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Sunday, January 5, 2020

Step 1 into RFID

There are a couple of RFID systems available for railroad modeling:

They both have pros and cons, but mostly they are a closed system and I probably won't be able to adjust those to exactly what I want.


Use cases


Here's a list of possible use cases for RFID on my layout:
  1. Identify an engine or a freight car for the correct entry in my database and the correct box
  2. Identify an engine as it goes on the layout
  3. Display an image of the real engine or real configuration from my online database
  4. Compute the speed at scale between two readers
Therefore, there are a couple of steps to analyze:
  • Arduino
  • Arduino + RFID
  • RFID Tags
  • Raspberry Pi + Arduino

    Arduino


    I bought an Arduino starter kit a while back from Amazon: ELEGOO UNO Project Super Starter Kit 



    The documentation can be found here: Elegoo Super Starter Kit for UNO V1.0.2019.09.17.pdf


    Arduino + RFID


    I bought an RFID module for Arduino at MicroCenter: 



    The documentation can be found here: vma405_a4v03.pdf

    I just followed the diagram on page 4 and it works immediately. First, you launch the Arduino IDE:


    and open the serial monitor by clicking on the top-right on the IDE:


    As you bring an RFID tag near the antenna, the serial monitor will display the tag id:


    Now, in live mode:


    So, it seems pretty easy to have an RFID antenna reading RFID tags. But it would be great to have the antenna separate from the electronic module. This seems possible with the following module from Velleman: VMA211: SHIELD NFC / RFID POUR ARDUINO.



    https://www.velleman.eu/products/view/?id=450572

    The documentation can be found here: vma211_a4v01.pdf

    For reference, there is a blog here, but the documentation from Velleman was actually enough. Next steps, the tags!


    RFID Tags


    There is an article about the smallest tags available on the market: https://www.rfidjournal.com/blogs/experts/entry?11264, but I thought I would follow the products from Model Railroad Control Systems and look for ampoule tags.

    I found RFID Inc.: https://www.rfidinc.com/hf-13-56-mhz-rfid-glass-ampoule-tags. I have ordered two sets of tags for testing:
    • Model HF-1575-312 Glass Ampoule RFID Tag, 12x3mm, ISO 15693 SLI memory chip SKU: HF-1575-312-04
    • Model HF-1575-313 Glass Ampoule RFID Tag, 13x3mm, available with ISO 15693 or 14443 NFC memory chip SKU: HF-1575-313


    Raspberry Pi + Arduino


    Ultimately, we need a Raspberry Pi to call Airtable APIs. Therefore, we need to connect the Raspberry Pi to the Arduino. I found this article: https://maker.pro/raspberry-pi/tutorial/how-to-connect-and-interface-raspberry-pi-with-arduino


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