Link HUB RFID Middleware is a radio-frequency identification (RFID) software, that sits between the readers and the enterprise/business applications. The middleware has several functions and plays a major role in RFID system operation and management.
The Link HUB not only manages RFID readers and printers and communicates between these devices and your business applications but also manages, filters, aggregates and makes sense of the data coming from the RFID tags.
“In Link HUB system, LLRP RFID readers and Mobile Devices interact with tags and send data to a Data Repository, which acts as the central reading server. The purpose of Link HUB is to collect the tags’ information and filter data. Additionally, they can deposit the information into a log file or a database. Using commonly used terminology, we call this software solution “RFID Middleware.”
Link HUB is the Central point of integration to business systems such as SAP or other ERP, MRP, and WMS systems with RFID Readers.
Link HUB RFID Middleware is a powerful software that provides valuable solutions to the challenges associated with reading RFID tags. It gives programmers and non-programmers the ability to develop RFID-enabled applications in a short time.
Link HUB Middleware is able to control the networking and settings of RFID readers (and other similar devices) and provides a simple way to update any changes that need to be made, even if there are varying types and brands of RFID readers on the network. For example, middleware may include a feature like the ability to monitor the performance level of the readers, which allows users to better predict potential problems and ensures all readers are running at peak performance.
Filtering out excess data can be extremely helpful for users because massive amounts of tag data can slow down networks and fill up databases quickly. In some applications, RFID tagged items are read over and over again by the same RFID reader depending on how long the equipment is stagnant in the read field. RFID Middleware can assist by filtering out hundreds of identical reads so that the user only receives the data important to the application, such as a timestamp of when the equipment was placed inside of and removed from the read field.
In a system with hundreds to thousands of RFID tags, RFID middleware can keep track of and allocate tag ID numbers. In a situation where a company is writing hundreds of RFID tags to apply to pallets or cartons of many different types of items, middleware can keep track of which tag ID numbers have been used and assign tags IDs relevant to the item type, date, etc. Middleware can then record the allocation of that number, that the tag was applied properly, and, later, the first read of the new tag.
Link HUB Middleware acts as a bridge, connecting different systems together and enabling the efficient transport of data. When tags are read by an RFID system, the data collected can be sent directly to the middleware in order to process it and then send it where it needs to go (whether that is a warehouse management system, internal database, or some other destination). Application programming interfaces (APIs) and adapters for using standard technologies like JSON, XML, and SOAP to integrate with other third-party applications can be used too.
Middleware provides users the ability to understand what data they are collecting from each device (RFID reader, barcode scanners, etc.) and map out the structure of where that data goes and when. EPCglobal® released a software specification in order to streamline and help users create a more detailed and useful structure with middleware for their data. The specification, called Application Level Events or (ALE), is designed to help middleware filter and sort through raw data in order to provide users with relevant information based on “events” that occur. (Events are predetermined by the user as items that are significant for the business).
Due to the sheer amount of data coming from the RFID tags (imagine hundreds or thousands of tags read at virtually the same time thousands of times, radio-frequency identification (RFID) systems require a new kind of middleware, as well as conventional integration middleware. Conventional middleware is used primarily to link disparate applications, both internally and externally, to the enterprise for:
RFID Middleware is a radio-frequency identification (RFID) software, that sits between the readers and the enterprise/business applications.
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