RFID-12 Reader

Content → Command Stations → RFID-12

Support library, rfid12, for readers build around the ID Innovations ID-12.

[STX]
[D1] [D2] [D3] [D4] [D5] [D6] [D7] [D8] [D9] [D10]
[CS1] [CS2]
[CR]
[LF]
[ETX]

D1-D10 is the actual data, 10 ASCII characters. CS1 and CS2 are 2 ASCII characters that are the (XOR) checksum for the data.
The characters must be converted to hex numbers before calculating the checksum.
Example:

D1-D10 = "2 4 0 0 C C 5 7 8 3" becomes 0x24 0x00 0xCC 0x57 0x83

When using a concentrator, for 1 to 8 readers, the STX character is replaced with the reader ID: 'A' … 'H'.

The setup is simple because the line settings are fixed.
Only the device must be specified: com* or /dev/tty*, depending of the used OS.
The RFID serial connection need to bes set to 9600 8N1 (CTS hardware handshake).

The setup in rocrail to use the ident events is similar to other ident event providing sensor, e.g. tams-railcom-en. Minimum rocrail revision is 1411 for MERG rfid based sensors.

To buy the MERG kit a membership of MERG is necessary. MERG is a non commercial association ( Verein ) in the UK.

An international, UK based group promoting interest in the application of electronics (including computers) to all aspects of railway modelling.

*http://www.merg.org.uk/

The annual membership costs 19 GBP a year ( http://www.merg.org.uk/membership.htm ). In case of the RFID kits, the membership fee almost pays back immediately due to the relativ low price of the ID12 readers, MERG offers (compared to other sources like sparcfun ). MERG has also other kits which might be interesting.

*http://www.merg.org.uk/kits.htm

*http://www.merg.org.uk/forum/stores/shops.php