The English model railroaders have been using RFID detection for some time. They already have the modules and technology for an engine's special needs and for the the simple rolling stock. Most are stick-on applications. Why not just make the effort to contact them?
My wife is a Veterinarian, she always has a good supply of these chips on hand. Whenever she orders a bunch they always send her a free scanner with them. I suppose if you ordered a hundred or more you could get them for about $5.00 a pop.
Brent
"All of the world's problems are the result of the difference between how we think and how the world works."
Bunch of people have been workign with RFID, the problem is that even the most limited range devices are a bit much for model railroads - say a yard with 4 parallel tracks, the unit on track 2 also reads cars on track 1 and track 3. In a situation where there are no nearby tracks, it should work well. Say, a staging yard with a single track linking it to the main, or maybe 2 tracks, one for each direction. An RFID reader on each connector track would be able to track which cars are heading on and off the layout in each direction. I think they have that working pretty reliably now - it's just when you get more than one track in a small space, the reader picks up everything within range.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
Would it be possible to rig up some shielding to block out signals except from one direction. Just a thought.
CTI Electronics TBrain has RFID possibilities, they also offer the hardware.
Links to a reader that some have been using with success.
I know that when they scan our items at the grocery store , the clerk has to scan some items more than once because the reader did nt pick up the bar code. I am wondering how reliable they woudl be reading a moving car. Are there RFID atrips that are small enough to go inside or under an N scae car would they be read reliably/
Ira
Uhlenbrock has their LiSSy system, but that's not a barcode, a small ir transmitter is on each loco ro car and transmits an address to the reader as it passes over. Sounbds like it is reliable, though the translated to English version of the instructions are somewhat lacking. If you can read German, the original instructions ans specifications are on the Uhlenbrock web site.
However, putting an active device in every car is not going to be cheap or easy. Some sort of wheel pickups will be required for all freight cars, and hiding all that on a flat car might be difficult. The transmitter unit is VERY tiny and easily hidden.
Thinking about it from a programmers point of view which I did for many years, if I put an RFID in only the engines/. If the magnetic field and electronics signals from the decoder did not interfere with the RFID signal, the program that I am writing will know the cars assigned to a train. By knowing when the locomotives on a train passes an RFID detector you would know where a train is locted on the layout.
My question is will the RDFID signal interfere with the radio DCC signals and what about the magnetic field from the motor?
No, they are designed to work at much higher frequencies, and require the detector to stimulate them first, at much higher power levels than they emit.
For a display layout, you really don't need every car to have a code, just the engines minimally and maybe just the rear car. Even in N scale , a bar code could be 3/8 to 1/2 in wide and maybe an inch long. You could also put multiple copies of the codes on the first 3 engines and last 3 cars so the chances of getting a correct read are improved.
The head end read would indicat a block or OS section occupied and the rear car reading could indicate a block or OS section unoccupied. For that matter you could put a "head end" barcode on all engines and a "rear end" bar code on the last 3 cars, the same code on all engines and the same code on all rear cars. Since OP is just tracking occupancy on a display layout, all he may really need to know is there is a train there, not necessarily which train and almost certainly not which cars.
Dave H. Painted side goes up. My website : wnbranch.com
Dave,
As it's been almost 9 years. What option or system did you end up using? Barcode, RFID or something else?
I am in the design / construction phase and am hoping to incorporate all the latest technology to totally automate my layout when I just want them to run. DCC/LCC/JMRI...
Thank you,
Pete
Pete Laabs Dave, As it's been almost 9 years. What option or system did you end up using? Barcode, RFID or something else? I am in the design / construction phase and am hoping to incorporate all the latest technology to totally automate my layout when I just want them to run. DCC/LCC/JMRI... Thank you, Pete
Would be interesting to know, but the OP hasn't posted on this Forum since 2010.
Does any member have a tracking system on their model railroad or know someone who does?
I tried to sell my two cents worth, but no one would give me a plug nickel for it.
I don't have a leg to stand on.
We had an article in Model Railroader:
I seriously have no idea why it seems like this forum is totally disconnected from ANY model railroading technology that comes from Europe.
Already exists: Barjut bar code reading for model railroading:
http://wiki.rocrail.net/doku.php?id=barjut-en
Julian
Modeling Pre-WP merger UP (1974-81)