PCT100
Powercast
®
High-Function RFID Sensor Tag
DESCRIPTION
The PCT100 SuperTag is a high-function RFID
tag capable of measuring temperature,
humidity, and light level with high accuracy.
The tag harnesses the capability of the
Powercast Powerharvester® Chipset to
enable long range, high-function RFID all
without the need for an on-board battery.
The tags are designed to maximize the RF to
DC conversion efficiency of the energy
provided by an RFID reader. Using this
energy, sensor measurements can be taken
and then read back out of the tag’s memory
using any standard UHF RFID reader.
Powercast’s
technology
enables
a
completely maintenance-free and battery-
free sensing and tracking solution for UHF
RFID applications.
APPLICATIONS
Medical Asset Tracking and Monitoring
Smart Grid
Building Automation
Logistics
Asset Monitoring
Supply Chain Management
Materials Management
Industrial Monitoring
FEATURES
EPC Class 1 Gen 2 compliant
ISO/IEC 18000-6C compliant
10 meter read range
High sensor accuracy
“Find Tag” feature – locate one specific
tag by illuminating an on-board LED
Wide RF range: -17dBm to +20dBm
Frequency range: 860MHz to 960MHz
Compact hard case packaging
RoHS compliant
High RF to DC conversion efficiency - up
to 75%
-40 to +85C operational temperature
range
Completely battery-free
Data accessible in user memory
Fast read rate
FUNCTIONAL BLOCK DIAGRAM
STANDARD
RFID CHIP
HIGH-
FUNCTIONING
DEVICE
POWERCAST
HARVESTER
TEMP
LIGHT
HUMIDITY
Powercast products and technology are covered by one or more of the following patents and other patents pending:
6,289,237 | 6,615,074 | 6,856,291 | 7,027,311 | 7,057,514 | 7,639,994 | 7,643,312 | 7,812,771 | 7,844,306 | 7,868,482 | 7,898,105 | 7,925,308 | 8,159,090 | 8,380,255
8,432,062 | 8,461,817 | 8,621,245
PCT100 Datasheet – Rev 3
2017/06
© 2017 Powercast Corporation, All rights reserved.
www.powercastco.com
/
contact@powercastco.com
+1 (412) 455-5800
Page
1
PCT100
Powercast
®
High-Function RFID Sensor Tag
ABSOLUTE MAXIMUM RATINGS
T
A
= 25°C, unless otherwise noted.
Parameter
RF Input Power
Operating Temperature Range
Storage Temperature Range
*Humidity Sensor operates from -20°C to 85°C
Value
23
-40* to 85
-40 to 85
Unit
dBm
°C
°C
Exceeding the absolute
maximum ratings may
cause permanent
damage to the device.
SPECIFICATIONS
T
A
= 25°C, RF
IN
= 915MHz unless otherwise noted.
Parameter
Symbol
1
RF Characteristics
Input Power
Frequency
Read Distance
Read Time
Temperature
Range
Accuracy
Light
Range
Accuracy
Humidity
Operating Temperature
Range
Accuracy
11% to 89%
0 to 10% or 90% to 100%
Condition
Min
-17
860
0
4
-40
-
0
-
-20
-
Typ
Max
20
960
10
15
85
-
1000
-
85
-
Unit
dBm
MHz
m
s
°C
°C
Lux
Lux
°C
%RH
%RH
%RH
915
5
5
-
±2%
-
±10%
-
±4%
±8%
PCT100 Datasheet – Rev 3
2017/06
© 2017 Powercast Corporation, All rights reserved.
www.powercastco.com
/
contact@powercastco.com
+1 (412) 455-5800
Page
2
PCT100
Powercast
®
High-Function RFID Sensor Tag
FUNCTIONAL DESCRIPTION
POWER
The PCT100 tag is passive and completely
battery free. It utilizes Powercast’s
harvesting technology to harvest the RF
energy produced by an RFID reader and
converts it into usable DC Power. Because
of this harvesting technology, the tag is able
to power multiple sensors at one time. The
tag stores the DC power until it is significant
enough to take a sensor reading and write
the values to the RFID chip. This can cause
the time between sensor reads to vary with
distance. The minimum read time will be
around 5s when close to the reader, and
increase as you move away from the
reader.
FLAGS
The PCT100 is equipped with a flag byte to
switch between locate and run modes.
SENSOR READS
The PCT100 has the option to sense
temperature, light, humidity or any
combination of the three. There is also a
locate tag only version. Every time the tag
takes a sensor read, it writes the values to
the same memory locations on the RFID
chip. Therefore, only the most recent
sensor values will be stored and read. The
memory location for the sensor reads are
listed in
Table 1.
