Micro Tracking Idea

dean13

I work in the vault at a company that keeps track of a ton of hard drives, thumb drives, CDs, DVDs etc. I have this idea for tracking the elements in my vault but need help developing/testing/executing it.

Basically, I have x number of towers that contain 8 shelves each. What I'd like to be able to do is place an item (a thumb drive, hard drive or DVD in its case) on a specific shelf of one of the towers and have its location updated automatically in a database. If Item A is placed on Tower 1, shelf 2, I'd like this info to be updated automatically and wirelessly without having to do anything else besides physically placing the item on the certain shelf.

I'm thinking this would require a certain type of mapping for each shelf (say 4 nodes to map the space of 1 shelf). Once a certain kind of unique numbered tag (RFID or some other kind of tag) passes into that space, the unique number would be updated into a database with an X and Y coordinate (x being the tower, y being the shelf).

Does anyone have any idea on where/how I would go about developing this idea?

WBA Consulting

While this wold be possible with a Propeller (or a few working together) and numerous RFID readers, there are solutions for exactly what you are looking for already developed. Check into a company called Cogiscan and give them a call.

kwinn

Why not look at the problem from the opposite perspective. You start with X x 8 storage locations and have a bin with X x 8 or more RFID tags. An item is brought in to be stored, an RFID tag is scanned and assigned to that item, and a location is assigned for the storage of that item. The database is updated with the RFID and and storage location for that item.

LoopyByteloose

Consider using a bar code scanner for a less costly approach. There is an old accounting principle that has often been ignored in the computer age... every transaction should have at least two people witnesses that verify the accuracy.

For instance, we used to go to the bank and deposit or withdraw cash in the presence of a teller. Now we use an ATM and if anything is entered wrong or if the cash is not right, one cannot immediately request a supervisor to resolve the problem. If a serious mistake is made, it is your word against the machines.

You can automate all you want, but will this be any more secure? One can just remove the RFID tag and have it represent the presence of the missing device. If anything should be done to be more digitally sophisticated, I suspect you should run a checksum of some sort, such as an MD5sum for each device that is checked in and out.

Bar codes and RFID may add some dimension of convenience or security, but you are never going to get rid of having a human take responsiblity.

SRLM

I think the barcode reader is a good idea. If you label each shelf and each product, then it's simply a matter of scanning the item then scanning the location. For a similar example, look at Kiva systems. They design warehouses for millions of items. When an item has to be shipped, the shelves are brought to the box packer. The box packer then scans the location and picks an item.

LoopyByteloose

The Propeller actually can work with a bar code scanner. And a simple inkjet printer prints very acceptible bar codes. The contents of the device would have a MD5sum checksum to verify that it had no change in data while in storage.

And of course, this saves a huge amount of human effort to get tedious details right. Your suggestion to have shelves barcoded as well is brilliant.

In fact, I really have wanted my own barcode reader for a long time. And Ubuntu Linux supports all the reading and printing of codes at no cost for software.

NWCCTV

I agree with Loopy. That said, if the ID of each drive never changes, this company does some pretty amazing laser markings that are almost invisible. They have worked on the Bell Helicopter program and many other Military and Boeing projects. ( I use to be their IT person until a certain company said they only wanted Dell systems in the premade trailers they built. Really bummed me out since I was building a Server and 3 workstations for each trailer at one a month!!!!) http://www.id-integration.com/

Duane Degn

I use a barcode scanner with a Propeller regularly.

I've wanted to do something similar with my parts. Each part or bag of parts would have a barcode. Many parts come with a barcode already so I wouldn't need to generate one.

Each location would also have a barcode. My plan it to scan the barcode of the item, and then scan the barcode of the location.

Barcode scanners are getting pretty cheap. I think they cost around $30 dollars now. I've been in the middle of converting one of my scanners into wireless scanner for several years. I originally planned to use XBees to make the scanner wireless, now I think I'd use nRF24L01+ modules since they're so inexpensive.

I would like to keep the whole database on a SD card but it would probably be easier to add a PC to the mix for database management.

Here's a post I made about converting a USB scanner to use with a TTL serial connection.

