RFID and Sensor Networks From Sensor/Actuator to Business Application

Introduction In the past years a significant change for computer networks occurred: the rise of direct device-to-device or machine-to-machine communication within general computer networks. The most visible and publicly discussed example is the use of radio frequency identification (RFID) tags for improved supply chain management [1,2]. Several large retail chains as well as the US Department of Defense demand support of RFID technology from their suppliers within the next years. Delta Airlines together with the US Transportation Security Administration successfully performed a pilot project for using RFID tags for baggage handling at the airport of Jacksonville, Florida [3,4]. Another example, which reached some publicity, is the use of wireless sensor networks for environmental and military monitoring [5-7]. Started some years ago as the so-called “smart dust” project by the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), wireless sensor networks using large numbers of tiny sensor units are now used in first commercial applications for agriculture and vineyard monitoring [7]. Other examples of sensor networks are condition-based maintenance systems for early recognition of tank-refill or component-replacement requirements as well as real-time process-control systems for industrial automation. The latter systems existed already in the past, but were isolated from enterprise communication networks. Today’s demand for real-time status information about all business processes requires integration of these networks into the general enterprise computer network and, in connection with supplyor value-chain management, even access to the Internet through web services for crossing company boundaries [8]. This brief article will describe system requirements and a suitable architecture for scalable computer networks with integration of RFID and sensor networks. The main emphasis hereby is on the computer network architecture, the corresponding message-oriented middleware, and the integration of available standardized smart sensor devices and RFID readers into the network.