Low Cost RFID-Based Race Timer for Smaller Events

Transcription

1 Low Cost RFID-Based Race Timer for Smaller Events Members: Robert Evans, Christie Sitthixay, Edward Tan, Michael Houldsworth ECE Faculty Advisor: Tom Miller Courses Involved: ECE562, ECE633, ECE634, ECE649, ECE714, ECE757, CS410, CS415 Current Date: December, 2012 Project Completion date: May,

2 Table of Contents: Page Problem Statement 3 Design Objectives 3 Progress to Date 3 Implementation & Testing Plan 6 Planned Progress 7 Standards 7 Division of Responsibilities 8 Budget 9 Timeline 10 System Diagram 11 Setup Diagram 12 2

3 Problem Statement: Modern race timing systems use RFID tags and readers to automate race timing. Each participant has a tag in his or her race number and a large antenna array at the finish line records the finish time for each participant. While practical for large races, these systems become prohibitively expensive for smaller events with fewer participants. The goal is to create a cheaper system to be used in smaller races while still providing the automation benefits provided by the RFID systems. Design Objectives: The system will be implemented with a network of three handheld devices connected wirelessly to a PC. One handheld device will be used to scan the RFID tags on the race participants. Another will be used to record finish times. The third handheld device will be used to independently verify finish times of specific participants. All three systems must be able to communicate wirelessly with a PC, which will be used to list finishing ID s and times in order. The PC will also display the status of all three handheld devices, indicating connectivity. Progress to Date: For the selected parts below, each team member developed a parts list. From there as a group, we determined the pros and cons of each item selected to determine our final parts list. We had to take into consideration things like cost, the number of pins and outputs, reading range and antenna gain. In the descriptions below, the parts being described are displayed in figure 1-6 respectively. Arduino was selected as a microcontroller for its easy development, high reliability, and good price. When examining the Arduinos, the number of ports required for the project quickly became a concern. For this reason, the Arduino Mega was chosen, since it has more ports than any of the alternatives. On the parts list we have four microcontroller and their corresponding parts. We only ordered one of each because by programming and integrating them together, the 3

4 other three will be easier to implement. Also for the microcontroller, the LCD shield and ZigBee wireless shield were decided on for easy construction. Figure 1: Arduino Microcontroller Figure 2: LCD Shield The keypad was chosen because it had 16 buttons, which allows for the extra buttons to be used to control the mode of operation or for other operations not directly related to data entry. Another benefit of this keypad is that the top is made out of a single sheet of plastic, making it water resistant. Figure 3: Water Resistant Keypad XBee was chosen as a wireless communication protocol because it interfaces well with the Arduino systems, has good range for communication, is reliable, and easy to work with. 4

5 Figure 4: Zigbee Wireless Module The UHF RFID kit was chosen because it operates in the unlicensed band of the UHF spectrum in the United States. This means users of our device will not need a license to use it at events. Additionally, the kit included with the RFID board makes development and testing extremely easy, and the built-in antenna had reasonably good reception for its size. Figure 5: UHF RFID The polarized antenna was chosen because it is compatible with the reader and circularly polarized, meaning tags can be read from any direction. This antenna provides much higher gain, and is a possible stationary solution if the handheld antenna is not ideal. The greater gain will hopefully translate to greater range, but this will be determined during testing. 5

6 Figure 6: Polarized Antenna Implementation/Testing Plan: Hardware: Now that parts have been selected and purchased, hardware testing can begin. The microcontrollers will be tested first, as all other components will be built around them. Next, the XBee modules and RFID readers will be tested to ensure functionality with the microcontroller. Another key aspect of testing at this stage is to determine the effective ranges for the RFID reader and the XBee modules. Once the major components have been confirmed, smaller components will be tested. Once each component is confirmed to be functional, different casings will be tried for comfort and portability. The final hardware setup will then be installed into the case and the system as a whole will be ready for extensive software testing. Software: There are two things that need to be tested within software. The first is testing the code in each microcontroller and second is testing the code for the program on the PC, which is the program that collects the hardware s data. There will also be unit testing for both the microcontroller s program and the PC s program. The unit test for the microcontroller s program will test each hardware component (keypad, LCD display, etc.) to ensure they are working properly, and the unit testing for the PC s program will test each functionality that is required. There will also be integration testing for the microcontroller s program and the PC s program individually. Finally there will be an integration testing for the microcontroller s program and the 6

7 PC s program together to guarantee that everything works well together. Planned Progress: Beginning in January, antenna ranges and signal strength will be tested for the XBee module and the RFID kit. This testing should be complete by the start of second semester. Once this is accomplished, we will move on to integrating the components and building the first complete system. After the first system is completed, other modules will be built and software development will begin. Finally, the poster will be designed and the project presented. Standards: We will be using radio-frequency identification (RFID) as a method of identifying the racers. RFID is a system that uses radio frequency electromagnetic fields to transfer data from a tag for identification tracking. RFID is defined in ISO/IEC standard, we will be using specifically part 6 which defines communications at 860 MHz to 960 Mhz. As a wireless adapter in our project we selected ZigBee as our form of communication protocol. ZigBee built off of IEEE which is a standard that specifies the physical layer and media access control (MAC) for low-rate wireless personal area networks. Division of Responsibilities: Edward Tan -Robert Evans - Michael Houldsworth - Christie Sitthixay - Select and purchase components - All team members Integrate and test uc components - Robert Evans and Edward Tan Build first complete uc system - Robert Evans and Edward Tan Perform ZigBee radio tests - Robert Evans and Edward Tan Test RFID reader/antenna connected to PC - Michael Houldsworth and Christie Sitthixay Evaluate read distance and antenna issues - Michael Houldsworth and Christie Sitthixay Understand ZigBee/Arduino interface - Robert Evans and Edward Tan 7

8 Understand RFID/Arduino interface - Michael Houldsworth and Christie Sitthixay Progress report - All Team Members Build & test final handhelds - All Team Members uc software - All Team Members PC software - All Team Members Final systems tests and evaluation - All Team Members Poster & final report - All Team Members 8

9 Budget: Category Site Unit Cost Quantity Total Cost UHF RFID Reader Kit Polarized Antenna $ $ $ $ Keypad $ $27.60 Arduino Mega Microcontroller $ $ XBee Shield $ $ LCD Shield $ $79.80 XBee Programmer $ $24.95 LEDs $ $3.20 XBee Module $ $25.95 Shipping Costs Solid Depot: $25.00 Arcadian Inc.: $15.94 Robotshop: $8.72 Sparkfun: $8.23 Total: $1, Table 1: Budget Timeline: 9

10 Fall 2012 Winter Break 2013 Figure 7: Fall Timeline Spring 2013 Figure 8: Winter Break Timeline Figure 9: Spring Timeline 10

11 System Diagram: Figure 10: System Diagram 11

12 Setup Diagram: Figure 11: Setup Diagram 12

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