Mounting RFID Antennas: Ideal Height and Angle
Posted by Suzanne Smiley on Nov 12, 2019
Introduction
This video is the second part of a two-part series on the process of mounting RFID antennas. This video will cover the ideal height and angle for mounting an antenna. For information on mounting hardware and brackets, check out part one.
[Audio Transcription Below]
Hi, my name is Steven Wood from atlasRFIDstore, and today I’m going to talk about what you need to know before mounting RFID antennas. I’ll begin with the similarities and differences of their mounting hardware and which mounting brackets can be used with each type.
Then, I’ll walk through mounting an antenna and talk about how an antenna’s height and angle are key to covering a read zone and achieving a high level of read rates.
Mounting Capabilities
If you look at the other end of these mounting brackets, you can see that some of them have a flat mounting plate, and others have a curved or angled plate. The flat mounting plate is used in mounting to a flat surface, such as a wall, while the curved or angled plate is used for mounting onto a poll.
To illustrate, I'm going to use this MT-120018 mounting bracket to mount the MT-242043 antenna to this tripod. To speed things up, I've already semi-constructed this bracket.
In general, it is usually easier to mount the bracket onto the pole first, before attaching the antenna to the bracket.
As you can see, the back of this mount can be used in two different ways, depending on the size of your tripod or pole.
This pole is not very large, so we will mount the back this way. Since our pole is smaller, we will need to use the larger mounting bolts in the kit.
Once you have your mounting bracket mounted to your pole or tripod, it is time to mount your antenna to the bracket. The mounting bracket comes with nuts that will easily go on the studs on the back of our antenna.
The Ideal Antenna Height and Angle
Now that we have our antenna mounted to our tripod, there are a few different things to consider in order to get the best read range and read rates for your system:
- Number of Antennas
- Antenna Placement (on the X and Y plane)
- Antenna Height (Z)
- Antenna Angle or Tilt
This graphic was taken from a real-world RFID installation. Each antenna’s placement, angle, and height were carefully chosen to ensure the success of the application.
In this example, each antenna is at a different angle and height, but they are each placed exactly 30 inches from the pallet. Thorough testing was completed with a variety of antennas, placements, heights, and angles in order to determine the optimal design for this particular application.
Remember to test each antenna’s placement, height, and angle in order to get the best read range and read rates for your system. Also, experiment with adding and removing antennas from your read zone to ensure optimal coverage.
Conclusion
That concludes our video, Mounting RFID Antennas: Part 2- Ideal Height and Angle. Be sure to watch our other videos featuring antennas in our RFID antennas playlist.
Thanks for taking the time to walk through these steps with us. For more information on all things RFID, check out our blog, our RFID resources page, and don't forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel.
And as always, if you have any questions at all, please send us an email or give us a call.
To read more about RFID antennas, check out the links below!