The Challenges and Issues Facing the Deployment of RFID Technology

Griffith Sciences, School of Information and Communication TechnologyFull Tex

RFID-Based Indoor Spatial Query Evaluation with Bayesian Filtering Techniques

People spend a significant amount of time in indoor spaces (e.g., office buildings, subway systems, etc.) in their daily lives. Therefore, it is important to develop efficient indoor spatial query algorithms for supporting various location-based applications. However, indoor spaces differ from outdoor spaces because users have to follow the indoor floor plan for their movements. In addition, positioning in indoor environments is mainly based on sensing devices (e.g., RFID readers) rather than GPS devices. Consequently, we cannot apply existing spatial query evaluation techniques devised for outdoor environments for this new challenge. Because Bayesian filtering techniques can be employed to estimate the state of a system that changes over time using a sequence of noisy measurements made on the system, in this research, we propose the Bayesian filtering-based location inference methods as the basis for evaluating indoor spatial queries with noisy RFID raw data. Furthermore, two novel models, indoor walking graph model and anchor point indexing model, are created for tracking object locations in indoor environments. Based on the inference method and tracking models, we develop innovative indoor range and k nearest neighbor (kNN) query algorithms. We validate our solution through use of both synthetic data and real-world data. Our experimental results show that the proposed algorithms can evaluate indoor spatial queries effectively and efficiently. We open-source the code, data, and floor plan at https://github.com/DataScienceLab18/IndoorToolKit

A coordinated approach for supply-chain tracking in the liquefied natural gas industry

With the increased size and complexity of liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects, supplychain management has become a challenging process due to involvements of the remote location of the project site and the multiple stakeholders. The transparency and traceability of the supply-chain are critical as any surpluses or shortages of materials will put the project at risk. Currently, limited research has been conducted on LNG projects considering the total supply-chain perspective, which refers to all stages of materials tracking in off-site manufacturing, transportation, and site logistics. The purpose of this research is to propose a framework of a coordinated approach for supply-chain tracking in the LNG industry. Two focus group studies were organized to develop the proposed framework: One for LNG construction supply chain process development, and another for alternative tracking technologies selection. In addition, two experiments, namely off-site fabrication tracking and site logistics tracking, were conducted in a field to evaluate the feasibility of the proposed framework. Technology limitations were also discussed in terms of field implementation

Cyber-crime Science = Crime Science + Information Security

Cyber-crime Science is an emerging area of study aiming to prevent cyber-crime by combining security protection techniques from Information Security with empirical research methods used in Crime Science. Information security research has developed techniques for protecting the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of information assets but is less strong on the empirical study of the effectiveness of these techniques. Crime Science studies the effect of crime prevention techniques empirically in the real world, and proposes improvements to these techniques based on this. Combining both approaches, Cyber-crime Science transfers and further develops Information Security techniques to prevent cyber-crime, and empirically studies the effectiveness of these techniques in the real world. In this paper we review the main contributions of Crime Science as of today, illustrate its application to a typical Information Security problem, namely phishing, explore the interdisciplinary structure of Cyber-crime Science, and present an agenda for research in Cyber-crime Science in the form of a set of suggested research questions

A case study into the implementation of RFID at the Pilkington Library Loughborough University

The aim of the study was to examine the implementation of RFID at the Pilkington Library. This was the first time the entire process had been examined, pulling together both qualitative and quantitative data. The study examined internal Library statistics on issue figures, sick leave, staffing costs and enquiries. It also used pre-existing Library user survey data and an internal training survey. These were combined with interviews with Library staff to gain their impressions of the implementation process. All these data streams combined to create a longitudinal case study over a period of two years, so that an impression was gathered of RFID both in its infancy and as it matured. The study concluded that implementation was an undoubted success: issue targets were exceeded within three months, staffing costs were reduced ahead of schedule and enquiries increased. The user survey proved popularity amongst users and staff interviews provided proof of positivity towards RFID. It is important that major initiatives are assessed to evaluate success. Having done so, other libraries could use the success of Loughborough to support their own arguments for investment. It also makes it more likely that the Pilkington Library will gain further investment from the University as they can be seen to provide excellent value for money. The study's main limitation is that it is based at one library. It would be worth examining the processes involved at other libraries to establish common themes or to assess whether the Pilkington Library's experience with RFID is an anomaly

