WJ Communications Revolutionize the UHF Gen2 RFID Reader Module Market

WJ Communications, Inc., a designer and supplier of radio frequency (RF) products and solutions for the wireless infrastructure and radio frequency identification (RFID) reader markets, today unveiled what it described as "its groundbreaking, industry's first true low cost and smallest form factor Gen2 UHF RFID modules," WJM3000, based on WJ's recently announced WJC200 reader chipset.

According to a company statement, "by leveraging the WJC200 chipset, WJ is in a unique position to shatter reader price barriers and accelerate large-scale RFID deployment by designing and manufacturing industry's lowest cost and smallest form factor RFID modules."

The WJM3000, approximately the size of a compact flash card, uses up to 60% fewer discreet components, compared to modules available in the market today, while packing enough horsepower to exceed industry benchmarks for modules with fast inventory time and longer read and write range with worldwide Gen2 tags.

The WJM3000 embodies best in class performance for its size and price target while exceeding industry module benchmarks by supporting 1-watt (+30dBm) RF output power, Dense Reader Mode (DRM) capability, fast data rate of 240 KHz and power management smarts, making it ideal for integration into forklift readers, handheld readers, portal readers, printers, point of sale (POS), and other mobile devices.

"Building upon our core competency and track record of product innovations, we are introducing the next generation WJM modules to offer our customers RFID functionality in every mobile device," said Morteza Saidi, vice president of engineering at WJ Communications. "WJ is on a path to revolutionize the RFID industry and further establish its leadership position by offering industry's first Gen2 reader chipset. More modules based on WJ's reader chipset will be introduced in 2007, setting the industry's benchmark for size, cost, and performance to maximize ROI for customers."

Product Overview
The 1.0 Watt WJM3000 reader module operates over the North America UHF frequency band (902-928 MHz) and supports ISO18000-6C (UHF Gen2) and ISO 18000-6B international standards. The WJM3000 provides either a PCD header mount connection or cable feed connection with 3.3V CMOS levels (up to 5V) serial communications and can be operated via the WJ Graphical User Interface (GUI) demo software. The intuitive command set allows for extremely fast development of custom applications via an open source DLL and API support.

WJ has been sampling the WJM3000 modules to key strategic customers since December 2006. The feedback from customers, the company says, has been overwhelmingly positive in regards to small form factor and read range. Additionally, the ability to read and write to RFID tags at 240 KHz was valued as an excellent feature enabling higher throughput and longer read/write range capability.

The main applications for WJM3000 include: RFID enabled Mobile Devices, RFID Enabled Handheld Readers, RFID Enabled Fork Lift Readers, and RFID Portal Reader.