rfid reader management requirements

8/3/2019 RFID Reader Management Requirements

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RFID Reader Management

Requirements

Margaret Wasserman

[email protected]


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Overview

Taxonomy of Readers

Reader Requirements for: Configuration

Monitoring

Control

Ongoing Reader Management Work


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Fixed RFID Readers

Pizza box readers with

~2-8 antennas

Typically used in supplychain applications

Dock doors and conveyor

belts


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Fixed Reader Systems

Wide range of system capabilities Similar to home gateway or wireless access point

Processors: Low-end 16-bit to mid range (~266MHz) 32-bit processor

plus DSP or FPGA for signal processing

Operating Systems: Proprietary, embedded, WinCE or Linux

Networking: Stand-alone TCP/IP network nodes running DHCP, HTTP,

Telnet (or SSH), NTP, SNMP and proprietary API and/orcontrol protocol


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Integrated Reader/Antenna

Single antenna with

integrated reader capability


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Reader/Antenna Systems Wide range of system capabilities

Very low-end access control point to higher-end smartantennas

Processors: DSP only to low-end 16-bit CPU

Operating Systems: Proprietary or embedded

Networking: Low-end: no standard networking, proprietary controlsystem perhaps based on RS-232 or USB

High-end: Stand-alone TCP/IP node, might user Power overEthernet (PoE), DHCP, proprietary control protocol


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Handheld Readers

Handheld systems with integrated RFID

reader and antenna

Sometimes integrated into

an existing barcode

scanner product


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Handheld Reader Systems Handheld RFID scanner built into a handheld PC

Processors: Low-end to mid-range 32-bit processor plus DSP or FPGA

for signal processing

Operating Systems: Typically WinCE

Networking:

Wireless TCP/IP network nodes that use DHCP and connectto servers (perhaps intermittently) using proprietary datatransfer applications


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Embedded Readers

Credit Card-sized module, used to add

RFID to a special-purpose device

Examples: RFID

printer/encoders, package

sorters and POS terminals

(AKA cash registers)


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Embedded Reader Systems Embedded reader is hosted in a special-purpose

device

Processors: No general purpose CPU -- DSP or FPGA for signal

processing

Host system provides general purpose CPU

Operating Systems: None.

Networking: None. Accessedvia USB, Serial interface or PCMCIA

Host processor may have networking capability


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Configuration Requirements

Networking configuration similar to any end-

node infrastructure device

DHCP, configuration and firmware downloads

Small amount of persistent RFID-specific and

device-specific configuration

Power level, active antennas, possibly some

protocol and search settings

Set/get administrative status


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RFID Configuration Challenges

Minimal system requirements Lower-end smart antennas may not have much

processor or memory available

Needs to be configurable as a stand-alonedevice or as an entity within another device Printer, cash register, handheld PC, etc.

Good fit for an SNMP MIB? Minimal agent system requirements

Subagent and Entity MIB allow configuration of anRFID device within a device


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Monitoring Requirements

Monitoring of network connectivity similar to

any other infrastructure device

Monitoring of RFID-specific parameters Operational status

Antenna connection faults

RF problems/interference

Perhaps some thresholding on read counts or

other parameters?


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Monitoring Challenges

RFID market is in early stages, so there

hasnt been much time for de facto

standardization

Readers (even within a single category)

have significantly different

hardware/software capabilities


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Control Requirements Most readers do not change roles regularly

Examples of reader roles:

A reader continuously reads a fixed set of protocols

A reader is set to read a fixed set of protocols, in a fixed cyclewhenever the dock door is open (detected via GPIO)

A reader reads a fixed set of protocols for a defined time periodwhenever an electric eye is triggered

Challenge is not in controlling reader search

parameters, it is in collecting, parsing and collatingRFID data from multiple read points A standard way to collect RFID reads from multiple readers

would be useful


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Control Requirement Questions

Applications are needed to control the RFID reader,

but at what level of abstraction?

Individual read cycle vs. set and forget?

Where are the applications hosted?

May be hosted on workstation (reached over network), on a

fixed reader, on a handheld PC or on the host processor for

an embedded reader

Are there any real-time requirements? Regulatory requirements demand real-time (sub-millisecond)

control over RF functions

Control at a higher levels may not be real-time at all


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O

ngoing Related Efforts Reader Configuration

De facto standard set of DHCP options with bootfile andconfiguration file download mechanisms emerging due to

network vendor/system integrator efforts Reader Monitoring

EPC Global Reader Management Group

Defining MIBs for reader monitoring and RFID-specificconfiguration

Reader Control EPC Global Reader Protocol Group

Defining an XML/Web Services interface for reader control

See: http://www.epcglobalinc.com

rfid reader management requirements

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