Speaker 1: Ever, just stop and think about how much stuff there
Speaker 1: is in the world, Yeah, and keeping track of it all,
Speaker 1: you know, from the apples and the supermarket to like
Speaker 1: parts for a satellite. It's a massive job.
Speaker 2: It really is. And that's where the tech we're digging
Speaker 2: into today comes in RFID radio frequency identification.
Speaker 1: Right, and you send us some really interesting material focused
Speaker 1: on pro RFID and BizTalk server two thousand and nine. Now, okay,
Speaker 1: biztalks evolves since O nine.
Speaker 2: Obviously, absolutely, but the core RFID concepts in there still
Speaker 2: incredibly relevant and gives a solid look at how you
Speaker 2: actually implement this stuff in a business.
Speaker 1: So at its heart, what is RFID?
Speaker 2: Just for a quick baseline, Okay, basically, it's a way
Speaker 2: to automatically ID objects using radio waves. You've got a
Speaker 2: reader right, sends out a signal, then there's a tag
Speaker 2: on the item. Here's the signal and talks.
Speaker 1: Back, and a computer sorts it all out exactly.
Speaker 2: It's like giving, I don't know every physical thing its
Speaker 2: own little digital voice.
Speaker 1: Got it. So our mission today really is to cut
Speaker 1: through the textbeak understand what RFID he actually does, why
Speaker 1: it matters, especially using this source material as our guide
Speaker 1: which seems to cover everything from the real basics up
Speaker 1: to the nuts and bolts of using it with biz
Speaker 1: talk two thousand and nine.
Speaker 2: Yep, let's maybe start with some context, like how did
Speaker 2: we even track things before all this fancy radio stuff.
Speaker 1: Well, for ages, it was just looking at stuff, right.
Speaker 1: The source calls it the mark one mod zero eyeball,
Speaker 1: you just saw it, you knew what it was.
Speaker 2: Ah, yeah, pretty much. Then paper a Ledgers obviously trying
Speaker 2: to scale that up.
Speaker 1: Yeah, imagine trying to run a supermarket just by memory,
Speaker 1: the cashier knowing every single price impossible, so much room
Speaker 1: for air, so slow.
Speaker 2: That human element, that manual data entry, that was always
Speaker 2: the bottleneck. Then late sixties bar codes came along, big step.
Speaker 1: Huge, using lasers, right, suddenly you could scan something. Boom,
Speaker 1: digital info pops up. We see them everywhere.
Speaker 2: Now, totally change the game. But bar codes, yeah, they
Speaker 2: have that one limitation line of sight.
Speaker 1: You have to physically point the scanner at the barcode,
Speaker 1: make sure it can.
Speaker 2: See it clearly, exactly, And that's where RFID really shines.
Speaker 2: As the source points out, no line of sight needed.
Speaker 2: You can read these tags right through cardboard boxes, plastic
Speaker 2: crates even.
Speaker 1: Some wood, so like stuff flying down a conveyor belt,
Speaker 1: doesn't matter. If the tag is facing the wrong way, pretty.
Speaker 2: Much, the reader can often still pick it up. It's
Speaker 2: using radio waves, not late.
Speaker 1: Okay, let's break that down. How does that radio conversation
Speaker 1: actually happen between the reader and the tag?
Speaker 2: Right, So the reader starts it. It sends out a
Speaker 2: radio wave using its antenna at a specific frequency, and.
Speaker 1: The tag has an antenna too.
Speaker 2: Yep, the tag's antenna picks up that energy from the
Speaker 2: reader's signal. Now, if it's a passive tag and most far,
Speaker 2: that radio wave actually powers up the little chip inside
Speaker 2: the tag.
Speaker 1: Whoa Okay, so the reader beam literally wakes.
Speaker 2: The tag up, kind of gives it just enough juice
Speaker 2: to operate for a moment. Then the reader might send
Speaker 2: a command on that wave, like hey, who are you? Huh?
Speaker 2: If the tag gets the command, it uses that energy
Speaker 2: it just collected to send back its stored info, usually
Speaker 2: it's unique ID number, modulating it onto its own radio
Speaker 2: wave signal.
Speaker 1: Which the reader then picks up. Got it now, the
Speaker 1: source mentioned different kinds of RFID, different frequencies. Why so many?
Speaker 2: Ah? Yeah, the frequency affects things like how far away
Speaker 2: you can read. The read range also affects how much
Speaker 2: data you can send back and forth, and how well
Speaker 2: it works around things like metal and liquids, which can
Speaker 2: sometimes interfere. Okay, and you mentioned passive tags. There are
Speaker 2: also active tags. These guys have their own little battery.
