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design of an RFID system reconfigurable on FPGA

Altera_Forum
Honored Contributor II
2,194 Views

Hi, all 

 

I currently have a project that asked me to develop an architecture of an RFID system including the various aspects encoding / decoding, modulation / demodulation,anti-collision, security, etc ... The objectives of this project is the design of a reconfigurable RFID system for UHF band and implementation on FPGA. 

 

so the question is which kit can i use for this project? 

 

thanks very much....
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Altera_Forum
Honored Contributor II
925 Views

 

--- Quote Start ---  

 

I currently have a project that asked me to develop an architecture of an RFID system including the various aspects encoding / decoding, modulation / demodulation,anti-collision, security, etc ... The objectives of this project is the design of a reconfigurable RFID system for UHF band and implementation on FPGA. 

 

so the question is which kit can i use for this project? 

 

--- Quote End ---  

No, that's not the question. The questions are: 

 

1) Is it supposed to be low power? If the answer is yes, then stop thinking about FPGAs right now. You should look at low-power microcontrollers. 

 

2) What is your RFID system supposed to do that an existing ASIC does not already do? Again, there are low-power microcontrollers designed for this sort of thing. 

 

3) Ok, so you want to do it in an FPGA, just because :) Given that you need to transmit and receive RF signals, what frequency and bandwidth are they? That will define the analog-to-digital converter (ADC) and digital-to-analog converter (DAC) requirements, if you plan on doing everything from scratch. Alternatively, if you have an RFID interface chip and want to interface that to an FPGA, please post a link (or as best you can) and we'll take a look at it. 

 

Cheers, 

Dave
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Altera_Forum
Honored Contributor II
925 Views

Generally speaking, a software defined radio (SDR) hardware platform should be able to cover all project requirements. Besides the digital part, you need an AD/DA interface of sufficient bandwidth (already mentioned by Dave) and an UHF RF frontend.

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Altera_Forum
Honored Contributor II
925 Views

 

--- Quote Start ---  

No, that's not the question. The questions are: 

 

1) Is it supposed to be low power? If the answer is yes, then stop thinking about FPGAs right now. You should look at low-power microcontrollers. 

 

2) What is your RFID system supposed to do that an existing ASIC does not already do? Again, there are low-power microcontrollers designed for this sort of thing. 

 

3) Ok, so you want to do it in an FPGA, just because :) Given that you need to transmit and receive RF signals, what frequency and bandwidth are they? That will define the analog-to-digital converter (ADC) and digital-to-analog converter (DAC) requirements, if you plan on doing everything from scratch. Alternatively, if you have an RFID interface chip and want to interface that to an FPGA, please post a link (or as best you can) and we'll take a look at it. 

 

Cheers, 

Dave 

--- Quote End ---  

 

 

thank you very much mister DAVE, frankly i am a beginner in this domain, that's why i did not understand completly what you posted, so can you help me please to understand this project very well.
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Altera_Forum
Honored Contributor II
925 Views

 

--- Quote Start ---  

thank you very much mister DAVE, frankly i am a beginner in this domain, that's why i did not understand completly what you posted, so can you help me please to understand this project very well. 

--- Quote End ---  

Ok, I'll try. 

 

I have not implemented any RFID systems, so I will just provide generalizations. Once you provide more details, I can find links to specific parts. 

 

So lets start of with a definition (assuming this is what you are talking about): 

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/rfid 

 

RFID systems have readers and tags. The tags may be powered, or they may 'steal' power from the RF source during the time they are being read. 

 

So, what are you being asked to implement in an FPGA; an RFID reader or an RFID tag? 

 

Or perhaps you have mistakenly used the term RFID, when what you really meant, was that you have been asked to design a wireless network connection to an FPGA. 

 

If you can clarify your requirements, then we can point you in the right direction. 

 

Cheers, 

Dave
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Altera_Forum
Honored Contributor II
925 Views

 

--- Quote Start ---  

Ok, I'll try. 

 

I have not implemented any RFID systems, so I will just provide generalizations. Once you provide more details, I can find links to specific parts. 

 

So lets start of with a definition (assuming this is what you are talking about): 

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/rfid 

 

RFID systems have readers and tags. The tags may be powered, or they may 'steal' power from the RF source during the time they are being read. 

 

So, what are you being asked to implement in an FPGA; an RFID reader or an RFID tag? 

 

Or perhaps you have mistakenly used the term RFID, when what you really meant, was that you have been asked to design a wireless network connection to an FPGA. 

 

If you can clarify your requirements, then we can point you in the right direction. 

 

Cheers, 

Dave 

--- Quote End ---  

 

 

Thank you very much mister DAVE, Actually i have read some papers about this project, and most of them are: design an rfid reader in UHF band and implementation on fpga. 

 

So i think that the project ask me to implement an rfid reader that contains differnt modules (encoding decoding, security...) 

 

Honestly, you have showed me some important points, but the features of this project are not clear for me. i'm waiting from you some ideas. 