LOCATE TAG
The PCT100 is equipped with a locate tag
feature. This helps to find a tag in the field
when there are multiple tags. It causes the
LED on the tag to blink. The closer you are
to the reader, the faster the LED will blink.
PCT100 Datasheet – Rev 3
2017/06
To set the tag into locate mode, you must
set the appropriate flag high. To go back to
normal operation, you must clear this flag.
DESCRIPTION OF MEMORY
MEMORY MAP
The tags are compatible with EPC Gen2
commands. Data should be read in 16 bit
words. The user data is stored in the user
memory locations (memory bank 3) starting
at byte 00h.
Table 1: Memory Map
Word Memory
Content
Address
0
00h
Product ID
1
02h
Product
Configuration
2
04h
Flags
3
06h
RESERVED
4
08h
Temperature
5
0Ah
Light
6
0Ch
Humidity
Data
Source
PCT100
PCT100
PC
-
PCT100
PCT100
PCT100
PRODUCT ID AND CONFIGURATION
The product ID code for the PCT100 is 100
(64h). For the PCT200 tag, it will be 200
(C8h). The product configuration is
dependent upon which sensors are
populated. It is a binary code where 1
represents the sensor being populated and
0 represents the sensor being absent.
Table 2: Product Configuration
Bit 2
Bit 1
Bit 0
Temperature Light
Humidity
© 2017 Powercast Corporation, All rights reserved.
www.powercastco.com
/
contact@powercastco.com
+1 (412) 455-5800
Page
3
PCT100
Powercast
®
High-Function RFID Sensor Tag
For Example, if temperature and humidity
are populated and light is not, the product
ID would be 101b or 5h.
Table 1: Resistance to Temperature
FLAGS
The flags are what control the function of
the tag. Currently, the two options are run
and locate. To set the tag in locate mode,
0001h must be written to the flag word. To
set it back into run mode, 0000h must be
written to the tag.
SENSOR READS
The sensor read results are integers
between 0 and 1023 and can be converted
using the equations below. If a sensor is
not populated, the ADC value will be read
as FFFFh.
Resistance
(kΩ)
Temperature
(⁰C)
Resistance
(kΩ)
Temperature
(⁰C)
CONVERSION FORMULAS
The values for each sensor read will be
between 0 and 1024 in decimal and stored
on the RFID chip as hexadecimal values.
The following are the formulas to convert
these values into their respective sensor
values.
TEMPERATURE
For temperature, the formula will convert
the values read into a resistance.
195.652
148.171
113.347
87.559
68.237
53.65
42.506
33.892
27.219
22.021
17.926
14.674
12.081
10
8.315
6.948
5.834
-40
-35
-30
-25
-20
-15
-10
-5
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
4.917
4.161
5.535
3.014
2.586
2.228
1.925
1.669
1.452
1.268
1.11
0.974
0.858
0.758
0.672
0.596
0.531
45
50
55
60
65
70
75
80
85
90
95
100
105
110
115
120
125
LIGHT
Where X is the decimal value read from the Tag.
Note: The light equations used for the PCT100 and
PCT200 are different.
HUMIDITY
Where X is the decimal value read from the
tag. The resistance must then converted
into temperature using the look up table in
Table 1.
If the resistance falls between two
values, a linear approximation is made.
Where X is the decimal value read from the
tag.
Please
see
Document.xlsx
the
PCT
Conversions
PCT100 Datasheet – Rev 3
2017/06
© 2017 Powercast Corporation, All rights reserved.
www.powercastco.com
/
contact@powercastco.com
+1 (412) 455-5800
Page
4
PCT100
Powercast
®
High-Function RFID Sensor Tag
MECHANICAL SPECIFICATIONS
All Dimensions in inches
P2110 MODULE SERIES
PCT 1 00 - XYZ
PCT
Tag series
Version
100
= Battery Free
200
= Datalogging
XYZ (Sensors Desired)
T=
Temperature
H=Humidity
L
= Light
F =
Find Tag Only
PCT100-T
PCT100-L
PCT100-H
PCT100-TL
PCT100-TH
PCT100-LH
PCT100-TLH
PCT100-F
PCT200-T
PCT200-L
PCT200-H
PCT200-TL
PCT200-TH
PCT200-LH
PCT200-TLH
PCT200-F
Temperature
Light
Humidity
Temperature and Light
Temperature and Humidity
Light and Humidity
Temperature, Light and Humidity
Find Tag Only
Temperature
Light
Humidity
Temperature and Light
Temperature and Humidity
Light and Humidity
Temperature, Light and Humidity
Find Tag Only
PCT100 Datasheet – Rev 3
2017/06
© 2017 Powercast Corporation, All rights reserved.
www.powercastco.com
/
contact@powercastco.com
+1 (412) 455-5800
Page
5
