BT LE RFID Reader v1.0 The board The BT LE RFID Reader board v1.0 is shown below. On the board there are the following components: Power connector J7 with positive voltage going to pin 1 (red wire) and negative voltage going to pin 3 (black wire). Antenna connector ANT. Bluetooth module with PCB antenna on it U1.
RFID module socket U2. Antenna switch jumpers J1. Communicating With The BT LE RFID Evaluation Board For communicating with BT LE RFID Evaluation Board, the user currently has two options. Firstly any computing platform having a USB port can interface to it by using our BTLE4.1 RN4020 USB Dongle (000257). The dongle enables the user to communicate with the BT LE RFID Evaluation Board as though the two were connected via a COM port. Therefore standard terminal emulator programs or a user written COM port program running on the platform will enable communication. For instructions on setting up and using the dongle, please see our datasheet for the product. http://www.ibtechnology.co.uk/pdf/btle%20rn4020%20dongle%20datasheet-170315.pdf Secondly the user could use an android phone or tablet device with Bluetooth LE technology on it. The Bluetooth module used on the Reader is Microchip s RN4020. For communicating with it an android application is required which can be downloaded from following website: http://www.microchip.com/wwwproducts/devices.aspx?product=rn4020#developmenttools After installing it on your mobile phone / tablet it is ready to use straight away. Working with Android App The BT LE RFID reader after connecting it to a power supply starts advertising on BT channel with the name IBT. To connect with the module the user has to start the MLDP Terminal (application provided by Microchip):
After launching the application the following appears: If the device is connected and in range of the Android device, then after pressing SCAN, the phone will search for BT LE devices in range. They should be listed as IBT devices:
Please note that underneath the IBT name there is a MAC address displayed and this will be different between various devices, so you won t see the same address as in the picture above. After selecting the device, the android app will connect with the device. A new window will appear similar to the following:
Please note that the user should wait until the State field changes to Connected before performing any actions. Failing to do so could result in an application error. Now when the phone is connected with the device the user can work with it. Outgoing window is the place where the user can enter commands, and on the Incoming the answers from the device are displayed. Each command entered via the outgoing window must be terminated with an enter key press, to mark the end of the command. It doesn t matter if the user types capital letters or lower case when entering commands, as the device performs upper-case conversion of each command. The following commands are available: REPORT prints the state of the device similar to:
Default mode for RFID is OFF (modes will be explained later). The processing period default is set to read the card every 1000ms when no card was detected last time and 1000ms when a card was detected on last scanning iteration. LOG print outs the LOG size and last remembered card UIDs
After connecting the power supply the LOG is clear and its size is 0. Maximum number of cards UIDs stored in the LOG is 10. RFID MODE OFF change the mode to OFF. Information about mode change is printed. RFID MODE AUTO change the mode to AUTO. Information about mode change is printed. RFID MODE MAN change the mode to MANUAL. Information about mode change is printed. RFID PC <value> - change the processing period when the card is present in the field to <value> [ms] (PC = Period Card). Information about period change is printed. RFID PNC <value> - change the processing period when the card is not present in the field to <value> [ms] (PNC = Period No Card). Information about period change is printed. RFID P <value> - change both of the processing periods to <value> [ms] (P = Period). Information about period change is printed. RFID <byte 1 in hex> <byte 2 in hex> <byte n in hex> - in manual mode this commands send the given set of bytes to the RFID chip to process it and later prints the response in hexadecimal numbers. For example sending command RFID 0x55 in MANUAL mode forces the RFID chip to read the card which is in the field. Please note that the minimum period value is 200ms.
BT LE RFID Reader v1.0 modes of operation The reader works in 3 different modes of operation: OFF, MANUAL and AUTO. In OFF mode, which is default after powering up the device, only Bluetooth is accessible. The RFID reader is turned off to minimize power consumption. In this mode only LOG, REPORT, RFID MODE and period set up commands are accessible. In MANUAL mode the RFID reader is accessible to the user by sending RFID <byte 1 in hex> <byte 2 in hex> <byte n in hex> command. The maximum number of bytes is 10. Byte values written as 0x are parsed to 8 bits and sent to the reader when the CTS line goes low. The response will be printed out in the Incoming window. In this mode the RFID chip is turned OFF until a command is sent to it. After processing the answer the RFID chip is turned off again and the module waits for a command from the user. In AUTO mode the RFID chip scans for the presence of a card in the field every given period. Depending from the last scan the period is set up to Period Card when a card was detected on last scan or Period No Card when there was no card during last scan. If a card is detected its UID is logged. Maximum 10 card UID can be logged. In this mode if there is an Android phone connected to the device and MLDP Terminal is running, then the card UID is printed on the Incoming screen every time that the card is scanned by the reader.