SEATTLE, August 11, 2009 – Leading UHF Gen 2 RFID technology provider Impinj, Inc. today announced the availability of the Speedway Revolution reader, 80% smaller than their original Speedway reader, costing 20% less and delivering more automated functions than before.

Speedway Revolution incorporates the company’s innovative Autopilot technology to continuously and automatically optimize the reader for its operating environment to deliver peak performance at all times. The RFID reader's performance and versatility is delivered while using less than half the power of the original model, enabling Power-over-Ethernet (PoE) functionality which allows its use in places such readers could not be used before.

Critical to Speedway Revolution’s outstanding performance and ease of use, Impinj’s patented Autopilot technology eliminates the need for manual recalibration each time there is a change in its environment of nature of deployment. It adjusts as the number of tags in the read zone changes, going to low duty cycle mode when no tags are present.




Because RFID system performance depends upon a multitude of ever-changing environmental conditions (including RF interference levels, tag density in the reader field and ambient RF noise) users configure readers for worst-case scenarios, compromising optimum performance in the process. Autopilot guarantees peak performance while eliminating the need for manual tuning by integrating several innovative features, including:

• Autoset, which continuously optimizes the reader’s configuration for the best, most reliable performance. Speedway Revolution readers sense levels of RF noise and interference, automatically selecting the appropriate settings.
• Low duty cycle, which reduces RF interference, power consumption, and energy costs. Speedway Revolution readers only transmit when tags are in the field of view, eliminating unnecessary RF noise.
• Dynamic antenna switching, which improves throughput and efficiency. Speedway Revolution readers sense where tags are in the field and automatically focus more time on antennas with the largest tag populations in view. For example, if a low-height pallet follows taller pallets through a portal, a Speedway Revolution reader will reduce wasteful time spent on antennas in the upper positions.

Speedway Revolution builds on the industry-leading reputation of the original Speedway reader and delivers the superior performance and versatility required to address even the industry’s most difficult applications. With PoE and support for the standard application interface, EPCglobal Low-Level Reader Protocol (LLRP), Speedway Revolution provides low cost of ownership and easily integrates with leading RFID middleware platforms.

“End-users need RFID systems to deliver great performance in dynamic environments, and they want readers to be easy to deploy and inexpensive to own,” said Kerry Krause, vice president of marketing at Impinj. “Speedway Revolution represents a quantum leap in reader design, inspired by our experience as the worldwide leader in UHF RFID tag chips, reader chips and fixed readers. The combination of Autopilot along with Revolution’s small size and extremely low power consumption delivers consistently superior performance, unparalleled ease-of-use and significant cost savings for end-users.”

Speedway Revolution is available now in both a four-port configuration at an MSRP of $1,585 and a two-port configuration at $1,385. Measuring only 6.75” x 5.5” x 1” (17 cm X 14 cm X 2.5 cm), Speedway Revolution is 80% smaller than the original Speedway reader, consumes less than half the power and has a 20% lower MSRP, making it hassle-free, easy to install and inexpensive to maintain and operate.