Integration of Radio Frequency Identification and Wireless Sensor Networks

ABSTRACT: Radio frequency identification (RFID) system is used for detecting and identifying the tagged objects by electromagnetic signals. The main components of RFID are tag (transponder), reader (transceiver) and a host computer. RFID can be implemented in wide applications such as supply chain, car access, animal tracking and smart cards. Wireless sensor network (WSN), which consists of a huge numbers of nodes, can monitor the condition of the environment including pressure, humidity, and temperature. The data are transferred via nodes to a certain location. Some applications of WSNs are in monitoring of earth, supply chain, agriculture, structural health monitoring and localization. Integration of RFID and WSN provides a new feature and improves their functionalities. In RFID systems each tag can only communicate with a reader but integrating RFID tags with nodes, communication of the RFID tags with each other is possible and by integrating readers with nodes, readers can communicate with each other, too. The integration of RFID and WSN in supply chain provides system intelligence. In such a case, tag is embedded in objects and reader is integrated with nodes. Therefore, identification and detection of tagged items is provided by using RFID and monitoring of environment can be obtained by using WSN. To conclude, the present case study is simulated in Petri Net Toolbox in MATLAB environment. It represented the negotiation of smart devices spontaneously in managing variety of instructions in order to enhance system performance such as productivity and efficiency. Moreover, the impact of smart nodes has been integrated for managing different automated guided vehicle (AGVs) to load or unload products to the relevant destinations. In other words, smart nodes satisfied the utilization rates related to different devices. Keywords: Radio frequency identification, wireless sensor network, integration of RFID and WSN, supply chain management, Petri net. ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………