Fujitsu Semiconductor's evaluation board for embedded RFID solutions consists of an MCU board and an antenna board. On the MCU board, engineers can connect temperature/humidity sensors, 3-axis accelerometers, illuminance sensors, and LCDs to the MCU via the I2C interface, while the other remaining I2C pins can be connected to a number of I2C devices based on application and evaluation requirements. In addition, there is an on-board debugging and updating firmware, which makes it easier when customizing the application using development tools provided by partner vendors.
The antenna board can be used as a passive UHF RFID tag to communicate with an RFID reader/writer that reads and writes data from the board's RFID LSI memory via an RF interface. At the same time, the MCU on the MCU board can access the RFID LSI memory through the serial interface. This prevents both interfaces from accessing the memory at the same time and prioritizes access through the RF interface.
The RFID LSI's 2K-byte FRAM (Fujitsu Semiconductor is planning to introduce a 4K-byte product soon) is used as a data logger, and is suitable for storing sensor data, MCU operating parameters, and so on, due to its fast write function. The RF frequency used for this board is now only UHF, but Fujitsu Semiconductor plans to develop an evaluation board with the same concept for HF frequencies soon.
The range of potential applications for RFID LSI is quite wide, for example, in environmental monitoring for logistics and equipment control, where it can be used for quality and safety management in logistics processes, such as temperature management for wine and food traceability, humidity management for the apparel industry, and physical vibration management for precision machinery. Another example is the management of facilities and equipment that cannot be monitored online. Status data stored in the RFID at certain intervals can be read with a reader/writer, which can help find some signs of problems and improve the maintainability of the equipment.
It can be expected that this evaluation board will be an opportunity to create new applications, as it can be used as a data logger not only for logistics and maintenance management, but also for instrumentation, measurement equipment, and medical applications. See Fujitsu's official website.fujitsu.com/fss