Speaker 1: Ah, so they don't rely on the reader's energy. Right.
Speaker 2: Means they can be read from much further away, sometimes
Speaker 2: hundreds of feet, and they can power other things like sensors,
Speaker 2: maybe temperature sensors or something.
Speaker 1: But I guess they're more expensive and the battery runs
Speaker 1: out eventually.
Speaker 2: Exactly trade offs. Passive tags are cheaper, last basically forever,
Speaker 2: but shorter range. Active tags longer range, more capabilities, but
Speaker 2: cost more and have a limited lifespan. You pick what
Speaker 2: fixed The job makes.
Speaker 1: Sense and it's not always just reading one tag, right, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I remember reading about scanning. Yeah, like a whole palette
Speaker 1: of boxes at once.
Speaker 2: Yes, that's a huge advantage anti collision. It's a key concept.
Speaker 2: Imagine that palette, maybe fifty boxes, each with a tag.
Speaker 2: A reader at a doorway can ideally read all fifty
Speaker 2: tags as the palette goes through.
Speaker 1: How does it avoid just getting a garbled mess of
Speaker 1: signals all talking at once.
Speaker 2: Clever algorithms. It's a bit like you know how you're
Speaker 2: a Wi Fi router manages lots of devices talking. The
Speaker 2: reader manages the conversation telling tags in effect to speak
Speaker 2: one at a time or in small groups very very quickly,
Speaker 2: so it can identify all of them without the signals
Speaker 2: crashing into each other.
Speaker 1: Wow. Okay, that sounds incredibly efficient for logistics. So what
Speaker 1: kind of info is actually on these tags? Is it
Speaker 1: just a serial number?
Speaker 2: It varies a lot. Some basic tags might just have
Speaker 2: a globally unique idea like an MT address for a
Speaker 2: physical object. That's often enough just to know which specific
Speaker 2: item it is, right. But other tags, especially where more
Speaker 2: expensive ones, can have user memory, You can write other
Speaker 2: data to them, maybe the product code, manufacturing date, batch number,
Speaker 2: even maintenance history potentially and.
Speaker 1: The source mentioned. Commissioning is a loading this data onto
Speaker 1: the tag pretty much.
Speaker 2: Commissioning is that initial step where you write this specific
Speaker 2: data onto a tag and associate it in your system.
Speaker 2: You're giving the tag its identity for your application, and
Speaker 2: groups like GS one and EPC Global are working hard
Speaker 2: on standards for this data like the EPC standards, so
Speaker 2: everyone speaking the same language, similar to how UPC barcodes work.
Speaker 1: So it's not just this is a box of widgets,
Speaker 1: it's this is this specific box of widgets made on Tuesday,
Speaker 1: expiring next year.
Speaker 2: Huge for traceability, absolutely, things like recalls, warranty tracking, authentication.
Speaker 2: It opens up a lot. And the source also quickly
Speaker 2: mentions antenna's linear versus circular polarization that affects read reliability too,
Speaker 2: especially the further away you get with UAGEF frequencies. But
Speaker 2: maybe that's getting a bit deep for now.
Speaker 1: Okay, Yeah, let's maybe stick to the core ideas. For now,
Speaker 1: we've talked anti collision tag types. Let's circle back to
Speaker 1: that tag.
Speaker 2: Sure. So, like we said, memory varies, and there's a
Speaker 2: direct link usually between how much memory tag has and
Speaker 2: how much it costs.
Speaker 1: Right, more memory, more money.
Speaker 2: Yeah, So if you're tracking, say a critical jet engine part,
Speaker 2: you might splurge on a high memory tag to store
Speaker 2: its entire maintenance log directly on the part. Super valuable data.
Speaker 1: Right there makes sense, expensive part critical data.
Speaker 2: But if you're tracking I don't know, millions of pairs
Speaker 2: of socks for a retailer, tag cost is king. You'll
Speaker 2: use the cheapest possible tag with maybe just that unique
Speaker 2: ID number. You store all the other details about the
Speaker 2: sock in a database link to that ID.
Speaker 1: Gotcha. You wouldn't put the socks washing instructions on the
Speaker 1: RFID tag itself.
Speaker 2: Probably not. And that commissioning step we mentioned, that's where
Speaker 2: you write that unique ID to the sock tag and
Speaker 2: link it in your database to pair of blue socks
Speaker 2: size tens KIU one two, three, four five. It activates
Speaker 2: the tag within your system.
