Date: 17/11/2011

RFID tag chip for animals to enable wireless tracking

Atmel Corporation has made available of a low-frequency (LF) one-time programmable (OTP) transponder IC, the Atmel IDIC ATA5575M2, optimized for next-generation animal identification systems for pets, wildlife or livestock. The new device is also suggested for for waste management applications according to the BDE standard.

The Atmel ATA5575M2 OTP can be programmed with any necessary information, including the specific country or the manufacturer code supplied either by the International Committee for Animal Recording (ICAR) or government authorities before the shipment. This expected to reduce lead-time and time to market down to approximately 1 to 2 weeks.

These device boasts better read distances with different coils and readers. The write distance is reduced as one-time programming is required, which usually takes place in close coupling to the programming device during the final tag test and customization.

Atmel says the integration of optional trimmed 250-pF or 330-pF on-chip capacitors eliminate the need for external components because a coil is all that is needed for a complete system, thus enabling extra-small access control applications. At approximately 0.9 square millimeters, the Atmel ATA5575M2 can be used in most transponder packages, including glass transponders or plastic key housings for very small tags (such as animal tags).

The memory in the device contains a unique manufacturer-programmed ID, which the user can overwrite with a specific animal ID code. The user ID (UID) can be read and archived (along with the animal code) before programming to ensure reliable trace ability.

Since an LF device operates in the range of 100kHz to 150kHz, the Atmel ATA5575M2 can be used worldwide. It is designed for rugged environments and can also be used in conditions not typical for RFID application devices, including underwater (fish tagging), in dirt (outdoor livestock), or injected via glass or plastic transponders (under the skin of animals) for tracking purposes.

The ATA5575M2 transponder IC supports the FDX-B and FDX-A standards:
FDX-B: ASK modulation, 128 bits, differential Biphase coding with a fixed bit rate of RF/32
FDX-A: FSK modulation, 96 bits with a fixed bit rate of RF/50

It can replace nearly all available LF RFID read-only devices that conform to the ISO 11784/85 standard in FDX-B mode.

Availability, pricing and reference design support:
Samples are available now on wafer or die-in-waffle pack. Pricing for wafer shipments of the Atmel ATA5575M2 starts at US $0.34 in quantities of 15,000. To support the engineer and to simplify the design of complete RFID systems, Atmel provides an evaluation kit (ATA2270-EK1) with ATA5575M2 sample tags. This kit is based on Atmel's well-known AVR microcontrollers and is accompanied by Windows PC software, C-source code for the AVR and PCB Gerber data for the reader board.