TI UHF Gen2 Protocol

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General
1.2 System Description
General
Large retailers, such as Wal-Mart™ and Target™ in the USA and Metro™ in the European Union (EU),
have issued mandates to their suppliers to ship cases and pallets of goods/products with radio-frequency
identification (RFid) smart labels attached. TI’s Generation 2 (Gen2) IC is intended to be used primarily in
case- and pallet-level retail supply-chain applications, and is based on the EPCglobal™ Gen2
Specification Version 1.0.9 approved in December 2004.
TI’s UHF Gen2 IC operates with extremely low power and yet provides long read and write ranges, fast
data transfer, and high smart-label throughput, which are all crucial for the following applications:
· Express parcel delivery
· Airline baggage handling
· Distribution logistics and supply-chain management
· Building access badges
· Asset tagging
This low-power passive IC is designed to operate on the energy extracted from the radio frequency (RF)
signals transmitted from the reader (interrogator) via its antenna. The IC does not require a battery to
operate. The IC returns data to the reader using modulated backscatter.
To form a functional transponder, the IC (sometimes called a die) requires bonding to an antenna. When
the parameters of this antenna match the characteristics of the IC, the antenna resonates at the required
frequency and is capable of receiving power and instructions and returning data.



Product Description
1.4 Functional Description
Product Description
The IC has been manufactured to fully meet the EPCglobal Gen2 specification and can be used to create
a functional transponder in three main ways:
· Forming an inlay
The TI Gen2 IC can be bonded to an antenna, printed on a plastic or paper substrate, or etched from
copper or aluminum. This creates an ‘inlay’ that can then be converted into a ‘wet inlay’ having a
peel-off adhesive layer, or integrated directly into a smart label. Currently, the majority of the RFID
applications use inlays to make smart labels for use on cases and pallets.
· Direct attach to label
The TI Gen2 IC can be mounted directly on an antenna that is part of a printed label substrate, to
construct a smart label. Currently, a number of manufacturers are exploring this approach.
· Attach to FR4
The TI Gen2 IC can also be mounted on FR4 antennas or antennas designed on printed circuit boards.
The IC is composed of a number of building blocks that include the analog front end (AFE), which
converts RF to digital, digital logic, and memory.
The digital logic includes a state machine, where groups of commands become available once the chip
has transitioned to the correct state. This manual describes the functional operation of the state machine.