Practically every day we encounter bar codes of various kinds. Although we don’t usually pay attention to them, they play a very important role in today’s world – the identification of products in the store, the flow of packages in logistics centers or the proper distribution of components in production processes. Barcodes are used in each of these areas, thanks in part to their simplicity. The small size of the code can be easily scanned by an automatic scanner or an operator equipped with the appropriate equipment.
There are many off-the-shelf scanning devices on the market, but there are also small modules that we can easily integrate into the equipment being designed. It is one such design that we will take a slightly closer look at today.
What are barcodes?
However, before we move on to scanners, let’s answer the question of what a barcode basically is. Simply put, it is a graphic representation of certain information written as a sequence of light and dark lines. The size, width or general appearance of the code is defined by rigid standards. It is also worth knowing that nowadays we can most often meet with linear one-dimensional codes (such as in the picture) and two-dimensional QR codes.
In a bar code, each digit consists of seven identical blocks, in black or white. The width of each bar depends on what character you want to write. It is accepted that each digit is represented by two white and two black bars, always arranged in the same way – white – black – white – black.
It is slightly different in QR codes. With these two-dimensional codes, numeric and alphanumeric information is written in the form of black and white squares representing the corresponding binary values. In addition, each QR code also contains three slightly larger squares, which are position markers. Thanks to them, you know where the beginning of the stored information is located.
How does a barcode scanner work?
Let’s stop for a moment at the scanning process itself and answer the question of how such a scanner works. Any scanning device is really based on two components a laser diode or high-brightness LED and a photodetector. The laser diode or LED emits a beam of light that hits a scattering lens. When in the path of the scattered light, there is a barcode then the light will be reflected, but only by the white parts of the code, the dark lines will absorb all the light. It can be said that each scanner actually reacts to the empty spaces between the black bars of the barcode. The light beam reflected and shredded by the barcode goes further to the photodetector. Its task is to recognize where the black bars have been placed in the barcode and, based on this, generate electrical signals that are later processed by the rest of the scanner’s electronics. When scanning QR codes, the situation is identical except that the light is reflected by the white squares, not the dashes.
Sometimes the scanner can be equipped with a third element, which is an additional white light-emitting LED. Its task is to illuminate the scanned code, so that the possible reading error is minimized as much as possible.
GM65 scanner
The device that will allow us to scan some barcodes today will be a scanning module with the designation GM65. This is a small device, capable of scanning barcodes as well as two-dimensional QR codes. Below you can see some of the most important technical parameters of this equipment.
- Power supply voltage: 5 V DC
- Rated current: 160 mA
- Scanning angle: 34° (horizontal), 26° (vertical)
- Minimum contrast ratio: 30%
- Interfaces: UART and USB
- Supported one-dimensional code standards: Code 11, Code 39/Code 93, UPC/EAN, Code 128/EAN128, Interleaved 2 of 5, Matrix 2 of 5, MSI Code, Industrial 2 of 5, GS1 Databar(RSS)
- Supported two-dimensional code standards: QR, Data Matrix, PDF417
- Operating temperature range: 0°C to 50°C
- Dimensions 46.8mm x 27.5mm x 11.8mm
The GM65 is powered by 5V and supports two communication standards. The easiest way is to connect the device with a dedicated USB cable, in which case it is treated like a keyboard. However, if you want to integrate the device with, for example, a microcontroller, it is easier to use the built-in UART interface, with which the scanner sends a barcode processed into a string of characters.
It is also worth mentioning that the module is equipped with a buzzer and a single button to turn the device on and off.
Scanner configuration
In order for the scanner to work properly, it must be properly configured. This process is accomplished by scanning the appropriate QR code, I have included the most important codes below, but you can find many more in the documentation. If you will be scanning the codes directly from the computer screen, I recommend covering the white LED, as the scanner does not always catch the codes when it illuminates the LCD matrix. When the configuration code is scanned correctly, the blue LED on the module will light up.
The first three codes allow you to choose how to communicate with the scanner, and to reset it to factory settings.
With another set of codes, we can modify the interval time between scans.
The codes above allow control of the white, illuminating LED.
The following codes are used to control the buzzer.
GM65 and Raspberry Pi
In addition to connecting the scanner directly to the computer’s USB port, we can connect it to any microcontroller or processor equipped with a UART or USB interface. To show you what such communication looks like, I’ll run some simple code in Python to receive data from the GM65 and display it in the terminal.
Raspberry Pi pinout description (ElectronicWings)
We can connect the scanner to the Raspberry Pi board in two ways. Directly to the Tx/Rx pins, which are brought out on the GPIO connector, or to the USB port. Regardless of which way we choose, the code supporting the GM65 will look identical, it is because the device will always be recognized as a serial port.
UART interface activation
If you want to connect the scanner directly under the GPIO leads, you must first activate the UART interface. By connecting the device under the USB port, you can skip this process.
sudo raspi-configWe start activating the UART by typing the command shown above in the terminal. It launches a simple configuration interface for our Raspberry.
Port identification
ls -l /devWanting to read the data sent by the scanner, we need to know which port it will be sent to. To do this, run the command shown above in the terminal.
The device was identified as serial0 and was automatically given the name ttyS0. This is the designation that should also appear on your hardware, unless you have also connected other hardware that communicates through the serial port. In addition to this, serial1 (ttyAMA0) port is also active on each Raspberry, this is the Bluetooth/WIFI module soldered on the PCB.
Operating a scanner in Python
The operation of the barcode scanner in Python is quite simple and does not require much knowledge of the language.
import serialWe start by adding one of the built-in libraries, which is serial. With it, it is possible to support devices that communicate through the serial port.
ser = serial.Serial("/dev/ttyS0", 9600)Next we need to properly define our interface, its name will simply be ser. In parentheses we put the two most important parameters, namely the name of the port we want to connect to and the speed. This function can take several other variables, such as the number of bits or parity check, but in this project there is no need to specify them.
while True:
rec_data = ser.read()
print(rec_data)
The main part of the program is an infinite while loop with two functions inside. The first one assigns a variable read from the serial port to the rec_data variable. Further thanks to the print command, we can see the read data in the terminal window.
After running the code and scanning any code, a digital representation of it should appear in the terminal. You have to admit that it is really easy to run this type of scanner, and in combination with the right system it really gives a lot of possibilities. For example, you can quite easily build a simple warehouse system, for electronic parts connected to a database. The possibilities are many, because barcodes are a very versatile way of encoding information.
Sources:
- https://how2electronics.com/barcode-qr-code-reader-using-arduino-qr-scanner-module/
- https://www.dfrobot.com/product-1996.html
- https://www.posnet.com.pl/rodzaje-i-budowa-kodow-kreskowych
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barcode
- https://www.posnet.com.pl/jak-dziala-skaner-kodow-kreskowych
- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/DFRobot/DFResources/master/Others/DFR0660%20Datesheet.pdf
- https://www.dfrobot.com/product-1996.html