 

thank you again...
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Altera_Forum
Honored Contributor II
925 Views

In other words, you have started the project without substantial knowledge of RFID techniques. Depending on the project time budget, you should be able to acquire the basics. But it's clearly the responsibility of your supervisor to help you in this regard. At least he's the one to tell you "what the project asks for".

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Altera_Forum
Honored Contributor II
925 Views

 

--- Quote Start ---  

 

So i think that the project ask me to implement an rfid reader that contains differnt modules (encoding decoding, security...) 

 

--- Quote End ---  

 

 

As FvM comments, you really need to get some clarification from your supervisor. 

 

 

--- Quote Start ---  

 

Honestly, you have showed me some important points, but the features of this project are not clear for me. i'm waiting from you some ideas. 

 

--- Quote End ---  

 

 

You need to get the ideas from your supervisor. Once you understand what the project requirements are, we can help answer specific questions. 

 

Cheers, 

Dave
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Altera_Forum
Honored Contributor II
925 Views

 

--- Quote Start ---  

As FvM comments, you really need to get some clarification from your supervisor. 

 

You need to get the ideas from your supervisor. Once you understand what the project requirements are, we can help answer specific questions. 

 

Cheers, 

Dave 

--- Quote End ---  

 

 

 

--- Quote Start ---  

In other words, you have started the project without substantial knowledge of RFID techniques. Depending on the project time budget, you should be able to acquire the basics. But it's clearly the responsibility of your supervisor to help you in this regard. At least he's the one to tell you "what the project asks for". 

--- Quote End ---  

 

 

 

You are right, my supervisor is always busy because his work's relations :(. 

In fact, i am who suggested this project to my supervisor (i found some papers from net, so i got interested about it) but i have not more informations about it. I have already shown my supervisor the projects that i found them in order to give me some ideas and clarifications, but he is always busy:mad:. so i decided to work alone ( it is hard to work alone but it is necessary ). 

 

Any ideas or thoughts from you, i am all hearing. 

 

thank you veryy very very ..... much mister DAVE and mister FvM for your replies
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Altera_Forum
Honored Contributor II
925 Views

Lets start this discussion from scratch then. 

 

1) Are you an engineering student (undergraduate or graduate)? 

 

2) Are you looking for a thesis topic that involves FPGAs? 

 

3) What do you know about FPGAs, RF electronics, analog-to-digital conversion, digital-to-analog conversion, digital signal processing, etc? Knowledge on all of these topics would be required to implement an RFID reader in an FPGA. 

 

4) When does this project have to be completed? 

 

Cheers, 

Dave
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Altera_Forum
Honored Contributor II
925 Views

1) i graduated last year ( june 2011) '' engineer in electronics" my project was: design of a 8 bits microprocessor in vhdl, it was very difficult because i took long time reading about vhdl. i used Quartus II in simulation, when i was reading Quartus's tutorial i found implementation level so i tried to implement the simple µp in FPGA (our lab contains Altera DE2 board). 

so now i decided to go deeper in FPGA  

2) yes absolutly as i said before i want to know more about it, because i still a beginner. 

3)about FPGA i don't know alot about it frankly, RF electronics: what are its contents, ADC and DAC i know them a bit because we have already studied them. 

DSP: i don't have any idea about this one really. 

4) normaly the project started in february 2012 and it should be finished before feb 2015.  

thank you for this concern.
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Altera_Forum
Honored Contributor II
925 Views

 

--- Quote Start ---  

 

1) i graduated last year ( june 2011) '' engineer in electronics" my project was: design of a 8 bits microprocessor in vhdl, it was very difficult because i took long time reading about vhdl. i used Quartus II in simulation, when i was reading Quartus's tutorial i found implementation level so i tried to implement the simple µp in FPGA (our lab contains Altera DE2 board). 

so now i decided to go deeper in FPGA  

 

--- Quote End ---  

You did not answer the question though; are you now a graduate student, or are you doing this because you want to learn more about FPGAs? 

 

 

--- Quote Start ---  

 

3)about FPGA i don't know alot about it frankly, RF electronics: what are its contents, ADC and DAC i know them a bit because we have already studied them. 

DSP: i don't have any idea about this one really. 

 

--- Quote End ---  

Then an RFID reader interface might not be the best option for you. 

 

 

--- Quote Start ---  

 

4) normaly the project started in february 2012 and it should be finished before feb 2015. thank you for this concern. 

--- Quote End ---  

And is that the schedule you need to meet? 

 

What is it you want to learn about FPGAs? They are just processing blocks, so what is it that you find interesting about them? What application do you have that needs to use an FPGA (rather than a processor or microcontroller)? 

 

The project you select should reflect what you want to learn. 

 

Cheers, 

Dave
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Altera_Forum
Honored Contributor II
925 Views

You did not answer the question though; are you now a graduate student, or are you doing this because you want to learn more about FPGAs? 

 

I am graduated and i am completing my research in this topic. 

 

Then an RFID reader interface might not be the best option for you. 

 

Why do you think that? 

 

 

What is it you want to learn about FPGAs? They just processing blocks, so what is it that you find interesting about them? What application do you have that needs to use an FPGA (rather than a processor or microcontroller)? 

