How to Read RFID Signals with RevPi Core as Modbus RTU Master

This tutorial is valid from the Image Jessie. Unfortunately, it doesn’t apply to Wheezy.

In the following example, use our RevPi Core as a Modbus RTU master and connect an RFID card reader to it.

You need:

• RevPi Core
• Slave
• Matching cables with D-Sub 9 connectors
• Adapter (e.g. shop article 200018 or 200019)
• Internet connection

Requirements:

• A web browser, e.g. Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox.
• RevPi Core is located in your network.

Connecting the Slave to the RevPi Core

• Connect a USB port of the RevPi Core to the adapter.
• Connect the adapter to the slave via the D-Sub 9 socket.
• Connect your RevPi Core to the power supply.

Determine Modbus RTU network data

In order to configure the slave, we need some data beforehand, so that we can address the slave via our RevPi Core. We find this data in the user manual of our slave.
In this example we use the RFID card reader “Iveno RFID MODBUS Reader RFID-MB-10” as slave.

• Note the following data from the user manual of your slave:

Enable ModbusRTU Master function

• Open your web browser.
• Enter the IP address of your RevPi Core in the address bar of your web browser.

The login window appears.

• Log in with the username “admin”.
• Enter the password. You can find it on the sticker on the side of your RevPi Core.
• Click “Login”.

You can now see the current device status of your RevPi Core.

• Click the “Services” tab.
• Click “Enabled” in the Enable/Disable Modbus Master line.
• Click the “Save All” button.

Note! You can also activate the Master function on the command line. Enter the following command: “sudo revpi-config enable pimodbus-master”.

• Click the “Apps” tab.
• Click the start button behind the entry “PiCtory”.

PiCtory starts.

ModbusRTU Master configuration

• Open the folder “Virtual Devices” in the device catalog.
• Select ModbusRTU Master.
• Hold down the left mouse button and drag the Modbus-RTU Master to your RevPi Core.

Set the basic settings for your adapters in the “Device Data” window. This entry is optional. If you use a lot of devices and want to process the data later in another program, this input can be very helpful.

You define the settings for the serial connection in the “Value Editor”.  We have already determined the values for our slave from the user manual of the sensor:

• device_path: USB device path (see lsusb –v und ls /dev/ttyU*)
• baud_rate: 9600
• parity: None
• data_bits: 8
• stop_bits: 1

• Right-click the Modbus RTU Master on the Configuration Board.
• A context menu opens.
• Select the entry “Extended Data” to open an input mask.

This is where we set the Modbus commands. In this example, we need a command to read the values of the RFID sensor. We have already gathered the necessary information from the sensor’s operating instructions:

Slave Addr: 1

Function Code: READ_INPUT_REGISTERS

Register Addr.: 1000

Quantity of Registers: 5

Defining Modbus tasks

Save configuration

Click on „File>Save“ to save the file.

Click on “Tools>Reset Driver”. This activates the changes for the adapter.

FRF
Reset driver

Query values in the process image

• Open command line and enter following command:

piTest -v Input_Word_1

• You get the information of the location of your values in the process image:

 variable name: Input_Word_1
 offset: 11
 length: 16
 bit

The values are in the process image from address 16 onwards. We need to read 10 bytes.

We enter the following command and see our values:”piTest -r 11,10, h”. If we now hold the RFID card to the card reader, we can observe the change of the values in the process image.

piTest -r 11,10,h
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
04 00 00 00 1b 00 87 00 2b 00
04 00 00 00 1b 00 87 00 2b 00
04 00 00 00 1b 00 87 00 2b 00
[...]