AdvanTrack-200

Introduction

Getting Started

1. Power AdvanTrack unit

2. How it works

Access real-time data

Operation

Factory reset

Latest Firmware

Introduction

AdvanTrack is an RFID-based system that provides inventory in real time of all tagged items located in a given space. Examples of such spaces are retail stores, small warehouses, hospital areas, etc.

Getting Started

1. Power AdvanTrack unit

Connect the AdvanTrack to a power supply (Switch PoE, PoE injector, etc..) through an Ethernet cable and wait until it beeps. It will take between 40 and 50 seconds to boot.

Using a PoE injector

Follow this diagram to connect AdvanTrack through a PoE injector:

2. How it works

AdvanTrack uses overhead antenna+reader systems with beam switching functionality that scan the area below them identifying the RFID tags.

Thanks to this beam switching functionality, AdvanTrack achieves higher read-rate and wider scan area than systems using stationary antennas.

AdvanTrack switches the beams in two directions, and has four beam orientations in each direction, giving a total of 16 beam orientations that form a 4 x 4 matrix.

Each AdvanTrack antenna covers an area of approximately 4 x 4 meters. The different beam orientations are usually sequentially activated, obtaining the identification of each tagged item every few seconds.

By providing real-time inventory and location, AdvanTrack can reduce stock-outs, detect misplaced items, and reduce theft. Additionally, it helps in finding products much faster, which may lead to more satisfied customers and more productive employees.

The antennas have circular polarization, which makes the read rate less dependant on the orientation of the tags versus the antennas.

2.1 Beams map

3. Configuration

Almost in any installation, it is required to adjust AdvanTrack operation.

3.1 Discover Device

Configuration requires Ethernet access to the unit, as it uses a web application.

We need therefore to connect the AdvanTrack unit to an Ethernet network and execute an IP discovery process. After the configuration process is finished, the Ethernet cable can be removed.

To be able to discover the AdvanTrack IP address, use a PC on the same network as the computer.

Please see the discover devices for the 150/60 Series devices: series150/60-Discover-devices.

3.2 Enter AdvanNet Manager

The previous step will result in the IP that is assigned to the device. Let's named it <AdvanTrack-IP-address>

Use a computer in the same network as the AdvanTrack.
Open a Web Browser (Chrome or Firefox are required).
Go to the page: http://<AdvanTrack-IP-address>:3161
Replace the <AdvanTrack-IP-address> for the IP found beforehand.
Enter the following credentials:

User: admin
Password: admin

3.3 Read Modes

Go to the RF & Antennas options to see the available AdvanTrack read modes.

The AdvanTrack Configuration has the following configurations:

- SEQUENTIAL: default mode where the system waits for inventory commands to trigger a complete read cycle.
- ADTR_ASSET_LOCATION /DYNAMIC_INVENTORY: please see the Dynamic inventory read mode page.

Using the apply button only changes the runtime settings, in order to make those changes persistent follow the steps below:

Remember to apply the configuration.
Click the persist button (surrounded in red) to persist the configuration.
In this case, the AdvanTrack will start with EPC_EAS_ALARM configuration.

While changing the configuration, AdvanTrack operation remains stopped.

In order to start it again:

- Go to monitor tab.
- Press the start button

Adjusting detection

Although there is a large set of options, only a few are usually change to adjust the detection level of the system.

Power adjust

The most basic thing to change is to adjust the conducted power.

- Increasing the power will increase detection
- Decrease the power will certainly decrease detection

System features

Please see the discover devices for the 150 Series devices: System-features

Access real-time data

All system activity can be accessed in real-time by listening at TCP socket port 3177.

The protocol used is very similar to HTTP and the message format is XML. The following is a sample of a message:

ADVANNET/1.0

Content-Length:488

Content-Type:text/xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<type>deviceEventMessage</type>

<event>

<class>com.keonn.device.impl.DefaultTagAlarmEvent</class>

<type>TAG_ALARM</type>

<typeclass>com.keonn.spec.event.DeviceEvent$EventType</typeclass>

<deviceId>AdvanSafe-m-200-eu</deviceId>

</event>

<deviceId>AdvanSafe-m-100-eu</deviceId>

</deviceEventMessage>

Important characteristics:

Header always contains
- ADVANNET/1.1: protocol version
- Content-Length: the length of the message
- Content-Type: type of the message
There is an empty line between the headers and the start of the message.
Line separators are CRLF characters: this applies to header lines and the empty line between headers and content. The content itself (in the case of txt or XML type) may contain any form of line separator.

TAG messages

Possible TAG events that will be received are:

INVENTORY

ADVANNET/1.1

Content-Length:1169

Content-Type:text/xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<type>inventory</type>

<msg-version>2.3.0</msg-version>

<op>inventory</op>

<data>

<advanNetId>AdvanNet-instance-98:84:e3:a2:c8:a0--1</advanNetId>

<deviceId>AdvanTrack-200-eu</deviceId>

<class>INVENTORY</class>

<deviceId>AdvanTrack-200-eu</deviceId>

<items>

<item>

<class>READ_EVENT</class>

<deviceId>AdvanTrack-200-eu</deviceId>

<data>

<props>

<prop>TIME_STAMP:946685122433</prop>

<prop>RF_PHASE:137</prop>

<prop>ANTENNA_PORT:1</prop>

<prop>READ_COUNT:1</prop>

</props>

</data>

</item>

<class>LOCATION_DEFINITION</class>

</location>

</items>

</inventory>

</data>

</inventory>

It is also important to understand that in AdvanTrack installations with one or more slaves, the antenna that detects a tag is not the antenna which is closer to that tag, is just the first antenna that is able to read a tag.

