Cat Tracking Device Known an CATaLOG

The project utilizes an intelligent RFID cat tracker in order to create the CATaLOG device which has the ability to track the cat as it goes in and out of the house.

The Arduino microcontroller is used to build and design the system and is connected to a low cost RS232 RFID reader. For communication, it uses the Arduino Ethernet shield along with a Linksys WAP11 router that function as a wireless network bridge for sending data over the internet. The standard 125kHz RFID keyfobs are used as tags which are attached to the cat’s collar. At the bottom of the cat flap tunnel is where the RFID reader coil is located. If the cat is missing for a certain amount of time, the system is capable of sending SMS messages.

The serial output of the RFID reader is attached to digital pin 2 of the Arduino where a hardware interrupt can do the service. This shows that the reader can raise an interrupt to the CPU when one appears and would avoid the CPU to keep on polling the RFID reader to see an available tag while using a debounce routine.

Rest of the project