Wireless sensor networks for logistics and retail

Internet of things technologies makes it possible to trace when and where the excellent food or wine is spoiled or loses perfect taste in logistics and retail. This paper describes a system using a two-layered wireless sensor network to monitor the supply chain from manufacturer to consumer, including the network topology, application software on server, and sensor node hardware. It employs GSM/GPRS as the high layer network and semi impulse ultra-wideband radio (IR-UWB) for the low layer communication. We propose GSM Cell-ID location technology for tracking the goods transportation, and time-of-arrival method for local positioning. Finally, the first version of the system implementation and future work are presented.