RFID Low Level Reader Protocol (LLRP) Interview With Rob Buck, Intermec

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RFID Connections interviewed Rob Buck, RFID software engineer with Intermec, on the importance of the Low Level Reader Protocol recently published by EPCglobal.

RFID Connections: Let's get some fundamentals out of the way. In April 2007, EPCglobal ratified the lower-level reader protocol or LLRP standard, a specification for the network interface between the reader and its controlling software or hardware. Intermec was one of the six founding members of the LLRP open-source project. So, at the very basic level, when we talk about the controlling software or hardware, is that the host IT system, it is an edgeware product, a middleware project or is it something else?

Rob Buck: First, Bert, I should say that if you hear me us the term "LERP," I'm using that as a nickname for L-L-R-P. I've kind of picked up that habit, so you know what I mean when I say LLRP.

Regarding controlling software and hardware, typically you're going to see either a middleware product or an edgeware product using LLRP to control RFID readers. Even for small scale deployments, I don't recommend that a host IT system interfaces directly to the RFID readers.

We anticipated this question about host IT systems way back when we first started writing the LLRP spec. Here's what happened: the LLRP spec explains that LLRP has two network endpoints; the reader is one of the network endpoints and, in the first draft of the spec, the other endpoint was called the "host." I was afraid that the term host would mislead people into thinking of a host IT system such as an SAP or other ERP system.