF files) that you can download for free.
To download documents
1Visit the Intermec web site at www.intermec.com.
2Click Service & Support > Manuals.
3In the Select a Product field, choose the product whose
documentation you want to download.
To order printed versions of the Intermec manuals, contact your local
Intermec representative or distributor.
Patent Information
is product is covered by one or more of the following U.S. patents:
4,739,328; 4,786,907; 4,864,158; 4,888,591; 4,999,636; 5,030,807;
5,055,659; 5,280,159; 5,504,485; 5,521,601; 5,550,547; 5,673,037;
5,763,867; 5,777,561; 5,825,045; 5,828,318; 5,828,693; 5,850,181;
5,850,187; 5,942,987; 5,995,019; 6,078,251; 6,121,878; 6,122,329;
6,172,596; 6,195,053; 6,249,227; 6,280,544; 6,286,762; 6,286,763;
6,288,629; 6,360,208; 6,384,712; 6,404,325; 6,429,775; 6,486,769;
6,501,807; 6,525,648; 6,639,509; 6,645,327; 6,677,852; 6,768,414;
6,784,789; 6,816,063.
ere may be other U.S. and foreign patents pending.

RFID Kit (Gen 2, 869/915 MHz) User's Guide 1
Installation
e kit comes either factory installed or can be installed on-site by
an authorized service technician. Please acknowledge the following
important notice:
If you open the electronics cover, you will void the warranty
and may cause damage to the internal components.
Opening the electronics cover exposes the user to shock
hazards which may result in injury or death.
Introduction to RFID
e term RFID (Radio Frequency IDentification) describes the use of
radio frequency signals to provide automatic identification of items.
RFID is a flexible technology that combines advantages not available
with other identification technologies. It is convenient, easy to use, and
well suited for automatic operation. RFID does not require contact or
line-of-sight to operate, it can function under a variety of environmental
conditions and provides a high level of data integrity.
Radio waves transfer data between an RFID reader and an item to which
an RFID tag is attached. e tag can contain data about the item, such
as what the item is, what time the device traveled through a certain zone
and so on. RFID tags can be attached to virtually anything—from a
vehicle to a pallet of merchandise.
RFID is similar in concept to bar coding. Bar code systems use a reader
and coded labels that are attached to an item, whereas RFID uses a
reader and special RFID tags that are attached to an item. Bar coding
uses optical signals to transfer information from the label to the reader;
RFID uses radio frequency signals to transfer information from the
RFID tag to the reader. However, an RFID tag can hold significantly
larger amounts of data and can be rewritten many times which are
obvious advantages.

Reader with Transceiver
I
n
fo
r
mati
on
System & Application
Hardware & Software
Write to Tag
Read from Tag
Antenna
Label with
RFID Tag
2 RFID Kit (Gen 2, 869/915 MHz) User’s Guide
RFID technology uses frequencies within the range of 50 kHz to 2.5 GHz .
As shown in the illustration, an RFID system typically includes the
following components:
• RFID tag or transponder that contains data about an item.
• Antenna used to transmit the RF signals between the reader and the
RFID tag.
• Reader with RF transceiver that generates radio frequency signals and
receives RF transmissions from an RFID tag.
In addition to this basic RFID equipment, an RFID system includes
application-specific software.

RFID Kit (Gen 2, 869/915 MHz) User's Guide 3
Applications of Use
e RFID Kit (Gen 2, 869/915 MHz) is an optional device for the
EasyCoder PM4i that provides the printer with capacity to read and write to
RFID tags.
e internal RFID radio module operates on the UHF band at 869 or 915
MHz depending on region.
e RFID Kit (Gen 2, 869 MHz) uses an EPCglobal
Gen 2-certified IM5 Module (86X MHz RFID
frequency band).
e RFID Kit (Gen 2, 915 MHz) uses an EPCglobal
Gen 2-certified IM5 Module (915 MHz RFID
frequency band).
e RFID interface board occupies one of the slots for optional interfaces
at the back of the printer and features an extra RS-232 serial interface.
For printers running Fingerprint, this is referred to as "uart2:", "uart3:" or
"uart4:" depending on which slot is used and what other optional devices are
installed. Please note that the 9-pin connector is not functional when the
board is installed in an IPL printer.
Your printer should be fitted with either Intermec Fingerprint v8.70.0 (or
later) or IPL v2.70.0 (or later), or RFID functionality cannot be guaranteed.
Media Recommendations
To ensure complete functionality of the EasyCoder PM4i equipped
with an RFID Kit (Gen 2, 869/915 MHz), we strongly urge you to use
Intermec recommended RFID media only. Printers with factory-installed
RFID kits come with a sample roll of 4x6" RFID media.
General media recommendations and order information is provided
through an Intermec web page: go to www.intermec.com. Choose
Products > RFID, and then click Tags, Inserts and Smart Labels.

4 RFID Kit (Gen 2, 869/915 MHz) User’s Guide
RFID Operation in Fingerprint
e information in this section concerns users running Fingerprint
firmware on their PM4i printer. Be sure to also keep the EasyCoder PM4i
User’s Guide and the Fingerprint 8.70.0 Programmer’s Reference Manual
handy, for additional information on procedures and RFID commands.
Limitations
Note: When calling the TAGFIELD command, the start
and length parameters must be set as even numbers.
Printing
General Recommendations
e RFID inlay (or tag), which consists of a chip and an antenna, is
glued to the back of the label (between the label and the liner).
Even though the inlay is very thin, the label will be slightly thicker
in the inlay area. is may affect the printout quality and therefore a
high-quality ink ribbon, such as the TMX 2304, is recommended to use
in conjuction with RFID media. e TMX 1500 would be a suitable
low-cost alternative to this product. If results are not satisfactory, avoid
printing on the inlay altogether (if the media allows it).
As a starting point, set the ribbon constant to 80 and the ribbon factor
to 25 when printing on RFID media (refer to the EasyCoder PM4i User’s
Guide for information on these procedures). Depending on the media
type, it may be necessary to change these values. is information can
also be found via the web link given in the “Media Recommendations”
section.
Note 1: In order to achieve faultless read/write operations,
some manual tweaking may be required to ensure that the
RFID labels are properly aligned with the antenna. is
involves modifying the Tagadjust variable in RFID Setup
mode. Refer to the RFID Setup section for further details.
Note 2: Each new RFID media type loaded in the printer
must be identified electronically. is can be done either by
restarting the printer, or by running a TESTFEED.