RFID EDGE CONTROLLER SOLUTION BASED ON IBM SOFTWARE

Main Menu | News By Date | News By Supplier | News By Category | About Us

RFID EDGE CONTROLLER SOLUTION BASED ON IBM SOFTWARE
05 January 2006 - Arcom

Arcom has announced the introduction of a series of RFID Edge Controller products, designed to seemlessly connect to IBM WebSphere RFID Premises Server middleware. These new products provide infrastructure connectivity to the various sensors and devices required within a complete RFID solution. The RFID Edge Controller product is available in two enclosure configurations, which are now successfully installed and operational in numerous international RFID test sites.

Additionally for OEMs wanting to embed the RFID Edge Controller technology into their end products, Arcom is also announcing the availability of an RFID Edge Controller development kit.

The RFID Edge Controller product series integrates IBM's WebSphere RFID Device Infrastructure embedded software stack. This provides connectivity with IBM's newly announced WebSphere RFID Premises Server middleware and becomes an integral component of a complete end to end RFID infrastructure solution.

Arcom's RFID-EC provides the required device abstraction to facilitate a scalable and manageable RFID infrastructure. RFID infrastructure devices such as RFID Readers/Writers, RFID label printers, palette controllers, conveyor controllers and discrete devices such as proximity switches, light towers, and alarms can all be interfaced to one or more RFID-EC providing a common interface to the WebSphere RFID Premises Server.

The Arcom RFID-EC integrates the WebSphere RFID Device Infrastructure. The WebSphere Device Infrastructure provides the required RFID reader support along with support for EPCGlobal tag data specifications and connectivity to the IBM WebSphere RFID Premises Server. In addition to the RFID reader and Premises Server support, the Device Infrastructure provides standards based platform for integration with other physical devices such as light towers, motion/proximity sensors, industrial automation equipment (palette controllers, conveyor controllers), and RFID label printers. The Device Infrastructure also provides the capability to add additional devices for a complete RFID-enabled infrastructure.

A current RFID beta test sight provides an excellent example of the power and versatility of the RFID Edge Controller. In this project several operational systems needed to be pulled together in conjunction with new RFID equipment. A palletizer had a PLC and RFID reader "Brand A" and the loading dock doors required a Go/NoGo red/green status light with RFID reader "Brand B". An RFID Edge Controller was utilized to interface all readers (A and B), the discrete I/O from the palletizer controller, and status lights on the dock doors into an "abstracted" data model for presentation to the Premise Server and subsequently on up to IT business applications. Utilizing the RFID Edge Controller helped accomplish a seamless interface across operationally separate systems as well as keeping discrete "point in time" equipment interfaces abstracted from the business logic (absolutely critical in avoiding the typical "islands of automation" legacy problem).

Arcom's RFID-EC is built upon a high reliability fan-less, disk-less embedded hardware platform offering a very high Mean Time Between Failure and a large number of physical interfaces including four RS-232 ports, 1 RS-485/RS-422 port, 10/100BaseT Ethernet, CompactFlash Type II socket, and 2 USB Host ports as standard. A wide array of discrete I/O and devices can be interface via optional digital input/output plug in cards, such as PLCs, ticket printers, proximity sensors, motion sensors, etc.

To meet the present market demand the need to easily adapt to existing infrastructures was deemed as critical to the design of this new product. Arcom is providing two different hardware configurations to provide the necessary installation flexibility. The first is a compact stand alone system based on the Arcom ICE Enclosure series and the second provides a standard 1U 19" rack mount unit.

http://www.arcom.com

About: Arcom
Founded in Cambridge in 1982, Arcom has grown to become one of the leading suppliers of embedded computer and communications processors.

Arcom's embedded software development and support capabilities are second-to-none in the industry. Our engineering and support teams in Kansas City (US) and Cambridge (UK) have an enormous depth of experience and knowledge in the field of embedded operating systems, communications protocols, and system design. We pride ourselves on being able to provide comprehensive development tools and excellent support to our OEM customers as they bring their products to the market.

Development Kits - we lead the embedded market with our strategy for new product introduction based on the 'blue-box' development kits. By combining new hardware solutions with the leading embedded operating systems we offer our customers a complete and rapid application development environment.

Embedded Boards - our range of embedded processor boards (x86 and XScale), PC/104 I/O modules, ISAbus and PCI add-on cards are all designed and manufactured by Arcom. This gives our customers fast and easy access to the highest level of technical support. All products are supported by a clearly defined life cycle and a commitment for long term availability.

PCs & Enclosures - we also recognize that customers need products to ease the integration of our embedded boards. Arcom's design team includes mechanical engineers who have developed a number of off the shelf enclosure solutions for stand alone and rack mounted systems.

Industrial Networking - since 1992, we have been actively involved in the integration and deployment of data acquisitions systems for the process control markets. Working with our key technology partners we now offer products and expertise to provide guaranteed data delivery from your field devices straight into your enterprise level applications.

Design & Build - we understand the drive to cost reduce products for high volume applications and to combine this with a 'complete technical solution'. We accept contracts to produce custom solutions which focus on the design of dedicated hardware, developing optimized operating system configurations or complete packaged system solutions.

Through a focused approach to innovative design backed by comprehensive development platforms, global marketing and low cost manufacturing, Arcom pursues an aggressive expansion of its customer base in North America, UK and France.

Arcom is a subsidiary of Spectris plc, the precision instrumentation and controls company.

Our business processes are accredited to the international QA standard ISO 9001 and our products hold all relevant certification.

More News:
  • For January 2006
  • From Arcom
  • For Drives and Controls