SQL Database Integration in Fosstrak LLRP Commander/ALE Middleware

In a previous blog post, I already mentioned a new feature of Fosstrak that allows users to log tag reads reported in LLRP RO_ACCESS_REPORTS to a SQL DB. Here are a few screenshots that illustrate this functionality.

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LTKJava – the (hidden) Fosstrak module

I was checking the other day the download numbers of LTKJava, the Java implementation of a Codec for the LLRP protocol which the Fosstrak team contributed to the LLRP toolkit project. The Java implementation has been downloaded more than 600 times since we released the latest version at the end of July. The usage of LTKJava by major reader vendors and reader middleware such as Intermec and OatSystems underlines the contribution open source software can make to the field of RFID and the adoption of standardized protocols.

At Fosstrak, we are using LTKJava in our Fosstrak LLRP Commander, a tool to control and manage RFID readers via LLRP.

New Feature of Fosstrak LLRP Commander: Log LLRP tag reads to SQL database

This is a quick post about a really cool feature Samuel, the Fosstrak lead on the LLRP Commander, added in the last release that allows users to specify the database to which LLRP messages are logged. Previously, we used a database that was built-in into the LLRP Commander. With the new feature, users can specify a (remote) SQL database server of their choice to which they want the data to be logged. This makes data analysis really trivial. Setup an open source database such MySQL or PostgresQL, install the Fosstrak LLRP Commander, connect to your reader or readers of choice and then analysis your data via SQL. The Fosstrak LLRP Commander logs all messages, but also parses the individual RO_ACCESS_REPORTs for TAG_REPORT_DATA on each tag read and lists each TAG_REPORT_DATA parameter as a new row in the SQL table.

This is great for data analysis purposes. No need to write any code to get RFID data such as IDs or RSSI values from one or more readers. At the MIT Auto-ID Lab, we are now using Matlab to query the database and visualize the data captured.