Update on European Radio Regulations for

UHF RFID – EN 302 208

European Radio Regulations Drive Positive Momentum for UHF RFID

In 2018 the European Commission approved the COMMISSION IMPLEMENTING DECISION (EU) 2018/1538 on a so-called sequence plan that allows 3 channels in the 915-921 MHz band in Europe for ratification in the 28 members states. In mid 2019 the CEPT REC 70-03 has been published endorsing this for 46 European countries even optionally allowing 4 channels.

This new European UHF RFID regulations for RAIN RFID technology is a great milestone. It allows double transmit power, double data rates and much higher backscatter power. Due to more requirements for all European harmonised standards the actual work on the respective test standard EN 302 208 could not be finished at the same time. In fall 2019 new requirements have been requested, which includes among others reader receiver performance tests. These tests are currently defined in ISO/IEC 18046-2 “interrogator performance test methods”, which is the associate of ISO/IEC 18046-3 “tag performance test methods”. 

Revision of these document will be published by ISO shortly.

Today EN 302 208 and ISO/IEC 18046 are the only standardised test methods for RAIN RFID tag performance and reader performance including tag turn-on power, tag backscatter and receiver sensitivity. Standardized test methods provide:

  • Global traceability
  • Reproducibility
  • Test equipment independence
  • Meaning in terms of physics
  • Relevance for correlating test results with application performance
  • The full webinar recording from AIM is available on youtube.

If you would like to get latest updates on the standards work, please contact us.