NWCCTV

I have an Access Database that all my parts with barcodes go in. I have roughly 15 storage bins of various sizes and each of the drawers are marked with locations A-1, A-2, etc. When I get something new I scan it in to my system, give it a name and a location and when I need the part 6 months down the road it is as easy as looking it up in the database. Pretty simple to do since I implemented this type of system at a distribution warehouse I worked at long before computers!!!! (Parts and locations were hand typed in alpha numeric order.)

dean13

Thanks for all the responses, guys. There are some great ideas here!

What exactly is a "Propeller?"

The items I'd be tagging are frequently grabbed off the shelf and put back. However, when they're grabbed from the shelf, it's usually A. in a hurry and B. they usually get misplaced.

Ideally, I'd like my idea of coding shelves and towers to also be used to code rooms, so that if an item gets misplaced, it shows up (automatically) in my database that it's located in room X. This is where the micro gps idea comes in to play.

Basically, the gps would really be a WPS (warehouse positioning system) and its entire universe would consist of the towers/shelves (ie. A-1, A-2, B-1 etc.) and 3 other rooms (Z-1, Y-1 etc.). What I'm trying to eliminate is the need for human input when transitioning these items from one room or shelf to another. Items would have to pass by a human if they entered or exited the facility but within the facility, automated is what I'm shooting for.

Mike Green

The Propeller is a microcontroller chip designed and sold by Parallax. There's all sorts of information on it, just go to the main Parallax webpage and browse through links that indicate they're about the Propeller.

Essentially, it's 8 identical microprocessors and their own 2K memory on one chip with a shared 32K memory. It includes a built-in interpreter for a programming language called Spin that Parallax came up with that's optimized for compactness and applicability for control-type applications. The Propeller is fast enough to generate video for a TV or VGA display using one or more of the microprocessors and, in any application, usually most of the microprocessors are used to provide software I/O devices (like a PS/2 keyboard interface or serial interfaces or, with a little external hardware, an RFID reader) with one or two of the microprocessors managing the overall control.

NWCCTV

How exactly would you be mounting and powering GPS on a thumb drive? The more I think about it, the more I am leaning towards the type of microchips that are used for animals. The problem there is that you have to be fairly close to the unit to be able to receive the signal as they are Passive RFID. You would need Active RFID. Although there are some pretty small ones out there, they are going to get quite costly. If the Company monitors TCO and ROI the bean counters might just say it is cheaper to replace the drives than to try and keep track of them.

LoopyByteloose

dean13 wrote: »

Thanks for all the responses, guys. There are some great ideas here!

What exactly is a "Propeller?"

The items I'd be tagging are frequently grabbed off the shelf and put back. However, when they're grabbed from the shelf, it's usually A. in a hurry and B. they usually get misplaced.

Ideally, I'd like my idea of coding shelves and towers to also be used to code rooms, so that if an item gets misplaced, it shows up (automatically) in my database that it's located in room X. This is where the micro gps idea comes in to play.

Basically, the gps would really be a WPS (warehouse positioning system) and its entire universe would consist of the towers/shelves (ie. A-1, A-2, B-1 etc.) and 3 other rooms (Z-1, Y-1 etc.). What I'm trying to eliminate is the need for human input when transitioning these items from one room or shelf to another. Items would have to pass by a human if they entered or exited the facility but within the facility, automated is what I'm shooting for.

Well, if they are grabbed from the shelves by anyone, the RFID solution might be best as it was developed with shop-lifting in mind. You could have an RFID gate, like the retail stores do and have people queue up to actually check out or check in the items. Those that try to by-pass the queue would set off an alarm.

In fact, that kind of system would not have to have individual RFID identity tags, you could still use bar code to identify. The RFID just would prevent unregistered circulation.

What is a Propeller? It is Parallax's 8 processor 32 bit micro-controller. Take a look that the shopping side of Parallax.com

Yes, you seem to have a valid need for a WPS, but will the company go along with the additional cost to automate all this? If not, you may have to seek a cheaper, less leading edge solution, and just teach people to behave.