MAM with RFID

[Former Member]

Hi All,

We are currently working on the RFID part of the Mobile Asset Management(MAM). As per the SAP note 786841, it is recommended that we should use only PSION(netpad with at least 128 MB RAM) RFID readers and scanners.

I just wanted to know that is it Mandatory to use only PSION make RFID readers and scanners? Cant we use any other vendor's RFID readers? If someone has tried using it for Mobile Asset Management(MAM) only, please help me.

Thanks in advance.

-Saptak.

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Hello Saptak,

With SAP MI SP14 the MI Client has a Device Driver Framework which supportes some RFID Readers from Intermec,Symbol and SocketCom. But as far as i know MAM has his own MRI(on the installation CD of MAM,you can install it as addon) and is not using this driver framework. For the MAM MRI you will also need the RFID driver dll's and jar's shipped by the RFID vendor,here PSION. The problem is that the Netpad,as the only supported MAM device,is no longer shipped by PSION(as far as i know not more since 05/2005).

Hope there will be better informations available from SAP regarding MAM and RFID in the future....At the moment this issue is really frustrating.

PS: You can find the supported RIFD Devices for the MI Client at Service Marketplace under http://service.sap.com/nw-mobile > Mobile Infrastructure > Mobile Infrastructure in Detail > Device Driver Framework.But the listed devices like the IP3,now it's IP4, are also not more up to date:-( I tried MAM with a Pocket PC and the CF RFID Reader from Socket Com but it is not working for me.....

Regards

Frank

Message was edited by: Frank Brackmann

[norbertk · Accepted solution]

Hi,

we used Psion Workabout Pro's in a project (custom application) for a customer, and we developed our own connector to the RFID-driver (which also works with standard MAM, we tested that also).

To describe it very shortly how it works: you have to implement SAP's com.sap.mbs.rfid.lli.RfidReader interface (contained within mbsrfid.jar of MAM) and establish a connection to the native driver of the reader via JNI within this implemementation. Before we developed the connector we 're-engineered' the connector for Psion's Netpad that could be downloaded from http://www.psionteklogix.com (as mentioned in OSS-note 786841).

Regards,

Norbert

[former_member189501 · Accepted solution]

Very good thread this one.

Please I'm interested to MAM25 and RFID. As I read the interface that allows to the MAM25 to comunicate with the RFID readed is done by SAP.

As I understood there are two kinds of interfaces:

_ The framework available since MI25 SP14

_ MRI available on the MAM cd

I suspect as I'm using MAM, the proper interface is the MRI and I need only this one.

But which are the differences between these two interfaces ?

thanks in advance

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Hello Mauro,

very good question!

I asked SAP if they support the Socket devices for MAM cause they are listed with other RFID Readers in the driver framework of MI Client .They said MAM didn't support this,but it is possible to use the MRI Interface of MAM and establish a connection via JNI to the native driver(as Norbert described it). On the other side,why is there a framework and why isn't MAM using it? Thats really unsatisfactory cause the task of the Driver Framework of MI-Client should be to close the gap between mobile applications and peripheral device drivers. With the release of the device driver framework Mobile Infrastructure and the applications like MAM should actively supports the use of the listed devices.

Norbert,is it possible that you give use some deeper Informations(peerhaps a weblog?) about accessing a MI application by using the MRI(mbsrfid.jar) of MAM and JNI?Also how can i re-engineer a existing connector as you have done it with the netpad connector?

Regards and thanks a lot.

Frank

[norbertk · Accepted solution]

hi together,

the reason why there is a framework which is not used in mam may be historical, or different teams at sap that don't talk with each other...

with re-engineering i meant to de-compile the jar-file of the netpad-connector (e.g. with http://www.kpdus.com/jad.html). if you don't have the working netpad connector i could provide it.

actually i already thought about writing a blog about this topic myself, because it could be interesting for many people. perhaps i will do it if i find some time...

regards,

norbert

[former_member189501 · Accepted solution]

Hi Norbert,

we would like to do some experience with the MAM25 RFID capabilities. We should use the WorkAbout PRO PDA and a common Win XP laptop as mobile devices.

In both cases the Rfid reades/writes we expect to use are the same, the ISC PRH101 or ISC PRH101BT hand held device .

I'm a little bit confused about the Rfid drivers to be installed on the mobile device, so on our WorkAbout PRO or the Win XP Laptop .

We saw SAP provide two Rfid interfaces, the framework available since MI25 SP14 and the MRI interface available on the MAM CD.

It 's not clear which of these it's ready to use with the WorkAbout PRO or for the Win XP laptop.

Maybe we have in anycase to develop a "custom" connector ?

Besides, please, could you tell me which kind of tags did you used (frequency, model,...) ?

thanks in advance and regards

[norbertk · Accepted solution]

Hello Mauro,

i think you will have to develop a custom connector between the MRI interface and the driver of your RFID-reader.

In our projects tags from Microsensys (http://www.microsensys.de/) were used, the D5-TAG and the D14-TAG (http://www.microsensys.de/minitags.htm) if I remember correctly.

Merry Christmas!

Regards,

Norbert