RFID Tracker
Background
Ever wondered how large logistics MNCs like DHL tracks your parcel? Well, your parcels are basically affixed with an RFID tag which is basically a small metal piece that can go as small as a grain of rice. These tags can store information which can be transmitted wirelessly when a reader is placed near them.The reader is usually placed at the warehouses so that when goods move from warehouse to warehouse, the tag information can be read and transmitted to the cloud. Companies can than go to the cloud and see where the goods are at.
Unfortunately, it can be quite costly and difficult to implement as such we are only seeing large MNCs adopt such technology. The course actually teaches us how to implement Sensor Technology and Cloud services to tackle such problems. During my diploma course, we decided to come out with a MVP (Minimum Viable Product) Inventory Tracking Mobile App which utilizes RFID to create/track orders. The objective is to analyse the feasibility of implementing such a system and the challenges that is involved.
Our Solution - How it works
For our app we developed it on Android Studio which touches on Java & XML. The backend database is hosted locally on XAMPP SQL server where it can be accessed via REST . For the RFID Reader and Tag, we used MFRC5520 RFID reader which has a range of 3cm and operating frequency of 13.56MHz. When the tag is placed on the reader it will return a 8 Character unique ID (E.g. 86 12 E5 T5). The reader is attached to a ESP32 Microcontroller which will provide WiFi capability to update the location field of the current tag in the XAMPP server.
The video below shows
- How to create an order
- How to update an order
- How the RFID Reader updates the location
