SmartExhibition: Case Study of Integrating RFID with Wireless Sensor Network for Pervasive Computing

The RFID is considered to provide an efficient solution to merge physical world with virtual space for pervasive computing. The wireless sensor network (WSN) is also a feasible and cost-effective candidate for the context sensing in the pervasive computing. We propose a smart space named SmartExhibtion as an scenario where the RFID is integrated to the sensor network and describe the whole architecture together with the application mode. Moreover, we detail the design of the ZigBee-based RFID network for experiment as well as the hardware implementation and the software protocol of the network node - RFSenMote. The characteristic of the paper is that the RFID is extended into sensor network in an actual application scenario and an embedded device which integrates RFID with WSN for the test platform is developed. This integration enables the traits such as self-configuration, random deployment, low-cost and interoperability which are adaptive to the smart space of the pervasive computing. In addition to RFID, the wireless sensor network offers the ability to detect and record contextual changes in the smart environment.