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Scanner Station Hardware Guide

The Quartermaster Scanner Station (Bridge Node) is a physical kitchen appliance powered by a Raspberry Pi. It provides a dedicated, hands-free scanning hub in your kitchen so family members can log inventory changes without needing their phones.

Initial Setup & Adoption​

1. Power On​

Plug the Scanner Station into a power outlet.

  • The Status LED will light up solid yellow during boot.
  • Once booted and ready for configuration, the LED will pulse blue (indicating it is in AP provisioning mode).

2. Connect to WiFi (Provisioning)​

  1. On your phone, open your WiFi settings and connect to the network named Quartermaster-Station-XXXX.
  2. A captive portal page will automatically open. Select your home WiFi network from the list and enter the password.
  3. Once the station successfully connects to your home network, the status LED will turn solid green and announce "Station Connected" over the speaker.

3. Adopt the Node in the App​

To link the physical station to your household database:

  1. Open the mobile app and navigate to Settings -> Hardware Nodes -> Adopt Node.
  2. The app will open your phone camera. Scan the QR Code printed on the back of the Scanner Station.
  3. The app will confirm adoption, and the station is now linked!

Hardware Operation​

The Laser Barcode Scanner​

The station is equipped with a high-speed laser barcode reader.

  • Adding Items: Simply pass a product's barcode in front of the scanner. The station will speak the item name (e.g., "Granola added"), add it to your household database, and flash the status LED green.
  • Removing Items: To remove an item from your freezer/pantry, press the physical Remove Button (or trigger by scanning the special "Remove" barcode sheet next to the station), then scan the product barcode. The station will announce "Granola removed".

Physical Controls & Status LED​

The station has two physical arcade buttons and an RGB Status LED:

Physical Buttons​

ButtonActionDescription
Sync Button (Green)Trigger Database SyncForces the station to fetch the latest product definitions and upload any offline cached scans immediately.
Print Button (Blue)Print LabelIf a thermal label printer is connected to the station, pressing this prints a physical label for the scanned item containing the category, date logged, and a custom QR code.

Status LED Color Codes​

The LED on the station indicates the current system state:

  • Solid Yellow: System booting up.
  • Pulsing Blue: AP Provisioning mode (waiting for WiFi credentials).
  • Solid Green: Online, idle, and connected to the household database.
  • Flashing Green (Single): Successfully scanned and logged an item.
  • Flashing Red (Double): Scan error (e.g., barcode not recognized or network timeout).
  • Pulsing Orange: Station is offline but caching scans locally.
  • Solid Red: Critical hardware error (e.g., scanner disconnected or database authentication failure).