RFID inquiry

[philramet]

Hi,

I'm a student at Parsons school of design, finishing my thesis in design and technology, i was wondering if you could help me find rfid tags and reader where tags have a range of at least 1 meter, and where the (matching) reader is not too expensive.

Thank you very much for your time.

Regards,

[jersagfast]

Well, I know Radio Shack had the Parallax ones on clearance for $9. They come with a 'credit card' tag as well as a round tag. Not sure if they still have any left, but that was a good deal.

**NOTE these run at 2400 baud.

[jasonwebb]

RFID comes in passive and active varieties. Passive RFID tags can be read by commonly-available readers up to about ~6" if you're lucky. Active RFID systems can go much, much further, but are quite pricey and not as easy to come by for hobbyists.

At a range like 1 meter, my advice would be to reconsider the technology - do you need to use RFID for some reason? If not, you can achieve the same effect for much, much less using more commonly-available parts like IR LEDs/sensors, Bluetooth, distance sensors and more.

If you can provide us with more details about what exactly you are trying to achieve, maybe we can provide better advice to help you out.

[jersagfast]

Thanks Jason, and my apologies Phil, I totally missed the 1 meter part of the question. The Parallax RFID reader I mentioned has a range of about only 3-6". IR might be your best bet to go a meter and keep it cheep.

[philramet]

Thanks for your quick answer,

As part of my thesis, yes i would need active RFIDs, (a longer range than 6").
I can't tell you exactly what i'm planning to do but i'm trying to implement a database inside the tag. This can be very basic, i just need info on the tag, readable at a distance of about 1meter.

Thank you

[MrGlass]

I'm friends with a few security researchers who specialize on RFID. They have had great success looking for antennas/readers on ebay.