About RFID
•Microsoft Dynamics AX is a data-collection technology that uses electronic tags to store identification data and a no-line-of-sight requirement reader to capture the identification data.
•RFID tags and readers communicate with each other through radio waves. A tag is a chip that has an antenna. Tags are active, which means that they are battery-powered, or passive, which means that they use the strength of the reader signal to be enabled. Information on the tag is re programmable in certain types.
BIZTALK SERVER RFID
•BizTalk RFID is a technology specifically intended to work with Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology implementations.
•These implementations involve having an item with an RFID tag attached to it and a device which is able to detect the RFID tag and then raise an event to indicate the device read the tag. The idea of this is that by hosting devices in given locations you can detect an approximate location for the item with the tag on it.
•An example of this would be if you were in a warehouse and all of the stock in the warehouse had an RFID tag attached to it. If items leaving the warehouse passed close enough to an RFID sensor when leaving the warehouse then you would be able to record each item as it left the warehouse.
MICROSOFT BIZTALK
•In the BizTalk platform there is a sub system called BizTalk RFID which is specifically intended to help you create RFID integration solutions.
•The main BizTalk RFID component is intended to help you to integrate with different RFID reader devices by abstracting the device driver specifics from the RFID read event processing.
•This abstraction should make it easier to implement solutions and allow vendors to make their devices easier to plug into the product.
•BizTalk RFID also includes a reliable processing pipeline for the read events where a developer can inject custom steps to act upon the read event.
How RFID sensor/device detects
•When product moved, and an RFID sensor/device detects the RFID tag attached to the product.
•The sensor publishes the read event to the BizTalk RFID gateway.
•The gateway has been configured by the administrator to include certain devices and other settings.
•The gateway processes any read events in a reliable fashion and executes any custom steps the developers have created for the processing pipeline. At the end of the pipeline the event is published somewhere which in this case is a SQL Database.
•The developer is able to create different publishing components so an event could be published to an application or an integration platform such as the core BizTalk Server product.
BizTalk RFID component includes the following features:
•Features
1.RFID Event processing engine. 2. Device Service Provider Interface 3. Custom plugins
•Strengths : BizTalk RFID deals with two of the key challenges in RFID projects.
•The first is that it makes it easier to handle devices from different vendors by abstracting the device specifics from the event processing via the Device Service Provider Interface.
•BizTalk RFID comes as part of a BizTalk product so if your a customer who already has BizTalk or has MSDN there are lots of cost benefits around licensing that are open to you.
•One of the other strengths of BizTalk RFID is that if you also have BizTalk Server in your organisation then its a great option to combine the two together to implement application integration on the back of RFID processing.
•Dependencies
•The BizTalk RFID product requires a Windows Server infrastructure so that it can be installed and connected to RFID devices which it must be able to address on the network to receive their events.
•Hosting
•BizTalk RFID can be installed on premise on a Windows Server. For high availability a fail over cluster can be setup.
HOW MICROSOFT DYNAMICS AX AND BIZTALK COMMUNICATE
•You can connect AIF with BizTalk by using the Windows Communication Framework (WCF)-based adapters that are included with AIF.
•AIF exposes virtual integration ports to simplify administration of inbound and outbound connections for document exchanges.
•Make sure that the account that BizTalk runs under is listed as a user account in Microsoft Dynamics AX and has the required roles for the services that BizTalk uses.
•AIF service documents are always constructed from XML that conforms to a service schema definition and is contained in a special wrapper, called an envelope. For exchanges that use SOAP, such as exchanges over TCP/IP or HTTP, the envelope is the standard SOAP envelope. For other exchanges, such as through Message Queuing or the file system, AIF provides an envelope schema.
RFID Servers
•Click Inventory management > Setup > RFID > RFID servers.
•Use this form to set up the radio-frequency identification (RFID) middleware server in Microsoft Dynamics AX.
•Devices: Display a List of All Devices
•Processes : Display a List of All Processes
•Functions : Open a menu with the following items:
Exclude server – If a server is unavailable, Microsoft Dynamics AX stops collecting data from all servers until the server is available again. This is to make sure that chronological data. If you exclude that server, the other servers will start to collect data again.
Include server – When a server is working again, you can include it.