The design and development of multi-agent based RFID middleware system for data and devices management

Thesis (D. Tech. (Electrical Engineering)) - Central University of technology, Free State, 2012Radio frequency identification technology (RFID) has emerged as a key technology for automatic identification and promises to revolutionize business processes. While RFID technology adoption is improving rapidly, reliable and widespread deployment of this technology still faces many significant challenges. The key deployment challenges include how to use the simple, unreliable raw data generated by RFID deployments to make business decisions; and how to manage a large number of deployed RFID devices. In this thesis, a multi-agent based RFID middleware which addresses some of the RFID data and device management challenges was developed. The middleware developed abstracts the auto-identification applications from physical RFID device specific details and provides necessary services such as device management, data cleaning, event generation, query capabilities and event persistence. The use of software agent technology offers a more scalable and distributed system architecture for the proposed middleware. As part of a multi-agent system, application-independent domain ontology for RFID devices was developed. This ontology can be used or extended in any application interested with RFID domain ontology. In order to address the event processing tasks within the proposed middleware system, a temporal-based RFID data model which considers both applications’ temporal and spatial granules in the data model itself for efficient event processing was developed. The developed data model extends the conventional Entity-Relationship constructs by adding a time attribute to the model. By maintaining the history of events and state changes, the data model captures the fundamental RFID application logic within the data model. Hence, this new data model supports efficient generation of application level events, updating, querying and analysis of both recent and historical events. As part of the RFID middleware, an adaptive sliding-window based data cleaning scheme for reducing missed readings from RFID data streams (called WSTD) was also developed. The WSTD scheme models the unreliability of the RFID readings by viewing RFID streams as a statistical sample of tags in the physical world, and exploits techniques grounded in sampling theory to drive its cleaning processes. The WSTD scheme is capable of efficiently coping with both environmental variations and tag dynamics by automatically and continuously adapting its cleaning window size, based on observed readings

Big Data for Qualitative Research

Big Data for Qualitative Research covers everything small data researchers need to know about big data, from the potentials of big data analytics to its methodological and ethical challenges. The data that we generate in everyday life is now digitally mediated, stored, and analyzed by web sites, companies, institutions, and governments. Big data is large volume, rapidly generated, digitally encoded information that is often related to other networked data, and can provide valuable evidence for study of phenomena. This book explores the potentials of qualitative methods and analysis for big data, including text mining, sentiment analysis, information and data visualization, netnography, follow-the-thing methods, mobile research methods, multimodal analysis, and rhythmanalysis. It debates new concerns about ethics, privacy, and dataveillance for big data qualitative researchers. This book is essential reading for those who do qualitative and mixed methods research, and are curious, excited, or even skeptical about big data and what it means for future research. Now is the time for researchers to understand, debate, and envisage the new possibilities and challenges of the rapidly developing and dynamic field of big data from the vantage point of the qualitative researcher

Fashion Industry

Fashion is a lot more than providing an answer to primary needs. It is a way of communication, of distinction, of proclaiming a unique taste and expressing the belonging to a group. Sometimes to an exclusive group. Currently, the fashion industry is moving towards hyperspace, to a multidimensional world that is springing from the integration of smart textiles and wearable technologies. It is far beyond aesthetics. New properties of smart textiles let designers experiment with astonishing forms and expressions. There are also surprising contrasts and challenges: a new life for natural fibers, sustainable fabrics and dyeing techniques, rediscovered by eco-fashion, and "artificial apparel," made of wearable electronic components. How is this revolution affecting the strategies of the fashion industry

Sustainable supply chain management for blue economics in Northern Norway

In the first part of thesis, there was conducted a literature review of production and the supply chain with regards to fish farming, existing technologies, together with the potential of alternative digital technology. In the second part, a case study of a relevant manufacturer who is involved in all the aspects of the value chain was carried out to gain insight into relevant supply chain management. There was also carried out research on consumer wishes, and consumer behaviour, to further understand the value-potential of fish products. Solution contains necessities and potential-assessment of a new product service system, and the accompanying benefits for both the consumer and manufacturer