 

i have found a lot of projects that will be implemented in fpga, so that i think that it is interesting, but you are right, all of them are processors. 

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Altera_Forum
Honored Contributor II
925 Views

 

--- Quote Start ---  

 

Then an RFID reader interface might not be the best option for you. 

 

Why do you think that? 

 

--- Quote End ---  

Because you indicated that you do not have the required background experience, and you have not indicated that those topics are of interest to you. 

 

Implementing an RFID reader requires you to interface to the real-world using ADCs, and DACs. In the digital domain of the FPGA, you need to understand digital filtering, modulation, etc. Given that you have no experience in these topics, and you do not have a supervisor willing to help you learn them, you would have trouble completing the project. 

 

 

--- Quote Start ---  

 

What is it you want to learn about FPGAs? They just processing blocks, so what is it that you find interesting about them? What application do you have that needs to use an FPGA (rather than a processor or microcontroller)? 

 

i have found a lot of projects that will be implemented in fpga, so that i think that it is interesting, but you are right, all of them are processors. 

 

--- Quote End ---  

So how much do you know about processors and programming? 

 

Perhaps you should try to think of a project that requires a processor in an FPGA. That way you could learn a little of both. 

 

You could still implement an RFID reader project, however, rather than building the reader logic in an FPGA, you could try and find a reader IC, and interface that to an FPGA, and then program it using a NIOS processor. 

 

Cheers, 

Dave
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Altera_Forum
Honored Contributor II
925 Views

As a first point, I must confess that I'm not very familiar with UHF RFID protocols, but I did some work related to 13.56 MHz RFID, also involving FPGA.  

 

In my view, at least the broad idea of a reconfigurable UHF RFID system makes sense, presuming that existing ICs most likely don't cover all existing protocols or don't allow all possible parameter variations. You can also assume that RFID chip vendors are using FPGAs to prototype the digital part of their ASIC designs. 

 

A broad idea however isn't a project objective. It seems to me, that the project details are still under discussion. In this case it seems meaningful to get a wider knowledge of existing RFID protocols, applications and design of industry standard systems. Also the general concepts of digital signal processing and particularly software defined radio are essential as project background theory. 

 

Regards, 

Frank
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Altera_Forum
Honored Contributor II
925 Views

Thank you mister DAVE and mister FvM for your concern, after talking with you, i saw that i must know exactly what i should settle on. 

 

Greeting, 

Kopd
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Altera_Forum
Honored Contributor II
925 Views

 

--- Quote Start ---  

Thank you mister DAVE and mister FvM for your concern, after talking with you, i saw that i must know exactly what i should settle on. 

 

--- Quote End ---  

You need to select a project that is within your capabilities that you can complete within the time-frame alloted for the project. 

 

Don't try to pick a project that is too ambitious, eg., select a project that will require you to learn about new technologies (at least new to you), so that the project is challenging and interesting to you, however, make sure you do not have to learn too many new things, otherwise you will not complete the project. 

 

Cheers, 

Dave
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Altera_Forum
Honored Contributor II
925 Views

sir i want to implement rfid through fpga that will sort out the parcels of particular countries the rfid tags were pasted on the parcels. 

can you please help me in that project ??
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Altera_Forum
Honored Contributor II
925 Views

 

--- Quote Start ---  

sir i want to implement rfid through fpga that will sort out the parcels of particular countries the rfid tags were pasted on the parcels. 

can you please help me in that project ?? 

--- Quote End ---  

I have no experience with RFIDs. However, I will provide advice on your project. 

 

First, get the part numbers of the RFID tags and reader. Second, determine whether you need to use an FPGA.  

 

I doubt that you will require an FPGA. RFID tags are supposed to be cheap, and although the readers will be more expensive than the tags, the readers also need to be cheap. A microcontroller would likely be more appropriate for a commercial application such as parcel sorting. 

 

However, if you do want to implement a system using FPGAs, the users of this forum will help provide direction. 

 

Cheers, 

Dave
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Altera_Forum
Honored Contributor II
925 Views

For an easy to program RFID reader (EM4102 protocol) look at http://www.phidgets.com/products.php?product_id=2002 

 

This simple dev kit will let you play with RFID interfacing and concepts. You can then work with the FPGA dev kit to replicate and expand the commercially available functions if it makes sense.
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Altera_Forum
Honored Contributor II
850 Views

I see at least two possible motivations to implement a RFID reader on a FPGA. 

 

- to implement specific features that are not available with commercial RFID reader chips. This is often the case for test systems, that need to vary protocol parameters arbitrarily or measure signals that aren't usually accessible. 

 

Multistandard capability can be a possible motivation, but you shouldn't underrate how versatile commercial reader chips are. 

 

- to implement the functionality of existing RFID readers on a FPGA for educational purposes. You shouldn't mind to reinvent the wheel in this case. 

 

A suitable RF frontend has to be added. Besides digital FPGA design basics, profound knowledge of DSP methods will be required for the project. 

 

Regards, 

Frank
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