•Server ID : Enter an identification of the RFID server
•Server : Enter the RFID server name.
•Host : Enter the computer name of the RFID server.
•Domain name : Enter the domain name, if the middleware server is positioned at a domain other than the Microsoft Dynamics AX server.
RFID Servers
•Click Inventory management > Setup > RFID > RFID servers.
•Use this form to set up the radio-frequency identification (RFID) middleware server in Microsoft Dynamics AX.
•Devices: Display a List of All Devices
•Processes : Display a List of All Processes
•Functions : Open a menu with the following items:
Exclude server – If a server is unavailable, Microsoft Dynamics AX stops collecting data from all servers until the server is available again. This is to make sure that chronological data. If you exclude that server, the other servers will start to collect data again.
Include server – When a server is working again, you can include it.
•Server ID : Enter an identification of the RFID server
•Server : Enter the RFID server name.
•Host : Enter the computer name of the RFID server.
•Domain name : Enter the domain name, if the middleware server is positioned at a domain other than the Microsoft Dynamics AX server.
RFID synchronization parameters
•Click Inventory management > Setup > Inventory and warehouse management parameters. Click RFID, and then click Synchronization.
•Use this form to change the time for the last synchronization between Microsoft Dynamics AX and the middleware server.
•Example :
Suppose company has three servers, and the connection to server 1 was temporarily lost. Now the connection works again. You can now exclude server 2 and server 3 from the system, and set the time for the latest synchronization back to immediately before server 1 lost the connection. You will retrieve the transactions from server 1 when you synchronize. Remember to set the time back again before you include server 2 and server 3.
RFID for inbound items
Perquisites:
•Decide which radio frequency identification (RFID) items should be tagged and the level of the tagging.
•Activate the serial number dimension in the Tracking dimension groups form for the dimension group.
•Specify the receipt quantity per number to one in the Number groups form as the tags are connected to serial numbers.
Receive RFID items : Click Procurement and sourcing > Common > Purchase orders > All purchase orders.
•The RFID tagging requirements are transferred to the purchase order line, but can still be changed.
•Click Inventory management > Journals > Item arrival > Item arrival.
•On the Default values tab, enter the vendor number, the purchase order reference number, or both.
•Indicate the warehouse and select a location of the inbound dock type.
•Click Functions, and then select Create lines to retrieve the purchase order.
•Enter the Pallet ID in the Journal lines form. You can do Pallet numbering in two ways using the number on the pallet that has arrived:
- Select the number of the pallet in the Pallet ID field for the line.
- Use your own consecutive pallet numbering system. A series of numbers is used to get consecutive pallet numbers. Click Functions, and then select Pallet ID to create a new number.
•Click Functions, and then select RFID mapping to map RFID tags to the lines.
•Use the form to map RFID tag reads to inventory transactions for arrival journal lines.
•Click Apply when finished.
•Check the journal, correct any mistakes, and post it. Following posting, the inventory transaction has the status of Arrived, and the item is registered at the inbound dock.
RFID for Outbound items
Perquisites:
•Decide which items should be tagged with radio frequency identification (RFID) tags and the level of the tagging.
•Activate the serial number dimension in the Tracking dimension groups form for the dimension group.
•Specify 1 in the Per qty. field in the Number groups form to set the receipt quantity per number to one. Tags are connected to serial numbers so the receipt quantity must be one per serial number.
Ship RFID items : Click Sales and marketing > Common > Sales orders > All sales orders.
•On the Action Pane, click the Sales order tab, and then click Sales order to create a sales order.
•The RFID tagging requirements are transferred to the sales order line, but can still be changed.
•Double-click the new sales order, and click Add line to create a sales order line.
•Select an item in the Item number field, and then click Inventory > Output order and create an output order.
Click Inventory management > Common > Shipments.
•Create a shipment, click Show lines, and then click Add to add the item from the output order.
•Select a quantity in the Quantity field, save the transaction, and close the form.
•In the Shipment form, click Functions > Activate picking to activate picking for the shipment.
•Click Inventory management > Common > Picking routes. Select a picking route in the Picking route field, and then click Start picking route.
•Click Create picking pallet and enter the appropriate options.
•Click Approve details to complete the shipment.
