An apparatus is provided for determining the orientation of documents based upon the acquisition of images of the documents and the detection of barcode images from the documents. The architecture involves downstream and upstream FDM multiplexing techniques to allow contemporaneous, parallel communications across a plurality of frequency channels. Each beater plate includes a plurality of beaters mounted on the peripheral edges thereof. The micromechanical device may be a compliant device that includes relatively flexible members such as mechanical beams or ribbons. The driver circuit is configured to interface with a thermistor or normally bi-metal switch temperature sensor without alteration. The composite has a metallic matrix with embedded shapes dispersed throughout the matrix where the embedded shapes have an incipient liquid phase sintering temperature less than an incipient liquid phase sintering temperature of the matrix.