IH21L Bluetooth® UHF RFID Reader

To maximise the battery life of TSL® Readers, the recommendations included in this document should be observed by both customers and distributors/resellers of TSL® products.

To connect a TSL^® Reader to a desktop PC via a USB connection, the necessary Virtual COM Port (VCP) drivers must be downloaded from http://www.ftdichip.com/Drivers/VCP.htm. On that page you can select the appropriate 'setup executable' for your operating system, which will install the drivers for you.

This document provides a comparison of the two available modes of operation (SPP and HID) using Bluetooth^® Wireless Technology.

This document provides details of how to rapidly locate hard to find tagged items using TSL’s tag-finding Apps such as 'RFID Tag Finder' (available for Android™ and Windows Phone) or the Find-a-Tag feature in 'RFID Explorer for iOS'.

User Guide for UHF Smart Wedge ASCII 2 .NET for Windows Desktop.

UHF Smart Wedge ASCII 2 is a solution that converts UHF transponder reads and barcode scans from TSL^® ASCII Protocol UHF readers into keyboard presses. This enables UHF and barcode data to be scanned into legacy applications without any changes to the application.

The document describes the process of updating firmware to a TSL ASCII Protocol Reader.

RFID Web Wedge is designed to insert RFID (or bar-code) data into Web Applications

TSL’s mobile Apps now provide a feature to restrict the tags that are detected and displayed when performing an RFID scan. This can be used to ensure that only tags of interest to the user are detected and counted. This document details how to specify the EPC filter in TSL's mobile Apps.

This document describes how to pair a TSL^® Reader to a Windows 8.1 desktop computer via Bluetooth^® wireless technology. The process is similar for other desktop computers.

This document describes how to pair a TSL^® Reader to a Windows 7 desktop computer via Bluetooth^® wireless technology. The process is similar for other desktop computers.

Version 1.27 Fix for 2173 Bluetooth reset after download

This is a preview release of the TSL Firmware Loader with packages specifically for the IH21L (Linear Antenna) Reader. The following files are included:

• IH21L_Update_Package_v1.0.1.tslp – this package is the Demo Update
• IH21L_Update_Package_v1.0.0.tslp – this package reverts the Reader to original firmware
• TSL Firmware Loader for Android User Guide – this describes the procedure for updating a Reader using the supplied packages

The supplied Demo firmware package (1.0.1) will update the IH21L Reader using special firmware that differs from the original IH21L firmware only in that it contains a bug fix for the unattended firmware update support. Other than this one fix and the version number change, it is functionally identical to the original IH21L firmware.

Updated to support the ASCII protocol v2.4.
The install is now digitally signed.

UHF Smart Wedge ASCII 2 is a solution that converts UHF transponder reads and barcode scans from TSL^® ASCII Protocol UHF readers into keyboard presses. This enables UHF and barcode data to be scanned into legacy applications without any changes to the application.

v1.20 fixes a number of issues including reading from user memory

The User Guide can be downloaded here.

Added and updated many new Response Field Headers and Commands.

Information relating to submitting your TSL-hardware enabled apps to the App Store.

Starting with Android 12 (API31), there is a requirement for many App permissions to be obtained from the user at run-time. By following the advice provided in this document, owners of the latest Android devices can continue to enjoy using your RFID App with their TSL^® RFID Reader. 

To maximise the battery life of TSL® Readers, the recommendations included in this document should be observed by both customers and distributors/resellers of TSL® products.

TSL® Readers can be operated in Bluetooth® SPP mode where the Reader is controlled by a custom written application or in HID mode, where the Reader behaves like a Bluetooth® Keyboard. This document details how to switch between these modes.

The TSL^® range of Bluetooth^® Readers are able to appear to host devices as an HID keyboard. In this mode the data read by the reader is sent to the host as if it were typed on the host’s keyboard.  This document describes the Bluetooth^® HID mode in more detail.

This document details Log file and Autorun file commands/responses that can be used with TSL®  Readers with a micro-SD card installed.

This document recaps the behaviour and operation of UHF transponders with respect to selecting, reading and writing, and provides some examples of how to achieve this with the TSL ASCII 2 Protocol.

It is often necessary to change the existing EPC of a tag to a new value to support either standards-based or custom encoding formats. This document provides examples of how to modify the EPC identifier using the TSL RFID Explorer App.

It is often necessary to change the existing EPC of a tag to a new value to support either standards-based or custom encoding formats. This document provides examples of how to modify the EPC identifier using the TSL ASCII 2 protocol.

