WinRFID: A Middleware for the Enablement of Radiofrequency Identification (RFID)Based Applications

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) middleware is a new class of software which facilitates data and information communication between automatic identification physical layer and enterprise applications. It provides a distributed environment to process the data from tags read by the readers, translates the data where necessary, and routes it to a variety of backend applications using suitable technologies such as Web, Remote and Windows Services. This paper reports different challenges and the corresponding research approach in developing a RFID middleware to provide a seamless environment from the edge of the enterprise network; moving data from the point of transaction to the enterprise systems. Key features of the RFID middleware architecture are encapsulation of communication details, large-scale network management, intelligent data processing and routing, hardware and software interoperability, system integration and system extendibility.

To deal with high volume data, WinRFID middleware is supported by novel algorithms and data representation schemes capable of processing large amounts of data, rectifying errors in real-time, identifying patterns, correlating events, reorganizing and scrubbing data and recovering from faults and exceptions. Interoperability involves simultaneous distributed working of receivers/readers and transponders/tags at different frequencies using different protocols, with read/write capabilities, different read rates, and other characteristics as a layer transparent to the applications. Network management involves deployment, initialization and control of receivers and transponders, which can be organized into a hierarchical structure with operational syntax and semantics attached to each or a group of receivers, transponders and concentrators or even the edge computers.