An Agent-based Sensor Middleware for generating and interpreting Digital Product Memories

Automatic identification technology such as the Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology has significant value for production processes, supply chain management, and inventory systems. For future purposes the idea of storing a simple ID must be extended to a Digital Product Memory. This memory provides a digital diary of the complete product life cycle that is embedded in the product itself, using smart wireless micro-sensor technology. It records all relevant ambient parameters in digital form. Sensors note where and when an interaction with a product takes place and the necessary data is added to the memory. A key problem with digital product memories is their cross-domain nature, i. e. new relevant data must be added to the memory from various stakeholders during the complete product life cycle. In this paper we propose an agent-based architecture for appending sensor data to a digital product memory in a generic way. Additionally, methods are presented how a digital product memory can be analyzed and evaluated to simplify business processes, to ease maintenance, or to bring benefit to the end-user.