RF solutions provider WJ Communications, Inc. has announced the availability of a firmware upgrade to support the EPCglobal Class 1 Generation 2 standard for its MPR series PCMCIA type II reader cards. Generation 2 RFID technology provides better read range and performance and can be used anywhere, worldwide. The MPR series are designed for UHF Gen 2 functionality and are FCC-certified. These readers represent a new level for size, standards-based compatibility, ease of use and performance, said WJ Communications. The supplier claims to offer the industry's smallest solution with Gen 2 capability for compact RFID form factors, such as handhelds and printers.

Article Tools

• 

"In an effort to support the second-generation global RFID standard, WJ has committed to providing its customers with an easy-to-install firmware upgrade. The Gen 2 firmware upgrade allows customers to immediately begin using any of WJ's multi-protocol MPR series reader cards to effectively read Gen 2 tags without hardware changes," said Chuck Lau, senior vice president and general manager for WJ Communications. "The firmware provides support for multiple inventory sessions, flexible tag filtering and inventory selection, writing to tag memory, control of lock and permalock functions, and other Gen 2 capabilities."

The MPR firmware upgrade, version 3, is available for download from WJ's website. This version features complete Class 1 Generation 2 tag support, significantly faster and enhanced Class 1 inventory performance, improved Class 0 inventory, support for Non-EPC-compliant tag IDs for Class 1 and improved Class 0+ write performance.