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I need an 8x8 grid of RFID readers arranged on an 8"x8" board. The RFID tags will be placed only millimeters above each antenna. I was wondering if I could use one 1:8 RF switch (e.g. pSemi PE426482) to connect one antenna connector from the reader to a selected column, and a second 1:8 RF switch to connect the other antenna connector from the reader to a selected row, and be able to read from the antenna on that row/column only. To clarify, each antenna in the array has one lead connected to a row line, and the other lead connected to a column line.

[Update] Perhaps I should go with 125khz tags and cheap analog switches instead of 13.5 MHz tags and expensive RF switches...

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  • \$\begingroup\$ I honestly don't know, but does somebody even make an RF multiplexer? I've heard of antenna multipliers, or combiners, but not multiplexers. \$\endgroup\$
    – Ron Beyer
    Commented Mar 19, 2020 at 23:26
  • \$\begingroup\$ Yes, there are RF multiplexers, such as pSemi’s 8:1 PE426482 and 12:1 PE426412, these particular parts are good from 10MHz to 6GHz, I figured that would work with the 13.5MHz frequency of NFC \$\endgroup\$
    – Hamid
    Commented Mar 20, 2020 at 13:10
  • \$\begingroup\$ Are you using a bistatic antenna setup or a mono static setup? \$\endgroup\$
    – JoeyB
    Commented Mar 23, 2020 at 6:18
  • \$\begingroup\$ Mono static. Each antenna is for both transmitting and receiving signal. \$\endgroup\$
    – Hamid
    Commented Mar 24, 2020 at 14:32

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Yes, of course you can multiplex the antennas to the reader. And yes, it would be easier with 128 kHz tags, because you would not need RF/HF switches. But it might be slower (data rate).

But if you only need a few mm‘s of reading distance, you could also try 13.56 MHz with simple non-RF/HF analog switches. It should work out just OK if you have a good antenna-tag coupling.

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