Information on enabling Bluetooth^® Auto-Reconnect Mode on iOS Devices.

This Windows application connects to a TSL® RFID Reader (via a USB connection) in order to generate diagnostic information that can be emailed to our Support team. The Virtual COM Port driver must be installed in order for this application to function correctly.

The document describes the process of updating firmware to a TSL ASCII Protocol Reader.

HID keyboard mapping file for Spanish (SP) keyboard layout

HID keyboard mapping file for French Belgian (BE) keyboard layout

HID keyboard mapping file for German (GR) keyboard layout

HID keyboard mapping file for French (FR) keyboard layout

v1.00 First release
v1.01 Fixed mapping for < >

HID keyboard mapping file for United Kingdom (UK) keyboard layout

HID keyboard mapping file for United States (US) keyboard layout

(NB This is the default layout and not normally required)

This release of the native Android SDK introduces ASCII Protocol 3.0 - the backwardly compatible, evolution of TSL's ASCII Protocol 2. The ASCII Protocol 3.0 update provides support for TSL Series 3 Readers, such as the recently introduced 3166 UHF RFID RAIN Reader.

Additions to the protocol include:

• The LinkProfileCommand to allow access to the new, faster Series 3 RF Modes.
• A SelectPause parameter, on the ReadTransponderCommand, to provide the carrier wave needed for optimal reading of Magnus S3 temperature Sensor Tags e.g. HID Sense Passive, Axzon etc...
• A new SystemCommand that can be used to alter the baud rate of the ePop-Loq connection and adjust the volume of system sounds, such as the power on beep.
• An AlertVolume parameter, on the AlertCommand, that allows fine-grained control of the alert volume (0-100%).

See the included "Version History.txt" file for full details.

The SDK also sees the introduction of:

• An improved Inventory Sample Project that can access the Series 3 Reader RF Modes for significantly faster tag read rates.
• A new Sample Code project, for accessing Magnus S3 Temperature Sensor Tags demonstrating all the steps required to reliably access temperature, sensor and RSSI values.
• A reworked LicenceKey Project that demonstrates the use of an Asymmetric Public Key Cryptography signature approach.

The v2.8.0 SDK is built for Android API Level 34.

The v1.6.0 release of the TSL iOS SDK is here! With a new FindTag Sample project (implemented in Swift/SwiftUI) and an updated framework supporting ASCII Protocol 2.5, this release is a significant upgrade to our iOS SDK.

New commands include:
TSLFindTagCommand (for series 21xx Readers) - controls the Reader's tag finder operation
TSLBlockPermalockTransponderCommand - to allow tags to be block permalocked
TSLAutorunCommand - allows the SD-Card's 'auto.txt' file to be read, written or deleted.

The latest TSLAsciiCommands framework is now available in the new XCFramework format for Xcode 12 users. We have also audited the API to improve type-safety in Swift apps.

Finally, the included documentation has been completely overhauled and now provides a fresh, modern look, an updated 'Getting Started' section, improved enum type documentation and both ObjC and Swift interfaces for all commands.

*The v1.6.1 update provides XCFramework ObjC project compatibility and minor documentation updates.

The Developer Resources Pack contains images of our readers, for use in applications developed to support our readers.   

Terms of Use
The images in this bundle and the rights pertaining to them, including copyright and ownership, are the sole and exclusive property of Technology Solutions (UK) Ltd 2020.  The images in this bundle are only provided for use in Mobile or Desktop applications that connect to the TSL Reader depicted in the image. No other use is authorised.

The v1.2 release of the TSL cross-platform, Xamarin SDK (for PCL-based projects) is now available. This release uses the Tsl.AsciiProtocol PCL library v1.3.6 (available via NuGet) which contains many new features including:

• Full support for ASCII Protocol 2.5 - including the new FindTagCommand to simplify the implementation of tag finding.
• USB support for UWP-based projects
• A new connection mechanism (AsciiTransportsManager) while retaining ReaderConnectionManager to maintain full backwards compatibility with existing projects.
• Sequencing of synchronously executed ExecuteCommand() calls to eliminate cross thread "Command is already executing" exceptions
• New Bluetooth pairing support via the BluetoothSecurity class
• HostBarcodeHandler a helper class to initiate a barcode scan on the terminal from reader trigger for supported terminals

The Sample Projects, in this release, have all been updated to demonstrate USB support for UWP Apps and fix minor bugs. The new, cross-platform, .NET Standard SDK will be released shortly and we recommend that it is used for all new projects.