Speaker 1: Okay, So with all this tech reading through boxes, unique IDs,
Speaker 1: anti collision, what's the real bottom line? The source scene
Speaker 1: keen to manage expectations a bit.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it makes a good point. RFID doesn't really let
Speaker 2: you do things that were fundamentally impossible before. I mean,
Speaker 2: you could theoretically have someone manually inspect and log every
Speaker 2: single item entering a warehouse.
Speaker 1: Theoretically, yeah, but it would be painfully slow and full
Speaker 1: of mistakes exactly.
Speaker 2: That's the key. RFID takes processes that were possible but
Speaker 2: maybe impractical, slow or error prone, and makes them feasible.
Speaker 2: It automates them, makes them faster, way more accurate, and scalable.
Speaker 1: So debut efficiency and accuracy gains through automation.
Speaker 2: Precisely. Take that warehouse receiving example, manual check slow mistakes happen.
Speaker 2: RFID a palette rolls through a portal reader, scans dozens
Speaker 2: or hundreds of items, and seconds instantly verifies against the
Speaker 2: shipping notice, updates, inventory boom.
Speaker 1: Minimal human intervention, real time data. Right.
Speaker 2: So, whether you're using eyeballs or a barcode scanner or
Speaker 2: an RFID reader, the goal is the same, connect the
Speaker 2: physical item to its digital record. RFID just provide a much,
Speaker 2: much faster, more automated, and often richer way to make
Speaker 2: that connection.
Speaker 1: Okay, so where's this paying off the most? Where's the
Speaker 1: adoption really happening?
Speaker 2: Well, according to the source, supply chain is huge, tracking
Speaker 2: goods from factory through distribution centers all the way to
Speaker 2: the store shelf at palette level, case level, sometimes even
Speaker 2: item level. Big visibility improvements.
Speaker 1: There, and retail seems to be catching.
Speaker 2: On too, definitely. Retailers are using it more and more
Speaker 2: for inventory accuracy. Knowing what you actually have on the
Speaker 2: shelves and in the back room helps prevent empty shelves.
Speaker 2: You know, out of stocks also helps reduce lost or
Speaker 2: stolen items. It can be more informative than just those
Speaker 2: basic anti theft.
Speaker 1: Tags, right because you know which specific item went missing,
Speaker 1: not just that something beat exactly. Okay, So let's pivot
Speaker 1: to the specific focus of the source. BizTalk RFID two
Speaker 1: thousand and nine now again acknowledging the date. What was
Speaker 1: the core idea behind this platform?
Speaker 2: BizTalk RFID back then was Microsoft's answer from managing these
Speaker 2: RFID systems in a business context. The source use is
Speaker 2: a pretty cool analogy. It's like trying to assign IP
Speaker 2: addresses to every object in the real world. But from
Speaker 2: the hardware view, bistok RFID was the software layer on
Speaker 2: top of that.
Speaker 1: So it connects to the readers, gets the data.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it connects to all sorts of different RFID readers, printers,
Speaker 2: other devices. It processes the raw tag data coming in
Speaker 2: and then helps you integrate that data with your other
Speaker 2: business systems, your inventory system, your ERP.
Speaker 1: Whatever, the software brain making sense of the radio signal.
Speaker 2: You got it. The source shows this architecture right with
Speaker 2: logical devices, ways to connect to bistalk server itself or
Speaker 2: SQL databases, and this event driven model for building specific
Speaker 2: RFID business processes. It aimed to provide a structured way
Speaker 2: to handle all that RFID data flowing in, and it had.
Speaker 1: A layered architecture. What did that look like?
Speaker 2: Broadly, think of it like stacks. Down at the bottom
Speaker 2: the actual physical readers and tags. Then a layer called
Speaker 2: device providers basically drivers software bits that let bistalk RFID
Speaker 2: talk to specific hardware models. Okay, above that the main
Speaker 2: bistok RFID engine managing the devices, processing the events. And
Speaker 2: then at the top the business logic you build your
Speaker 2: RFID processes that decide what to do with the tag reads.
Speaker 1: The source mentions these things called knobs exposed as properties
Speaker 1: for devices sounds intriguing.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's about controlling the reader hardware. Bistok RFID assumed
Speaker 2: readers have settings you can tweak network settings, radio power,
Speaker 2: maybe antenna configurations. It tried to expose these settings as
Speaker 2: properties you could adjust right from the bistok RFID software, so.
Speaker 1: You could fine tune the reader's behavior remotely.
