Design and Implementation of an Event-Based RFID Middleware

Abstract

The downward trend in the cost of RFID technology is producing a strong impact on the industrial world that is using such powerful technology in order to rethink and optimize most of the existing business processes. In this sense, the chipless technology is playing a key role to facilitate the adoption of RFID in enterprises. All this implies the use of solutions that simplify the adoption of the continuously evolving RFID technology and allow keeping a high-level vision versus the specific technical details. In brief, it is mandatory to abstract the technological level and makes transparent the physical devices to the application level. The widespread use of the RFID technology also produces a large volume of data from many objects scattered everywhere, that have to be managed. In these complex scenarios, the RFID middleware represents an ideal solution that favors the technology integration, reducing costs for application development and introducing real benefits to the business processes. In this chapter, the authors describe the main features of our event-based RFID middleware and its powerful architecture. Their middleware is able to assure an effective process of technological abstraction, switching from a vision linked to the specific issues of interfacing devices (chipless tags, readers, sensor networks, GPS, WiFi, etc.) to the management of the event generated by each device. In brief, “event-based” means to integrate the management logic of different devices.