RFID system management_state-of-the art and open r

190IEEETRANSACTIONSONNETWORKANDSERVICEMANAGEMENT,VOL.6,NO.3,SEPTEMBER2009RFIDSystemManagement:State-of-theArtandOpenResearchIssuesFaouziKamoun,Member,IEEEAbstract—RadioFrequencyIdentification(RFID)isanen-ablingtechnologythatcanprovideorganizationswithunprece-dentedimprovedvisibilityandtraceabilityofitemsthroughouttheirjourneyinthevaluechain.AsRFIDdeploymentsarescaling-upfrompilotprojectsandproof-of-concepttrialstowardsfully-fledgedenterpriseapplications,RFIDsystemmanagementchallengeswillescalate.Thispapertakesanin-depthlookatthemanagementaspectsofRFIDsystems.Thecurrentstate-of-theartofRFIDsystemsmanagementisexposed,wherebyvariousapproachesarediscussedunderfivefunctionalareas,namelyconfiguration,fault,performance,accountingandsecurityman-agement.Thepaperalsohighlightssomefuturetrendsandopenresearchareasthatcanpotentiallytriggerfurtherinterestsandinvestigationsinthisimportanttopic.IndexTerms—Radiofrequencyidentification,RFIDnetworkmanagement,readermanagement.I.INTRODUCTIONTHEpastfewyearswitnessedagrowinginterestintheadoptionofRadioFrequencyIdentification(RFID)tech-nologiestostreamlinesupplychainoperationsandoptimizethetrackingofmobileassets.RFIDdeploymentshavealsobeenescalatedbymandatoryrequirementsfrommajororgani-zationsintheU.S.(e.g.,Wal-MartandU.S.DepartmentofDe-fense)andinEurope(e.g.,MetroAGandTesco).RFIDisanautomaticidentificationanddatacapture(AIDC)technology,sometimereferredtoasnext-generationbarcode.Itenablesanelectronicdevise(reader)tousesafe,lowpowerradiofre-quencytoidentifyataggeditem.Dependingontheapplicationandtag/readerspecifications,theRFcommunicationbetweenthereaderandthetagcanusetheLF(LowFrequency:124–135KHz)band,theHF(HighFrequency:13.56MHz)band,ortheUHF(UltraHighFrequency:860–960MHz)band.RFIDapplicationsareexpectedtointegrateotherwirelessdevices,suchassensors,PDAs,andmobilephones;thussettingthestageforanewgenerationofubiquitouscomputingdevicesandnetworks.AsillustratedinFig.1,abasicRFIDsystemconsistsofsixmaincomponents:∙RFIDtag(transponder):Theidentificationdeviceat-tachedtothetrackeditem.Atagisprogrammedwithauniqueidentificationanddescriptiveinformationthatcanbereadatdistancesrangingfromoneinchtoapproxi-matelyhundredfeet.TherearethreetypesofRFIDtags.ManuscriptreceivedAugust11,2008;revisedMay4,2009.TheassociateeditorcoordinatingthereviewofthispaperandapprovingitforpublicationwasM.Ulema.TheauthoriswiththeCollegeofInformationTechnology,UniversityofDubai(e-mail:[e-mail]).DigitalObjectIdentifier10.1109/TNSM.2009.03.090305PassivetagsrequirenointernalpowersourceandderivetheirpowerfromtheelectromagneticfieldoriginatingfromRFIDreaders.Activetagshavetheirowninternalpowersupply,provideread-writeaccessandareusedinenvironmentsthatneedlongerandmorereliablereadranges.Inbetween,aresemi-passivetagswhichusetheirinternalpowersupplytorunthechip’scircuitry,whilerelyingonthereaders’radiowavestocommunicate.Tagsmayalsoembedenvironmentalsensorsthatcancaptureandreportconditionstowhichtheyareexposed.∙Areader(transceiver):HandlesradiocommunicationthroughtheantennatodetectthepresenceofRFIDtagsandreadtheinformationstoredinthem.Thereadercanthenpassthetaginformationtoanothersystem,runningforinstanceanRFIDmiddleware.Thereadercanperformotherfunctions,suchaswritingdatatoanRFIDtag,poweringpassivetags,authenticatingtags,encryptingRFIDdataandimplementinganti-collision1algorithms.RFIDreaderscanbefixed(mountedondockdoorsforexample),mobile(mountedonforkliftsorpallettrucks)orhandheld.IndenseRFIDreaderenvironmentssuchaswarehouses(wheremultipleRFIDreadersarelocatedinproximitytoeachothers),readerswillbenetworkedtogetherasStand-aloneTCP/IPnetworknodesrunningasuiteofprotocolssuchasDynamicHostConfigurationProtocol(DHCP),UDP,HTTP,Telnet(orSSH),NetworkTimeProtocol(NTP),SNMPandotherproprietarycontrolprotocols.Typically,readersareconnectedviaanetworkinfrastructurethatisseparatefromthecorporateLANtopreventRFIDdatafromcongestingtheLAN.Insomeapplications,readerscanbenetworkedwithdatabasesystemswherebytagdataarestoredindatabaseservers,ratherthanbeinglocallystoredinthetagsthemselves.Nearbywiredandwirelesslyconnectedreadersshouldalsobesynchronizedtooptimizespectrummanagementandminimizecollusions.∙Areaderantenna:Adevicewhichcanbeeitherstand-aloneorintegratedintothereadertoenabletwo-waysRFcommunicationbetweenreadersandtags,usingastandardairprotocol.Thecombinationoftags,readersandantennasisreferredtoastheRadioFrequency(RF)subsystem.∙RFIDmiddleware:Asoftwareordedicatedhardwareusedtoconsolidateaggregate,processandfilterrawRFIDdatareceivedfrommultiplereaderstogenerate1Therearetwotypesofcollusions,namelyreadercollision(whenneighbor-ingreadersinterrogateatagsimultaneously)andtagcollusion(whenmultipletagstransmitIDstoareaderatthesametime).1932-4537/09$25.00c⃝2009IEEEKAMOUN:RFIDSYSTEMMANAGEMENT:STATE-OF-THEARTANDOPENRESEARCHISSUES191Fig.1.TypicalRFIDsystemcomponents.usefulinformationforenterpriseapplications.Thepri-maryroleofanRFIDmiddlewareistobridgetheRFIDarchitecturewiththeorganization’scentraldatareposito-riesinacoordinatedandintelligentmanner,whilehidingtheco