Ideas for home
The original system was built for organizations. These ideas are for a house, and they fit the first system the TigeRFID rebuild sets out to make buildable.
That first system is one reader, one field generator and three tags: a sealTag, a compactTag and a cardTag. Its host software runs on the builder's own Windows, macOS or Linux computer. When it is done, it will read all three tags at once and show a tag moving between two zones on a floorplan. A tamper alarm and a temperature reading will reach the host. A tag paired with a person will raise an alarm when it leaves without them.
These are ideas, not recipes. Nobody has built that first system yet. When it exists, the TigeRFID project's guides will show how to build it, and these ideas can become step-by-step pages.
Which room is it in?
Put the compactTag on something that moves around the house, such as a toolbox or a bag. Place the field generator in one room, so that the house has two zones: that room, and the rest. The floorplan then shows which zone the toolbox is in.
The original did this job with its field generators. Each one marked out a zone around itself. A tag's reply could name the field generator that woke it, so the host knew the zone.
Keep the bag with the wallet
Carry the cardTag in your wallet, and pair it with the compactTag on your bag. If the bag goes out through the door's zone without the wallet, the system raises an alarm. The idea guards a belonging, and it watches the bag, not the person.
The original did this job by linking an asset's tag to its owner's cardTag. When the asset moved without its owner, the system raised an alarm and could lock the exit door.
Was it opened?
Close a box, a cabinet or a storage bin with the sealTag's band. If someone opens it, the tamper alarm reaches the host. A tag left in a shed or a garage can send its temperature reading to the house in the same way.
The original's 2012 sealTag logged the moment someone opened its band, for a reader to collect later. The rebuild's sealTag keeps that seal's form with new electronics, so that its tamper alarm reaches the host. Among the original tags, the wristbandTag offered a temperature sensor as an option.
Building one today
Nobody has rebuilt the original hardware recently, so nobody knows whether the old files still make a working system. The TigeRFID project's study of the original found firmware for the sealTag only, and the rebuild's sealTag is a new design. A rebuild writes all of its firmware fresh.
The TigeRFID project is rebuilding the system from the ground up, for a complete beginner with free tools. To build your own, start at the TigeRFID repository, whose readme tells where the rebuild stands.
Nothing on this site says a rebuild may transmit on the original radios' frequencies as they are. Radio rules differ by country, and the TigeRFID project checks them before it chooses a rebuild's radios.
If you build one, or try, please report back in the repository's issues. What works and what fails both help the next builder.
Sources:
- the TigeRFID project plan on its main branch, its milestone 1, and its readme there;
- the system overview and the cardTag, compactTag, wristbandTag and sealTag pages on this site.