A Middleware Architecture for RFID-enabled traceability of air baggage

Abstract

1980 marked the start of a boom in radiofrequency identification (RFID) technology, initially associated with a growing need for traceability. In view of the technological progress and lower costs, RFID’s area of application became much broader and, today, multiple business sectors take advantage of this technology. However, in order to achieve the maximum benefits of RFID technology, the data collected should be delivered in the best conditions to the whole applications that have need of its exploitation. For that, a dedicated middleware solution is required to ensure the collection of RFID data and their integration in information systems. The issues and key points of this integration as the description of the RFID technology will be summarized in the present paper, with a new middleware architecture. We focus mainly on components and the design of our middleware MedRFID, solution developed in our Lab, and which integrates mobility and provides extensibility, scalability, abstraction, ease of deployment and compatibility with IATA standards and EPCglobal standards. Moreover, we have developed an application (FindLuggage) allowing a real time tracking of luggage in the airport, based on the proposed middleware MedRFID.