In this tutorial, we will see how we can interface EM-18 RFID reader with ARIES v3 boards. RFID enables wireless data collection by readers from electronic tags attached to or embedded in objects, for identification and other purposes.

EM-18 RFID module

EM-18 RFID reader is one of the commonly used RFID reader to read 125KHz tags. It features low cost, low power consumption, small form factor and easy to use. It provides both UART and Wiegand26 output formats. It can be directly interfaced with microcontrollers using UART and with PC using an RS232 converter. For more details about EM-18 RFID reader refer the datasheet.

Prerequisites

• Windows 10 or above/Linux (64 bit)
• Arduino IDE
• VEGA ARIES Board support package

Components Required

• ARIES v3.0 Board
• USB type C to USB type A cable
• EM-18 RFID reader module
• Jumper Wires

Note: All of the following boards can be used for this project

• ARIES v2.0
• ARIES v3.0
• ARIES Micro
• ARIES DOT
• ARIES IoT

Connection Diagram

Connections:

Procedure

Open and set up the Arduino IDE as described in Getting Started with ARIES v3.0.

• Make sure you have selected ARIES v3 Board from Tools -> Board -> VEGA Processor: ARIES Boards -> ARIES v3
• Select Programmer as VEGA XMODEM from Tools -> Programmer -> VEGA XMODEM
• Also select appropriate port from Tools -> Port -> COM* (ARIES Board)

Now, Open Files -> Examples -> Under Examples for ARIES v3 -> UART-> EM18_RFID_Reader

 Finally upload the code to ARIES board.

Output

This demo will read the RFID tage and display the value in the serial monitor. Open serial monitor at 115200 baud rate to view the output.

Demonstration