The Pharm2Phork ALE Middleware allows you to filter and collect data from RFID readers and other devices used to record events in supply chain transactions. We are using the Fosstrak implementation as a base for our service and the diagram below shows how the service is composed.

The ALE Middleware comprises three separate modules:

• the filtering and collection server
• a standalone client to configure filtering and collection servers
• a web-based client to configure filtering and collection servers

All modules implement EPCglobal's ALE 1.1 specification. To communicate with RFID readers, the ALE Middleware uses LLRP. For readers that do not support LLRP, the ALE Middleware uses the Hardware Abstraction Layer (HAL). In order to configure RFID readers that support LLRP, the LLRP Commander can be used.

Filtering and Collection Server

Our implementation offers the features of the filtering and collection role as defined by EPCglobal's ALE standard. It currently supports the ALE Logical Reader API that is used to define logical readers through Logical Reader Specifications (LRSpec) and the ALE Reading API that is used to define the filtering and collection behavior using ECSpecs.

Standalone Client

The standalone Flex/Silverlight/HTML5 client provides a graphical user interface to define ECSpecs and LRSpecs on a particular filtering and collection server. It also allows users to subscribe and unsubscribe to reports generated by the filtering and collection server and specify the address where the reports should be sent to.

Web-Based Client

The web-based client is a Flex3/Silverlight/HTML5 client using a Java web application (WAR) that provides the same functionality as the standalone client. It allows developers to use their web browser to define ECSpecs, Endpoints as well as LRSpecs and submit them to a filtering and collection server.