XRFID: Design of an XML Based Efficient Middleware for RFID Systems

Abstract

Radio frequency identification (RFID) technology can automatically and inexpensively track items as they are moved through the supply chain. This can automate the whole updating and management system, thereby making the system work with a much smaller workforce and reducing the error that can occur because of interference by human beings. One of the major advantages RFID provides is that it does not require direct physical contact with the objects and also does not require the object to be placed in its ‘Line-of-Sight’. This has given it an edge over other auto-identification systems, like bar-codes. The recent proliferation of RFID tags and readers would require dedicated and very efficient middleware solutions that manage readers and process the vast amount of captured data according to the need of various applications. RFID middleware is the software sitting in between various RFID readers and the enterprise applications. Extracting meaningful information out of huge amount of scan data is a challenging task. In this paper we like to analyze the requirements and propose a design for such an RFID middleware. This paper demonstrates how to enable the middleware to handle a large amount of RFID scan data and execute business rules in real-time. The conventional existing middleware solutions show dramatic degradation in their performance when the number of simultaneously working readers increases. Our proposed solution tries to recover from that situation also. One of the major issues for large scale deployment of RFID systems is the design of a robust and flexible middleware system to interface various applications to the RFID readers. Most of the existing RFID middleware systems are costly, bulky, non-portable and heavily dependent on the support software. Our work also provides flexibility for easy addition and removal of applications and hardware.