Speaker 2: That was the idea. The source notes though that how
Speaker 2: many knobs you actually got depended on how good the
Speaker 2: device provider software was for that specific reader, and some
Speaker 2: settings might reset if the reader rebooted while others would stick.
Speaker 1: Gotcha. And then there's this difference between physical device names
Speaker 1: and logical devices. Why separate them?
Speaker 2: Ah, that's actually a really useful abstraction. A logical device
Speaker 2: is like a placeholder name you use inside your business
Speaker 2: talk RFID process. Like warehouse door reader. It's not the
Speaker 2: actual IP aggress or serial number of the physical reader.
Speaker 1: Okay, so it's a nickname sort of.
Speaker 2: Then separately, you bind that logical name warehouse door Reader
Speaker 2: to the actual physical reader hardware installed at the warehouse door.
Speaker 1: Why bother with the extra step flexibility?
Speaker 2: Say that physical reader breaks, you replace it with a
Speaker 2: new one, maybe even a slightly different model. If it's compatible.
Speaker 2: You might just need to update the binding point the
Speaker 2: logical name warehouse door Reader to the new physical reader.
Speaker 2: Your actual RFID business process code doesn't necessarily need to change.
Speaker 2: It insulates your logic from the specific hardware.
Speaker 1: I see. That makes maintenance and upgrades much easier. Smart okay, sok.
Speaker 1: RFID provides this framework, what about actually managing it? The
Speaker 1: source mentions r FID manager.
Speaker 2: Right, RFID manager was the main graphical tool the GUI
Speaker 2: for administering bis talk RFID. It's where you'd register those
Speaker 2: device providers, add your physical readers, organize them, and configure
Speaker 2: the RFID business processes themselves the command center pretty much.
Speaker 2: The Source does mention a little quirk sometimes you had
Speaker 2: to manually hit refresh to see the latest status. Updates
Speaker 2: in the manager tool wasn't always real.
Speaker 1: Time h okay, goodl manual refresh. So what could you
Speaker 1: actually do an RFID manager besides adding devices?
Speaker 2: Well, you could connect to your local BizTalk RFID server
Speaker 2: or manage remote ones. You could group devices logically, maybe
Speaker 2: west wing readers shipping dock readers. You could also import
Speaker 2: and export device configurations.
Speaker 1: Oh like for backups or setting up another server the
Speaker 1: same way exactly.
Speaker 2: And one really neat feature highlighted was device property versioning.
Speaker 1: Version like Source control for reader settings.
Speaker 2: Kind of RFID manager kept a history of changes made
Speaker 2: to device properties. So if you tweaked, say the radio
Speaker 2: power on a reader, and things stopped working, well you
Speaker 2: could look back see exactly what changed and easily roll
Speaker 2: back to a previous configuration. The source had an example
Speaker 2: of changing a reader's location property and then undoing it.
Speaker 1: That sounds super useful for troubleshooting, like an undoe button
Speaker 1: for your hardware settings. Yeah. Can you also change how
Speaker 1: processes are connected the bindings in there?
Speaker 2: Yep. When a process was stopped, you could go into
Speaker 2: RFID manager and change which logical devices it listens to
Speaker 2: or which software components it uses. There was a wizard
Speaker 2: to help, or you could edit the raw binding files
Speaker 2: if you needed to.
Speaker 1: Okay. The source uses a warehouse exegate example to show
Speaker 1: how a process works. Can you walk through that?
Speaker 2: Sure? So picture an RFID reader over the exit door
Speaker 2: of a warehouse. The goal is when a palette with
Speaker 2: tag items goes out, automatically confirm it shipped. Right in
Speaker 2: bistok RFID, you'd build a process. This process would be
Speaker 2: configured to listen for tag reads coming only from the
Speaker 2: logical device bound to that exit gate reader. When a
Speaker 2: tag or a list of tags from the palette is
Speaker 2: read by that specific reader, an event handler component inside
Speaker 2: your process gets triggered. This component takes the tag data
Speaker 2: and does something maybe calls a web service, updates a database,
Speaker 2: sends a message to the shipping system saying this pallette
Speaker 2: just left.
Speaker 1: So the process is like the little automated agent watching
Speaker 1: that door. Yeah, and the binding tells it which physical
Speaker 1: door to.
Speaker 2: Watch exactly right. The binding connects the abstract idea in
Speaker 2: your process, the exit gate reader, to the actual piece
Speaker 2: of hardware bolted to the wall. Data flows from the
Speaker 2: physical reader through the binding to the correct logical device
Speaker 2: in your process, triggering your logic.
