ZigBee RFID Sensor Networks : Design and Practice in Resource Monitoring and Tracking for Logistics Center Management

An information system for logistics application is always expected to answer four questions: Who, What, When and Where (4Ws). Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) aim to provide remote monitoring, which is regarded as 'When' and 'What'; Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) focuses on retrieving object identity, which is the answer of 'Who'. As an extended concept of RFID, the Real-Time Localization Systems (RTLS) are required in certain applications in order to constantly update the answer of 'Where'. As each of those technologies answers different but complementary parts of the 4Ws, hybrid systems that provide complete information by combining all of them could be promising in logistics management applications. This book aims to introduce a framework of network level architecture design for such hybrid systems in logistics resource management applications. The various architectures described in this book are designed to address different requirement levels in the hierarchy of needs, from single integration to hybrid system with RTLS. The research in this book is based on ZigBee/IEEE802.15.4, which is currently one of the most widely used specifications for WSN.