[HN Gopher] Arduino FDX-B (animal ID chip) reader built from dis...
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       Arduino FDX-B (animal ID chip) reader built from discrete
       components
        
       Author : RicoElectrico
       Score  : 90 points
       Date   : 2024-05-30 17:03 UTC (3 days ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (github.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (github.com)
        
       | 05 wrote:
       | Personally I would use a timer capture channel for input, that
       | way you get automatic timestamp capture and you don't depend on
       | gpio isr handlers firing on time in case there's some other
       | concurrent interrupt.
        
       | RicoElectrico wrote:
       | Oh, so it got to the frontpage via the second chance pool. Nice
       | :)
       | 
       | Anyway I wanted to build something like this as soon as I chipped
       | my kitty half a year ago, but this popped up just recently!
        
         | qingcharles wrote:
         | My first thought was "can I hack the Android NFC reader to read
         | my dog"? Sadly not, but I think if smartphones could read the
         | chips it would be cool.
        
       | stavros wrote:
       | This is the sort of pointless hackery I love seeing. Keep it up!
        
       | floating-io wrote:
       | This was a fascinating read if for no other reason than seeing
       | how the filters were assembled. I have much more understanding of
       | digital than analog, to say nothing of RF stuff.
       | 
       | I would love to see more stuff like this that is so
       | understandable! Makes it seem much less like black magic...
        
         | CamperBob2 wrote:
         | Yes, it's a nifty technique. One detail that might not be
         | immediately apparent is that it drives the LC circuit in a
         | series-resonant configuration, where it looks like a low-
         | impedance load that can accept a lot of current from the
         | transistor half-bridge, but it receives the response in a
         | parallel-resonant configuration, which is good for sensitivity
         | when driving high-impedance loads like the 22K input resistance
         | presented by the opamp circuit.
         | 
         | For this topology, best results will depend on low-impedance AC
         | bypassing on the Vcc line, which he doesn't show on the
         | schematic. I'm sure the Arduino's supply input has enough
         | capacitance to take care of that, but if you adapt the circuit
         | to other uses it's something to keep in mind.
        
       | spdustin wrote:
       | Excellent use of simple discrete filters rather than trying to
       | post-process in code.
        
       | sorenjan wrote:
       | This is really cool and I like how the author describes how it
       | works step by step. It makes it interesting even if you're not
       | going to build one yourself.
       | 
       | I'm guessing that the data you extract from the RFID chip is some
       | ID number that you need access to a database to do anything with?
       | And that database is closed and only available for vets and
       | similar? Either way, checking for the existence of a chip can
       | probably be valuable enough sometimes.
       | 
       | And it can be integrated with a smart cat door or other local
       | projects where you want to identify your pet.
        
         | duskwuff wrote:
         | > I'm guessing that the data you extract from the RFID chip is
         | some ID number that you need access to a database to do
         | anything with? And that database is closed and only available
         | for vets and similar?
         | 
         | Mostly correct:
         | 
         | Many pet ID microchips also have a temperature sensor for some
         | reason, which can be read out along with the fixed chip ID. But
         | you're correct that the chip itself doesn't hold any owner
         | information.
         | 
         | There are dozens of different microchip ID databases; some of
         | them are linked to specific chip manufacturers, others are
         | general-use. Generally speaking, the registries don't give out
         | owner contact information; instead, they'll contact the owner
         | themselves when notified that a lost animal has been found.
         | 
         | The AAHA has a tool that'll query most of the major databases
         | at:
         | 
         | https://www.aaha.org/for-veterinary-professionals/microchip-...
        
       | anthomtb wrote:
       | Awesome project with a great README. This makes me want to dust
       | off my ancient analog electronics knowledge.
       | 
       | Does anyone know why the second stage op-amp cleaned up the
       | signal so much? It appears to have removed a higher-frequency
       | oscillation, leaving a very clean, nearly square-shaped wave.
        
         | duskwuff wrote:
         | The second op-amp is configured as a comparator. It drives its
         | output to the positive rail when the input exceeds a threshold,
         | and low otherwise. The higher-frequency oscillations aren't
         | anywhere near the threshold, so they disappear.
        
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       (page generated 2024-06-02 23:01 UTC)