Speaker 1: You mentioned components and event handlers. What are those exactly
Speaker 1: within a process?
Speaker 2: Think of them as plug ins or building blocks for
Speaker 2: your process. They do specific jobs when an RFID event happens.
Speaker 2: The source gives a good example. A SQL server sink
Speaker 2: component that's.
Speaker 1: What it sounds like, writes data to SQL precisely.
Speaker 2: You drop this component into your process pipeline. When a
Speaker 2: tag read event comes through, this component automatically takes the
Speaker 2: data tag id, timestamp, reader name, et cetera, and inserts
Speaker 2: it into a specified table in your SEQL server day dtabase.
Speaker 1: Handy, and you could write your own custom ones.
Speaker 2: Yes, absolutely. Those are often called event handlers. They're basically
Speaker 2: snippets of dot Net code you write to perform any
Speaker 2: custom logic you need, maybe complex validation calling a specific
Speaker 2: internal system whatever. The component model makes processes modular u lets.
Speaker 2: You reuse common bits.
Speaker 1: Of logic, and you'd manage adding and configuring these components
Speaker 1: like the sql sinc using RFID manager too.
Speaker 2: Correct, you'd register any custom components, then drag and drop
Speaker 2: them into your process design and RFID manager and configure
Speaker 2: their settings like the database connection string for the SQL SINC.
Speaker 1: Okay, Now, what if you don't have physical RFID readers
Speaker 1: lying around, but you want to build and test these processes.
Speaker 1: The source mentions a simulator.
Speaker 2: Yeah, the device simulator in the SDK super valuable for
Speaker 2: development and testing. It lets you pretend to be one
Speaker 2: or more RFID readers, generating fake tag read events, all
Speaker 2: in software.
Speaker 1: So you don't need the hardware budget just to get
Speaker 1: started exactly.
Speaker 2: You can configure it through files, tell it how many
Speaker 2: fake readers to create, what IP addresses and ports they
Speaker 2: should pretend to use, how often they should see tags,
Speaker 2: what the tag data should look like, so.
Speaker 1: You can simulate different scenarios like lots of tags appearing
Speaker 1: at once or tags appearing intermittently.
Speaker 2: Yep, you can define the notification behavior, send tags one
Speaker 2: by one, send them in batches, tagless events, control the timing.
Speaker 2: The source even points to a ready made Contoso simulator
Speaker 2: example in the SDK to get you started quickly. You
Speaker 2: can fire that up and immediately have simulated tag data
Speaker 2: flowing into your BizTalk. RFID processes for testing.
Speaker 1: Very cool, like a virtual RFID lab. And the SO
Speaker 1: has tied this back to a simple retail case study.
Speaker 2: Right, just a basic example. Imagine high value electronics tagged
Speaker 2: in a store. Reader at the exit logs every time
Speaker 2: one of these tags passes through, that data goes to
Speaker 2: a central system, maybe using that SEQL sync. Okay, just
Speaker 2: by logging those exits, the retailer gets basic business intelligence.
Speaker 2: How many expensive TVs left the store today, any leave
Speaker 2: outside of transaction hours. It's simple tracking, but gives real
Speaker 2: time visibility that can help with inventory, maybe spot potential
Speaker 2: theft patterns, or even trigger real time alerts.
Speaker 1: Taking the raw reads and turning them into useful info
Speaker 1: makes sense. And there was also a command line tool
Speaker 1: RFID client Console.
Speaker 2: Yeah, URFID Clientconsole dot exe for folks who prefer command
Speaker 2: lines or need to script administrative tasks. It offered another
Speaker 2: way to manage providers, devices and processes, doing much of
Speaker 2: what RFID Manager could do.
Speaker 1: But text base okay, handy for automation. Yeah, Now for
Speaker 1: the developers listening, the source gets into coding aspects. It
Speaker 1: mentions a base class r FAD event handler base.
Speaker 2: Right, if you're writing those custom components, those event handlers
Speaker 2: we talked about, you'd typically create a dot net class
Speaker 2: that inherits from our fit event handerbase. This gives you
Speaker 2: the framework the necessary methods to plug into the BizTalk
Speaker 2: RFID run time, banken init methods exactly. The init method
Speaker 2: gets called when your handler starts up. It's where you'd
Speaker 2: grab any configuration settings you define for your component in
Speaker 2: RFID manager, like maybe a threshold value or web service
Speaker 2: URL needs to call.
