barnowl-llrp

barnowl-llrp converts the decodings of any ambient RAIN RFID tags by readers supporting the Low-Level Reader Protocol (LLRP) into standard developer-friendly JSON that is vendor/technology/application-agnostic.

barnowl-llrp is a lightweight Node.js package that can run on resource-constrained edge devices as well as on powerful cloud servers and anything in between. It supports native integration with reelyActive's Pareto Anywhere open source middleware suite, and can just as easily be run standalone behind a barnowl instance, as detailed in the code examples below.

Getting Started

Learn "owl" about the raddec JSON data output:

• reelyActive Developer's Cheatsheet

Quick Start

Clone this repository, install package dependencies with npm install, and then from the root folder run at any time:

npm start xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx

barnowl-llrp will connect with the reader at IP address xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx and output (flattened) raddec JSON to the console.

Hello barnowl-llrp!

Developing an application directly from barnowl-llrp? Start by pasting the code below into a file called server.js:

const Barnowl = require('barnowl');
const BarnowlLlrp = require('barnowl-llrp');

let barnowl = new Barnowl({ enableMixing: true });

barnowl.addListener(BarnowlLlrp, {}, BarnowlLlrp.TcpSocketListener,
                    { host: "12.34.56.78" });

barnowl.on('raddec', (raddec) => {
  console.log(raddec);
  // Trigger your application logic here
});

From the same folder as the server.js file, install package dependencies with the commands npm install barnowl-llrp and npm install barnowl. Then run the code with the command node server.js and observe the stream of radio decodings (raddec objects) output to the console:

{
  transmitterId: "a00000000000000000001234",
  transmitterIdType: 5,
  rssiSignature: [
    {
      receiverId: "001625ffffffffff",
      receiverIdType: 1,
      receiverAntenna: 1,
      rssi: -42,
      numberOfDecodings: 1
    }
  ],
  timestamp: 1645568542222
}

See the Supported Listener Interfaces below to adapt the code to listen for your gateway(s).

Supported Listener Interfaces

The following listener interfaces are supported by barnowl-llrp.

TCP Socket

barnowl.addListener(BarnowlLlrp, {}, BarnowlLlrp.TcpSocketListener,
                    { host: "12.34.56.78", port: 5084 });

Pareto Anywhere Integration

barnowl-llrp includes a script to forward data to a local Pareto Anywhere instance as UDP raddecs with target localhost:50001. Start this script with the command:

npm run forwarder xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx

where xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx is the IP address of the reader.

Compatible RFID Readers

barnowl-llrp has been validated with the following readers:

• Impinj R420

In theory, any LLRP-compatible reader should be compatible.

Is that owl you can do?

While barnowl-llrp may suffice standalone for simple real-time applications, its functionality can be greatly extended with the following software packages:

• advlib-epc to decode the Electronic Product Code (EPC) into JSON
• barnowl to combine parallel streams of RF decoding data in a technology-and-vendor-agnostic way

These packages and more are bundled together as the Pareto Anywhere open source middleware suite, which includes a variety of barnowl-x listeners, APIs and interactive web apps.

Acknowledgements

barnowl-llrp was initially developed using llrp-nodejs & RFID-nodejs as examples, and to whose authors we extend our thanks.

Contributing

Discover how to contribute to this open source project which upholds a standard code of conduct.

Security

Consult our security policy for best practices using this open source software and to report vulnerabilities.

License

MIT License

Copyright (c) 2023 reelyActive

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.