ThingMagic Micro Hardware - Manual (Page 20)

Hardware Interfaces
A D I V I S I O N O F T R I M B L E
20 Hardware Overview
Hardware Interfaces
Antenna Connections
The Micro supports two monostatic bidirectional RF antennas through two U.FL
connector or edge vias. See
Cables and Connectors for more information on antenna
connector parts and Micro Hardware Integration for antenna edge via locations and layout
guidelines.
The maximum RF power that can be delivered to a 50 ohm load from each port is 1 Watt,
or +30 dBm (regulatory requirements permitting).
Note
The RF ports can only be energized one at a time.
Antenna Requirements
The performance of the Micro is affected by antenna quality. Antennas that provide good
50 ohm match at the operating frequency band perform best. Specified sensitivity
performance is achieved with antennas providing 17 dB return loss or better across the
operating band. Damage to the module will not occur for any return loss of 1 dB or
greater. Damage may occur if antennas are disconnected during operation or if the
module sees an open or short circuit at its antenna port.
Antenna Detection
C A U T I O N ! ! !
Unlike the M6e and M5e modules the Micro DOES NOT support automatic
antenna detection. When writing applications to control the Micro you
MUST explicitly specify the antennas to operate on. Using the Mercury-
API this requires creation of a SimpleReadPlan object with the list of
antennas set and that object set as the active /reader/read/plan. For
more information see the MercuryAPI Programmers Guide | Level 2 API
| Advanced Reading | ReadPlan section.