Setting Up Your Alien H450 Handheld Reader
Overview
This article will show the steps required to setup the Alien H450 handheld reader to read and write UHF RFID tags.
Downloads
Setting Up Your Reader
First, you will need to unpack the reader components and locate the main body of the reader (the component with the screen). On the back of this unit, the battery must be taken out and the film covering the contacts must be removed. Once the contacts are exposed, the battery can be replaced in the reader. If you are adding a SIM card to the reader, you will need to install the SIM card before replacing the battery.
Next, install the grip onto reader by sliding it into position underneath and pressing the locking mechanism to ensure it snaps into place. Once this is done, press and hold the power button to turn on the reader.
Reading Tags
Once the reader has successfully booted, launch the "Alien Demo" app. If this app is not on the device's home screen, open the device's apps by selecting the ":::" button at the bottom of the screen and launching the Alien Demo app from there.
For basic Read/Write functionality, the Inventory and Tag Access menus will be used. For more information on the reader's Geiger and Barcode functionalities, please see the reader's User Guide linked in the Downloads section above.
To begin reading tags, select the Inventory button to launch the Inventory utility. This screen will show the EPCs of the tags being read and will allow the user to clear the list or save the tag reads. To launch an inventory read, either select the green "Start" button or press the trigger on the reader grip.
The screen will populate with the EPCs of nearby tags, as shown in the image below.
To save the tag list, select the "Save" button and choose a location in the device's memory. You will need to add a file extension to the file in order to reopen it. For example, saving the list as "tags.txt" will allow you reopen the file as a raw text file. Selecting the "Clear" button will clear the current tag list from the screen.
The Inventory utility also allows for the filtering of tags using the Mask functionality. The Mask screen allows the user to specify a specific piece of the tag memory to search for, and any tags that do not match this data will not be shown on the screen. For more information and instructions on utilizing the Tag Mask functionality, see page 16 of the reader's User Guide.
Writing Tags
Before writing to a tag, it may be best to reduce the amount of RF power being transmitted by the reader. This will allow the user to read/write a single tag at a time, without running the risk of unintentionally overwriting nearby tags.
To reduce the RF power, navigate to the Alien Demo app home screen and select the three dots in the top right corner to open the RFID Settings menu. Reduce the RF power to 9-10 dBm and select the "Save" button.
To write to the memory of a tag, select the Tag Access button from the Alien Demo home screen. For basic rewriting of a tag's EPC memory, select the Basic tab.
Next, isolate the tag that needs to be rewritten, either by physically isolating it or filtering to that specific tag using the Tag Mask. Isolating the tag further reduces the risk of unintentionally writing nearby tags. In the Tag Access utility, select the "Read" button to read the tag's memory. Once the tag is read, the tag's memory banks will populate the screen.
To change the tag's EPC, select the EPC memory bank and change the EPC to the desired value. This value will need to be in hexadecimal characters (numbers 0-9 and letters A-F) and in multiples of 4, with the most common EPC length being 24 characters. See the image above for an example of the EPC memory.
Once the new EPC value has been input, select the "Write" button (pencil icon) to write to that specific memory bank. The memory bank will flash for a successful write, and will turn red if the write failed. Once the write succeeds, the tag can be read again to verify that the EPC was changed correctly.
For more information on setting up the Alien H450 reader, please send us an email at support@atlasRFIDstore.com.