Speaker 1: And the source stress keeping these handlers fast.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, critical point. The methods in your event handler
Speaker 2: that actually process the tag reeds need to be quick,
Speaker 2: avoid long database calls, complex calculations, or anything that blocks
Speaker 2: the processing thread for a long time. Why is that
Speaker 2: so important Because bistok RFID is trying to process potentially
Speaker 2: hundreds or thousands of tag reads per second. If your
Speaker 2: custom code takes a half a second for every tag,
Speaker 2: you'll create a massive bottleneck. The whole system slows down.
Speaker 2: It's much better to do quick processing in the handler
Speaker 2: and maybe hand off longer tasks to a separate background
Speaker 2: service or que.
Speaker 1: Got it, keep it lean and mean in the main
Speaker 1: event pass. What about this deploy static method? When is
Speaker 1: that used?
Speaker 2: That's for setup tasks. If your event handler needs something
Speaker 2: done once when the RFID process is first deployed or updated,
Speaker 2: maybe creating a specific database table it needs to write to,
Speaker 2: or registering something with the operating system, you'd put that
Speaker 2: logic in the static deploy method. The runtime calls it
Speaker 2: automatically during deployment.
Speaker 1: Okay for one time initialization. And how does bistalk RFID
Speaker 1: handle the different kinds of data coming from readers, taglists,
Speaker 1: single reads source mentioned strong taping.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it uses a strongly typed event system. When you
Speaker 2: build your process, your event handlers declare what specific type
Speaker 2: of event they expect, like a tag rate event, a
Speaker 2: single tag or a tag list event the batch of tags.
Speaker 2: The runtime manages this. If a reader sends a tagless event,
Speaker 2: but your first handler wants individual tag rate events, the
Speaker 2: runtime can automatically shred the list and feed the tags
Speaker 2: to your handler one by one. This strong typing helps
Speaker 2: make the processing pipeline more predictable and robust. You know
Speaker 2: what kind of data to expect.
Speaker 1: In your code helps avoid errors from unexpected data formats.
Speaker 1: Speaking of errors, how does BizTalk RFID handle things going
Speaker 1: wrong in a process?
Speaker 2: It has built in error handling in RFID manager. You
Speaker 2: could set thresholds like if you get more than ten
Speaker 2: errors in a minute, maybe automatically stop and restart the process.
Speaker 2: You could also see the details of the last error
Speaker 2: that occurred. But the advice in the source generally is
Speaker 2: to handle recoverable errors like a temporary network clitch, trying
Speaker 2: to call on external service within your own event handler code.
Speaker 2: Maybe retry a couple of times. Let the BizTalk RFID
Speaker 2: run time handle the really unexpected critical exceptions by stopping
Speaker 2: the process or logging the error makes sense.
Speaker 1: Try to fix what you can. Let the system handle
Speaker 1: the disasters. The source also mentioned programmatically setting up those
Speaker 1: bindings between logical and physical devices.
Speaker 2: Yes, besides using the RFID manager GUI, there's an API
Speaker 2: using a class called binding manager Proxy. This lets you
Speaker 2: write code to create or modify those bindings. Useful for
Speaker 2: automated deployment scripts or maybe dynamic scenarios where the physical
Speaker 2: device might change based on some external factor. You could
Speaker 2: bind based on device names, group names, even specific antenaports
Speaker 2: give you more controls, and.
Speaker 1: We saw a diagram of the runtime architecture. What were
Speaker 1: the key parts there?
Speaker 2: Well, there's the routing engine that gets the raw events
Speaker 2: from the device providers. It figures out which running RFID
Speaker 2: process should receive that event based on the bindings. Each
Speaker 2: process has its own input q q Q. It decouples things.
Speaker 2: The reader can send events quickly and they pile up
Speaker 2: in the queue if the process takes a little time
Speaker 2: to handle them. It smooths out bursts of activity and
Speaker 2: makes the system more resilient. If the process is busy,
Speaker 2: the events just wait safely in the queue. There's also
Speaker 2: a separate rejects or suspended queue for events the failed processing,
Speaker 2: so one bad event doesn't stop everything. Ah okay, buffering
Speaker 2: and error isolation. What about running this on different Windows
Speaker 2: versions desktop versus.
Speaker 1: Server on Windows server? The source explains biztok. RFID typically
Speaker 1: hosted its processes and providers inside IC Internet information services.
Speaker 2: Like web applications.
