RFID Shield V0.1 : Build Awesome 

Overview

The RFID Shield v0.1 is a simple breakout board for the ID-12L RFID reader. The board was purpose build for a SalesForce workshop at DreamForce 2014 using this code to send RFID data to the SalesForce cloud via a Rest API.

Details

The board itself is little more than a breakout from the 50mil headers the ID-12L uses to standard Arduino headers. For funsies a TMP36 analog temperature sensor was thrown in and is not required to populate to use the board. All pins on the ID-12L were broken out with jumpers, including those not used in the code example. This was done to future proof the board so it could be used as a general breakout board as well as for future projects that expanded on the functionality of the original demo.

The board can be ordered from its OSHPark permalink or you can grab a zip of the gerber files or the eagle files and modify or order from your preferred distributor.

Initially we started out using a Sparkfun Arduino ProtoShield Bare PCB. It worked great for rapid prototyping and helped us flush out the idea / check that the configuration worked. Then we decided that fly-wiring 30+ of these boards was going to drive us crazy, so we decided to make a small batch custom PCB instead. We then placed the order and with a premium for quick turnaround had the boards in a week. We made sure to use the sparkfun eagle libraries and the alternating offset holes for the ID-12L held the part in place to make soldering a breeze.

For the code we used the ID12 library from developer.mbed.org and an example program also provided on mbed.org. The component libraries tied with loads of examples and an online compiler set up for ease of use made getting our design out the door really quick and easy.

Pictures

Here are some pictures of the board as it progressed through development.

Here you can see the final product, a custom PCB and the Freescale K64F.

View files on Upverter.com

You can also view / collaborate on the board design on upverter.com