Abstract: Methods, systems, and articles of manufacture for assigning priority to antennae are disclosed. In accordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention, reader antennae identify the location of an object by detecting a tag or other identifier associated with each object. Sensors can be provided to provide additional information regarding the environment of the objects or their surroundings. A priority order is assigned to the reader antennae based on the location and other characteristics of the objects and/or their environment. A polling sequence for reading the reader antennae is determined according to the priority order.

Abstract: A radio frequency identification (RFID) system including a transponder, an antenna, and a reader, the antenna coupled to the reader, the antenna and the reader for transmitting a radio signal to the transponder and for receiving a response radio signal from the transponder, the response radio signal including data from the transponder, the system further including: a curtain that limits propagation of the radio signal; wherein the curtain includes a plurality of flexible strips transparent to visible light, the long edge of each of the strips is oriented in substantially the vertical direction, more than one strip overlaps a portion of the width of an adjacent strip along the length of the adjacent strip, and the length of each of the strips is substantially greater than the width of each of the strips.

Abstract: A method for using a radio frequency identification (RFID) system including a transponder, an antenna, and a reader, the antenna coupled to the reader, the antenna and the reader for transmitting a radio signal to the transponder and for receiving a response radio signal from the transponder, the response radio signal including data from the transponder, the method including: selecting a curtain that limits propagation of the radio signal; and placing the curtain in an area through which the radio signal would otherwise propagate; wherein the curtain includes a plurality of flexible strips transparent to visible light, the long edge of each of the strips is oriented in substantially the vertical direction, more than one strip overlaps a portion of the width of an adjacent strip along the length of the adjacent strip, and the length of each of the strips is substantially greater than the width of each of the strips.

Abstract: A curtain for a radio frequency identification (RFID) system including a transponder, an antenna, and a reader, the antenna coupled to the reader, the antenna and the reader for transmitting a radio signal to the transponder and for receiving a response radio signal from the transponder, the response radio signal including data from the transponder, the curtain including: a plurality of flexible strips that limit propagation of the radio signal; wherein the strips are transparent to visible light, the long edge of each of the strips is oriented in substantially the vertical direction, more than one strip overlaps a portion of the width of an adjacent strip along the length of the adjacent strip, and the length of each of the strips is substantially greater than the width of each of the strips.

Abstract: An antenna assembly for wireless communications has various components to minimize signal influence when transmitting signals to minimize undesirable loop formation phenomena caused by (positive) feedback of signals. Signal wave scattering and diffraction causing back lobe radio frequency (RF) patterns are minimized by a particular antenna assembly structure having a reflector and at least one attenuating structural member, a metallic mesh wrapping the power cable of a feeder, a non-conductive antenna support structure, or any combination thereof. The dimensions of the various components, in particular the reflector and attenuators, can be varied according to desired wireless communications environment.

Abstract: An antenna system including a support structure and an antenna assembly having an open grid reflector structure in a closed ring and dipole elements. The antenna assembly includes a number of antenna panels, each including a number of the dipole elements, the closed ring is self-supporting and connected to the support structure by radial beams and struts, and the antenna panels are interconnected by a variable angle connection.

Abstract: A microwave antenna comprising the combination of a paraboloidal main reflector; a subreflector located such that the paraboloidal main reflector and the subreflector have a common focal point lying between the main reflector and the subreflector; a feed horn for transmitting microwave radiation (preferably symmetrically) to, and receiving microwave radiation from, said subreflector; and a shield connected to the peripheral portion of the subreflector and having an absorbing surface which reduces side lobe levels both by capturing the feed horn spillover energy and by reducing the diffraction of microwave radiation from the edge of the subreflector. The shield is preferably formed as a continuous axial projection extending from the periphery of the subreflector toward the main reflector substantially parallel to the axis of the feed horn. The reflective surface of the subreflector is suitably a section of an approximate ellipse.

Abstract: A single microwave-reflective antenna "dish" can be used in combination with a plurality of multiple-beam microwave feed arrays to generate or receive multiple-beam-path microwave radiation in several different frequency bands. Each of the feed arrays may operate in a discrete band of frequencies, with the combined radiations of all the arrays illuminating the reflector along a single axis. The optical system is based on the Newtonian model, such that the radiations from several arrays located off the principal axis may be combined by corresponding frequency-sensitive reflective surfaces located on the principal axis. Each of these reflective surfaces serves to direct the radiations from a single feed array toward the reflective antenna, and reciprocally, to direct radiation from the antenna to the associated feed array.