Speaker 1: Essentially, yes, yeah, each process often ran in its own
Speaker 1: IC application pool. This offer better reliability, security, and isolation
Speaker 1: compared to running directly as a service, especially in a
Speaker 1: production server environment. The programming model was the same, but
Speaker 1: the hosting was more robust on server got it.
Speaker 2: And finally, on the process side, these different event processing
Speaker 2: modes transactional, reliable, express, what's the difference.
Speaker 1: It's all about trade offs between reliability and speed. Transactional
Speaker 1: is the safest, every event is processed within a database transaction.
Speaker 1: If anything fails mid processing, the whole thing rolls back
Speaker 1: guaranteed processing, but slower due to the overhead.
Speaker 2: Okay, maximum safety. Reliable mode relaxes the strict transaction per event,
Speaker 2: but still guarantees that once an event makes it to
Speaker 2: the queue, the system will try its best to process it,
Speaker 2: even if there are restarts better throughput than transactional.
Speaker 1: A middle ground kind.
Speaker 2: Of Then there's Express mode fast as possible minimal overhead
Speaker 2: events fly through, but if the system crashes at the
Speaker 2: wrong moment, you might lose events that were in flight.
Speaker 2: It prioritizes speed over guaranteed delivery. Good for scenarios where
Speaker 2: occasional data loss is acceptable, like maybe just updating a
Speaker 2: real time dashboard where the next update will correct it anyway.
Speaker 1: So you choose base on how critical each individual event is.
Speaker 1: That's a clear explanation. The source then uses a cruise
Speaker 1: ship example that seems different.
Speaker 2: Yeah, quite different. Guests get RFID wristbands, they use them
Speaker 2: to open their cabin doors, pay for drinks, access lounges.
Speaker 1: Oh, like a magic key and wallet exactly.
Speaker 2: But behind the scenes, the cruise line is potentially tracking
Speaker 2: movement patterns, maybe seeing which restaurants are busy, ensuring safety
Speaker 2: protocols are followed. It's RFID enhancing the customer experience and
Speaker 2: providing operational data shows the versatility beyond just boxes in
Speaker 2: a warehouse definitely okay.
Speaker 1: Then the source dives back into the API side, programmatically
Speaker 1: controlling things. Process manager proxy, device manager proxy. Right.
Speaker 2: These are dot net classes that let external applications talk
Speaker 2: to BizTalk RFID. You could write a separate dashboard application,
Speaker 2: for instance, that uses process manager proxy to start or
Speaker 2: stop RFID processes or maybe even inject test events. Device
Speaker 2: manager proxy lets you control the actual connected readers, get
Speaker 2: their status, change their settings programmatically, so you.
Speaker 1: Build custom management tools or integrate control into other systems.
Speaker 2: YEP, and the device connection class lets you establish a
Speaker 2: direct line to a reader and send specific commands like
Speaker 2: what kind of commands. The source lists standard ones defined
Speaker 2: by the interface, like get property to read a setting
Speaker 2: set property to change one read tag to trigger read
Speaker 2: write tag data to write to a tag's user memory,
Speaker 2: assuming the tag has user memory, right, and assuming the
Speaker 2: reader supports that command. Not all readers implement all commands.
Speaker 2: The source also mentions vendor specific commands special functions unique
Speaker 2: to a particular manufacturer's hardware that you might be able
Speaker 2: to access.
Speaker 1: Okay, and there's another simulator, the tag read Simulator application.
Speaker 2: Yeah, this one's a graphical tool, not just contributed by files.
Speaker 2: It gives you a UI to easily generate simulated tag reads.
Speaker 2: You can type in tag IDs, choose how many click
Speaker 2: a button, and it sends those events to to a
Speaker 2: specified logical device in your BizTalk RFID setup. Really handy
Speaker 2: for quick tests or demos.
Speaker 1: Got it and a quick mention of BizTalk RFID mobile
Speaker 1: for handhelds.
Speaker 2: Right, an extension for building apps on well back then
Speaker 2: Windows mobile devices that had built in RFID readers. Think
Speaker 2: of a worker scanning items on a shelf with a
Speaker 2: handheld scanner running a custom BizTalk RFID mobile app. It
Speaker 2: even mentioned integrating bar code scanning into those mobile apps too.
Speaker 1: Makes sense for mobile workforces. Then this TDTAPI tag data
Speaker 1: translation what's that about.
Speaker 2: TDT is about standards, specifically the EPC Global Tag Data Standard.
Speaker 2: It's a library that helps you encode and decode the
Speaker 2: data on RFID tags according to that standard. Why is
Speaker 2: that important?