Use the antenna value with caution.

SYSTEM messages

Possible SYSTEM events that will be received are:

- ADVANNET_INFO

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<type>eventMessage</type>

<event>

<class>com.keonn.advannet.impl.event.DefaultAdvanNetEvent</class>

<type>ADVANNET_INFO</type>

<typeclass>com.keonn.spec.event.AdvanNetEvent$AdvanNetEventType</typeclass>

<advanNetId>AdvanNet-instance-00:1e:8c:25:0c:43--1</advanNetId>

<msg>Device[adrd-m4-100] started in mode: EPC_EAS_ALARM</msg>

</event>

</eventMessage>

- ADVANNET_DEVICE_CONNECTED

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<type>eventMessage</type>

<event>

<class>com.keonn.advannet.impl.event.DefaultAdvanNetEvent</class>

<type>ADVANNET_DEVICE_CONNECTED</type>

<typeclass>com.keonn.spec.event.AdvanNetEvent$AdvanNetEventType</typeclass>

<advanNetId>AdvanNet-instance-7c:66:9d:55:60:df--1</advanNetId>

<deviceId>AdvanSafe-m-200-eu</deviceId>

</event>

</eventMessage>

- ADVANNET_DEVICE_DISCONNECTED

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<type>eventMessage</type>

<event>

<class>com.keonn.advannet.impl.event.DefaultAdvanNetEvent</class>

<type>ADVANNET_DEVICE_DISCONNECTED</type>

<typeclass>com.keonn.spec.event.AdvanNetEvent$AdvanNetEventType</typeclass>

<advanNetId>AdvanNet-instance-7c:66:9d:55:60:df--1</advanNetId>

<deviceId>AdvanSafe-m-200-eu</deviceId>

</event>

</eventMessage>

- Also several error messages can be received.

Operation

Trigger manual inventories

First of all make sure the system is not configured to automatically generate inventories

Execute once the HTTP GET request (adjust IP and device name)

http://192.168.1.168:3161/devices/AdvanTrack-200-eu/start

And, execute periodically

http://192.168.1.168:3161/devices/AdvanTrack-200-eu/location

The following is a snippet of the resulting xml document

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<type>inventory</type>

<msg-version>2.3.0</msg-version>

<op>location</op>

<data>

<advanNetId>AdvanNet-instance-98:84:e3:a2:c8:a0--1</advanNetId>

<deviceId>AdvanTrack-200-eu</deviceId>

<class>INVENTORY</class>

<deviceId>AdvanTrack-200-eu</deviceId>

<items>

<item>

<class>READ_EVENT</class>

<deviceId>AdvanTrack-200-eu</deviceId>

<data>

<props>

<prop>TIME_STAMP:1547569577193</prop>

<prop>RF_PHASE:165</prop>

<prop>ANTENNA_PORT:1</prop>

</props>

</data>

<class>LOCATION_DEFINITION</class>

</location>

</item>

<item>

<class>READ_EVENT</class>

<deviceId>AdvanTrack-200-eu</deviceId>

<data>

<props>

<prop>TIME_STAMP:1547569577193</prop>

<prop>RF_PHASE:64</prop>

<prop>ANTENNA_PORT:1</prop>

</props>

</data>

<class>LOCATION_DEFINITION</class>

</location>

</item>

<item>

<class>READ_EVENT</class>

<deviceId>AdvanTrack-200-eu</deviceId>

<data>

<props>

<prop>TIME_STAMP:1547569577193</prop>

<prop>RF_PHASE:25</prop>

<prop>ANTENNA_PORT:1</prop>

</props>

</data>

<class>LOCATION_DEFINITION</class>

</location>

</item>

<item>

<class>READ_EVENT</class>

<deviceId>AdvanTrack-200-eu</deviceId>

<data>

<props>

<prop>TIME_STAMP:1547569578210</prop>

<prop>RF_PHASE:67</prop>

<prop>ANTENNA_PORT:1</prop>

</props>

</data>

<class>LOCATION_DEFINITION</class>

</location>

</item>

<item>

<class>READ_EVENT</class>

<deviceId>AdvanTrack-200-eu</deviceId>

<data>

<props>

<prop>TIME_STAMP:1547569579226</prop>

<prop>RF_PHASE:112</prop>

<prop>ANTENNA_PORT:1</prop>

</props>

</data>

<class>LOCATION_DEFINITION</class>

</location>

</item>

<item>

<class>READ_EVENT</class>

<deviceId>AdvanTrack-200-eu</deviceId>

<data>

<props>

<prop>TIME_STAMP:1547569580246</prop>

<prop>RF_PHASE:92</prop>

<prop>ANTENNA_PORT:1</prop>

</props>

</data>

<class>LOCATION_DEFINITION</class>

</location>

</item>

...

</items>

</inventory>

</data>

</inventory>

- In case a certain EPC is read more than once, it will appear in several <item> blocks
- In case the guessLocation parameter is set, every item block will have a location block, containing the beam that most likely defines the location of the EPC.

Factory reset

It is possible to do a full factory reset.

Whenever the system is fully booted:

- Press the reset button for 15 seconds. Use a paper clip or similar.

Localization of the reset button

- The unit will be rebooted with:
  - Default network settings: DHCP
  - Default system settings

Latest Firmware

You can always download and install the latest Firmware from here

https://wiki.keonn.com/rfid-components/reader-upgrade/update-advannet-procedure