Wide-beam antennas in transition zones
A transition zone is a door, a store exit, a corridor or a dock: a place items pass through. There you want to read what crosses the line, not what sits beside it, and often to know which way it went. Fan and curtain beams, and the electrical tilt of the 90C4090 and the 85DL4090, are made for that.
Read what passes, not what is nearby
A square 70° x 70° panel lights up a round patch of floor. In a doorway that patch spills into the shelves beside it, and tags parked there get read as if they had passed. A wide-beam antenna squeezes the beam in one plane and keeps it wide in the other. The read zone becomes a strip: wide enough to cover the whole doorway, narrow along the path. Fewer stray reads, and a clearer moment when the item crossed.
Three antennas, three shapes of beam
All three are panels you can hide in a ceiling, a wall or a portal post. They differ in beam, polarization and size.
65C6095 · curtain beam
60° x 95°, 6.5 dBiC, circular, 900-930 MHz. 245 x 125 x 20 mm and IP65. The beam points straight out from the face, with no tilt. Pick it for narrow passages and portal posts where space is short.
90C4090 · fan beam, circular
40° x 90°, 9 dBiC, one SMA port. The beam leaves the panel tilted 14° at 915 MHz. Circular polarization reads tags in any rotation around the beam, so pick it when items pass in random positions.
85DL4090 · fan beam, dual linear
40° x 90°, 8.5 dBiL, two SMA ports: one horizontal, one vertical element. The beam is tilted 15° at 915 MHz. Each port reaches farther than a circular antenna in its own polarization, and the reader switches between the two.
Electrical tilt: the beam already leaves at an angle
In the 90C4090 and the 85DL4090 the radiating elements are fed with a growing phase delay from one end of the panel to the other. The beam leans toward one end even with the panel flat on the wall. The tilt happens only in the 40° plane, along the long side. In the 90° plane, across the panel, the beam stays centered.
- 90C4090: 14° at 915 MHz, the middle of its 900-930 MHz band.
- 85DL4090: 15° on port 1 and 14° on port 2, at 915 MHz.
- On the back of both, a screw that sits on one end and not on the other marks the end the beam leans to.
- Mount with the long side horizontal and the beam leans left or right, not down. Mount with the long side vertical and it leans up or down.
Where they fit
Store exit and loss prevention
Antennas in the ceiling or in slim posts at the exit. The narrow plane keeps the clothes rack two meters inside the store out of the zone. The 90C4090 reads hanging garments in any position.
Passage between areas, with direction
Two antennas tilted to opposite sides: one looks at the approach, the other at the way out. If a tag shows up first on A and then on B, it went in. B and then A, it came out.
Docks and wide gates
The 90° plane runs across the opening and covers a wide gate from one point in the ceiling. The 40° plane keeps the trucks and pallets parked beside the gate outside the zone.
Corridors and people passages
Badges, carts and kits that cross a corridor. Antennas on the side walls, beams crossing in an X, read from both sides and see a tag that one body would hide from a single antenna.
Installing the 90C4090 and the 85DL4090 in the ceiling
This is the layout for a passage with direction: two antennas back to back above the line people and goods cross.
- Lay the long side of each panel along the direction of travel. The 90° plane then runs across the passage.
- Turn the two panels so their tilts point to opposite sides, using the off-center screw on the back: antenna A toward the approach, antenna B toward the exit.
- Keep about 20 cm between the centers of the two antennas.
- The face of the panel points to the floor. Keep metal ducts, lamps and beams away from the front of it.
- Run the cables to the reader. The 90C4090 uses one reader port. The 85DL4090 uses two, one per polarization.
- Name the reader ports A and B in the software. The order of the reads gives the direction.
Example from our layouts: 2.2 to 2.5 m ceiling, 1 m passage. Positions and distances change with each site.
Installing them on the side walls
For a wider corridor, or when the ceiling is too high, put the antennas on the walls or on posts on both sides of the passage.
- Long side horizontal, along the direction of travel. The 90° plane is vertical and covers from the knees to above the head.
- Two antennas on each side, about 20 cm apart, with tilts pointing to opposite sides. The beams of the two walls cross in an X in the middle.
- Mount the panels at the height where the tags pass.
- Four 90C4090 use four reader ports. Four 85DL4090 use eight: plan the reader or an RF splitter.
GateView OTP: two antennas already aimed
The GateView OTP always comes with two antennas inside: two 90C4090 (circular) or two 85DL4090 (dual linear). They sit 260 mm apart, each on a support tilted 5°, in opposite directions along the long side. The 5° of the support add to the electrical tilt, so each sector points about 20° to one side. Two 40° sectors side by side give the 80° x 90° opening of the portal.
- The ceiling bracket runs parallel to the long side of the antennas. Install it along the direction of travel to get the two sectors in sequence, one before and one after the line, and read the direction.
- Install it across the direction of travel to spread the 80° over a wide gate.
- With 90C4090 the portal uses two reader ports. With 85DL4090 it uses four, which fills a four-port reader such as the EZ700 or EZ500.
GateView OTP-7070: one sector straight, one turned 11°
The OTP-7070 uses two 85C7070 antennas, 70° x 70° and circular, with no electrical tilt. They also sit 260 mm apart. One lies flat and points straight at the floor. The other sits on a bend of 11° and points to the outer side. The two 70° x 70° sectors add up to an 80° x 70° opening, wider toward that side, for open areas and gates where the read zone does not need to be narrow.
- Point the side with the tilted antenna toward the area you want to reach farther.
- Each 85C7070 uses one reader port. The cabinet has room for two more antennas.
How big is the zone on the floor
A first estimate, from the angles alone: the edge of each beam where the signal drops by half (-3 dB), drawn down to the height where the tags pass. Real reach also depends on reader power, tag and surroundings, so confirm on site.
| Antennas at | Tags at | One 90C4090 or 85DL4090, flat in the ceiling | GateView OTP |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2.5 m | 1.0 m | 1.2 x 3.0 m | 2.5 x 3.0 m |
| 3.0 m | 1.0 m | 1.6 x 4.0 m | 3.4 x 4.0 m |
| 3.5 m | 1.0 m | 2.0 x 5.0 m | 4.2 x 5.0 m |
Length along the long side of the antennas x width across it. Tilt taken as 15°, GateView OTP sectors at ±20°.
Before you switch it on
- Start at low power and raise it step by step until the tags at the edge of the zone read every time.
- Test with the real item and the real tag, at the real speed of the passage.
- Walk a tag along the shelves next to the zone. If it reads, lower the power or turn the panel.
- Write down the antenna, port and angle of each point. It saves time at the next visit.
Questions we hear
Is the tilt a downtilt?
Only if you mount the panel with its long side vertical. The tilt follows the long side of the panel, so with the long side horizontal the beam leans sideways.
Can I cancel the tilt?
Yes, by tilting the panel the other way with an articulated support. The GateView OTP does the opposite: its supports add 5° to the electrical tilt.
90C4090 or 85DL4090?
Same body and same fan. Pick the 90C4090 when tags pass in any rotation and you want one cable per antenna. Pick the 85DL4090 when you want more reach in each polarization and have two reader ports per antenna.