Speaker 1: Interoperability so different company systems can understand each other's.
Speaker 2: Tags exactly if everyone follows the standard, A tag commission
Speaker 2: by manufacturer A can be read and understood by retailer
Speaker 2: b's system. TDT helps translate the compact binary data on
Speaker 2: the tag into meaningful information like a product code, serial number,
Speaker 2: and vice versa. It also supports the idea of tags
Speaker 2: being somewhat self describing, reducing the need to always look
Speaker 2: up every single tag ID in a central database.
Speaker 1: Crucial for making supply chains actually work across companies. Okay,
Speaker 1: almost there. Publishing events from BizTalk RFID to bistok server.
Speaker 1: Why do that extra.
Speaker 2: Hop Because bistalk server is the big enterprise integration engine.
Speaker 2: Once you get the RFID data into bistalk server, you
Speaker 2: can do much more complex things with its sophisticated process orchestration,
Speaker 2: mapping data to completely different formats, connecting to hundreds of
Speaker 2: different systems using bistoks adapters, applying complex business.
Speaker 1: Rules so bistok RFID handles the edge the device interaction,
Speaker 1: and BizTalk server handles the heavy lifting in the enterprise
Speaker 1: back end.
Speaker 2: That's a good way to put it. The source shows
Speaker 2: how you could use a custom event handler in BizTalk
Speaker 2: rfid to send the event data over MSMP Microsoft message
Speaker 2: queuing to bistok server. Bistok server then just picks it
Speaker 2: up from the queue. Or you could use use a
Speaker 2: SQL adapter in bistalk server to pull data directly from
Speaker 2: the database that bistalk rfid was writing to.
Speaker 1: And you could use the bistalk Business rule engine too. Yep.
Speaker 2: Bistalk rfid had a component specifically for that, the Rules
Speaker 2: Engine Policy Executor. You could configure it to send RFID
Speaker 2: event data to the BRE, let the BRE evaluate complex
Speaker 2: rules against it, and get the results back to guide
Speaker 2: the RFID process flow more dynamic logic without hard coding it.
Speaker 1: Okay, and SharePoint integration displaying RFID data in a portal, Yeah.
Speaker 2: The idea was to make RFID information accessible. You could
Speaker 2: build SharePoint web parts that maybe showed a list of
Speaker 2: recent tag reads at a certain location or the status
Speaker 2: of RFID readers pulling data from BizTalk rfid using its
Speaker 2: APIs or web services embed RFID visibility into existing dashboards.
Speaker 1: Got it. And the final case study tracking storage components
Speaker 1: in finance using both BizTalk RFID and server right.
Speaker 2: This tied it all together. Tag sensitive items like backup
Speaker 2: tapes or hard drives, readers track them moving around a
Speaker 2: data center. BizTalk RFID captures the reads. It sends events
Speaker 2: to bistalk server. Bisktop server runs orchestrations that apply rules.
Speaker 2: Is this tape allowed to be in this area? Has
Speaker 2: it been out of the secure vault for too long?
Speaker 2: If a rule is violated, bistalk server triggers an alert,
Speaker 2: notifies security, a full end to end automated tracking and
Speaker 2: alerting system.
Speaker 1: Wow, that really shows the power when you combine the
Speaker 1: real time physical tracking with the enterprise process smarts. It's
Speaker 1: clear even looking back at this two thousand nine material,
Speaker 1: the core value proposition of RFID, bridging that physical digital
Speaker 1: gap with automation speed accuracy is incredibly powerful, maybe even
Speaker 1: more relevant now.
Speaker 2: I think so too, that ability to get real time
Speaker 2: automated data about physical assets is fundamental. It drives efficiency,
Speaker 2: better decisions, new services across so many areas.
Speaker 1: So thinking about all that potential for you, the listener,
Speaker 1: where do you see this fitting considering that real time visibility,
Speaker 1: that data driven approach, What could RFID unlock in your world,
Speaker 1: in your endoe or just areas you find interesting. The
Speaker 1: possibilities seem vast.
Speaker 2: Definitely worth pondering, and if specific parts of this spark
Speaker 2: your interest, do dive back into that source material you shared.
Speaker 2: It goes into much more technical depth on BizTalk RFID features,
Speaker 2: the APIs, the configurations, lots to explore there.
Speaker 1: Absolutely and as always, let us know what you think.
Speaker 1: Any questions about rfid's applications, maybe things we didn't touch on,
Speaker 1: We'd love to hear them. Thanks for joining us on
Speaker 1: this deep dive.