Impinj Reader Interface Upgraded (CrossMgrImpinj)

Post date: Jul 4, 2013 12:43:46 AM

It is now well into the season, and Midweek is using CrossMgr with the Impinj chip reader for their weekly criteriums (see here).

They ran into some problems recently that turned out to be some other tag that the Impinj reader was picking up. The problem was it was in a different format, and that caused a problem with the software.

Perhaps the tag was one of those anti-shoplifting tags on a jersey that didn't get removed.

This is now fixed. If it is an inventory tag, it will likely not match the tags in the Excel spreadsheet and will be ignored.

The lesson is that things can happen in the Real World that you just can't anticipate.

When I was in the CrossMgrImpinj code, I upgraded the "Keepalive" protocol. The reader and the computer now exchange "I'm alive!" messages every few seconds. If the reader fails to respond, the software repeatedly tries to connect to it again.

The net result is that you can yank out the cable connecting the reader to the computer, plug it back in, and presto: the systems find each other and start exchanging tags live within a few seconds. Very cool!

Lose power to the reader? Not a problem. Again, the systems reconnect automatically when the power is restored. It takes about 30 seconds for the reader to "boot up", but everything will reconnect and work properly. Try not to have this happen during a finish ;)

I also added the "Auto Configure" option. On a DHCP router, the computer and reader can get different addresses depending on the order they access the router. Pressing the "Auto Configure" button sorts this out so you don't have to. It works on a LAN of up to 8 devices.

So, if CrossMgrimpinj is not finding the reader when you first turn everything on, try pressing "Auto Configure".