Re: RFID tracking and gumstix

Jon,

Is there a question here? Passive RFID requires very close contact to work
(like those touch to pay keychain things), and active RFID requires power
on the tag to work (like on automobiles for toll pass). Not sure how viable
this is for your application, but I suggest posting the RFID questions on
an RFID diacussion forum.

I have a small RFID reader module here, it can connect to any host with a
simple serial interface. Getting the antenna part right is tricky though.
As for gumstix, consider it a general purpose processor, you could use the
gumstix/etherstix/breakout-gs -> UART to RFID reader module, a hub, and a
PC for data collection. The RFID interface could also be done with lower
end MCU with ethernet or rs485 multidrop serial.

 -- Doug

PS. You want to put RFID tags IN the primates? I don't like that idea :(



Jon Thompson wrote:

> Hello,
>
> I emailed gumstix this, and someone replied, telling me that I should  
> ask around this list.
>
> > We're looking for a tracking system that we can embed in rooms, and  
> > on the grounds (200 acres) to track our apes (both primate and  
> > humans) as they move about the facility. When I heard about the  size 
> > of your devices, it occurred to me that it would be very cool  to 
> > have these embedded in the ground with some sort of RFID sensor,  
> > with an RFID chip inserted in the apes, or in a card of some sort  
> > for the humans.
> >
> > We could then have other devices with gumstix that could also  
> > interact with our gumnet, robots such as cars, video camera devices  
> > that could stream to a server, and of course the keyboards that  
> > Kanzi and Panbanisha (two of our apes) use so well.



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