This week I connected our circuit components and began testing. Pictures and videos have been added to the Google Drive of process pics. I was able to prove that the circuit is working correctly, however, I was also able to prove that CMU’s ID cards do not contain a 125 kHz RFID chip. I tested with the circuit and our commercial 125 kHz RFID reader, and neither picked up any signal from the card. I researched other possible frequencies, and there are a few our cards could contain. Unfortunately, to test every frequency would require me to reconstruct the coil and circuit each time, and I don’t think this would be worth it right now. I requested 125 kHz bit code cards like those we used in 220 lab, and will use those as a contingency plan for now. If I have extra time down the road, I’d love to get our system working with the CMU IDs.
This snafu didn’t greatly impact our schedule – I’m able to continue using the bit code cards from 220 lab. However, now I do want to be ahead of schedule so that I can try to get the CMU cards working eventually.
Next week, I will see what data I can extract with the 220 bit code cards, and work on getting that from the Arduino to the RPi. This will allow us to connect hardware to software and begin to have a fully integrated project!