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Design of a warehouse monitoring system based on RFID and WSNs

2026-04-06 04:43:09 · · #1
I. Introduction Warehousing is part of the logistics system. It involves storing goods, including raw materials, work-in-process, and finished products, at the place of origin, the place of consumption, or between these two locations, and providing managers with information on the status, conditions, and handling of the stored goods. Warehousing types mainly include raw material and component warehousing, work-in-process warehousing, finished product warehousing, logistics centers, order fulfillment centers and warehousing, regional warehousing, local warehousing, bonded warehousing, and value-added service warehousing. Its basic operations mainly include receiving, pre-packaging, warehousing, storage, picking, packaging and pricing, sorting and consolidation, unit packaging, and shipping. Based on in-depth user needs analysis and extensive project experience, common warehousing supervision needs can be divided into three main functions: monitoring, warehousing management, and management information support. Currently, these functions are often independent, and the implementation level and effectiveness of each main function vary. Among them, products and solutions in the field of warehousing management are relatively mature, while products and solutions in the monitoring field are currently mainly video surveillance. The authors of this paper have long been engaged in the research and development of RFID and WSNs-related technologies and products. With funding from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) project "Research on the Teleoperation Mechanism of Competitive Robots" (60575048) and the Tianjin Municipal Science and Technology Commission's Tianjin Small and Medium-sized Enterprise Innovation Fund project "Hazardous Chemicals Storage Supervision System and Key Equipment" (200605), they have conducted in-depth theoretical research and solid industrialization work. Based on RFID and WSNs technologies and related components, and considering the current status, characteristics, and practical needs of warehouse management, this paper independently developed a new general-purpose platform for warehouse supervision systems and provides customized solutions for typical users. RFID technology enables the identification of personnel, goods, vehicles, and other targets, while WSNs technology enables intelligent warehouse environment monitoring, meeting the needs of distributed monitoring of environmental parameters such as temperature, humidity, and composition. RFID and WSNs technologies provide basic data for the warehouse supervision system. The system comprehensively utilizes technologies such as context sensitivity, online information interaction, and target search and positioning based on sensor nodes and RFID. Supported by database and data mining technologies, it employs a unique adaptive network communication structure to achieve comprehensive information support for warehouse management. II. Introduction to RFID and WSNs Technologies RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) technology is an automatic identification technology that emerged in the 1990s. RFID technology utilizes radio frequency signals to achieve contactless information transmission through spatial coupling (alternating magnetic or electromagnetic fields) and uses the transmitted information to achieve identification purposes. Compared with traditional identification methods, it has advantages such as no direct contact, no optical visibility, no need for manual intervention to complete information input and processing, and quick and convenient operation. Therefore, it can be widely used in many warehousing-related applications that require data collection and processing, including production, logistics, transportation, medical care, anti-counterfeiting, parcel tracking, equipment and asset management, and waste management. WSNs (Wireless Sensor Networks) are networks formed by a large number of sensor nodes distributed across the monitored area through self-organization. Each sensor node in the network has the function of data collection and routing data to a receiver. Sensor nodes generally consist of functional modules such as sensor units for collecting information and signals, processing and storage units, transceiver units, power supply units, and related supporting software. Wireless sensor networks are a type of self-organizing network. A self-organizing network is a self-organizing, reconfigurable, multi-hop network without predetermined infrastructure support. In this network, the topology, channel environment, and service patterns dynamically change as nodes move. III. System Overall Structure Design 1. System Structure and Main Components The warehouse monitoring system designed in this paper adopts a three-layer structure, mainly composed of a data center, a regional (local) warehouse management unit, a regional monitoring unit, information aggregation nodes, electronic tags, and ordinary sensor nodes. 1) Data Center: This is the core part of the entire warehouse monitoring system. It mainly includes three databases: a warehouse information database, a departmental information database, and a warehouse item knowledge base. The warehouse information database mainly includes data and information related to daily warehouse operations; the departmental information database mainly includes personnel information, equipment information, and shift information for each department within the warehouse area; the warehouse item knowledge base mainly includes various knowledge related to warehouse items, such as the category, characteristics, storage requirements, and transportation requirements of warehouse items. The data center application has the following functions: providing a relatively complete relational database design and corresponding database extension functions; providing database-independent data interfaces for each business subsystem to ensure data access for the subsystems. 2) Regional warehouse management machine: used to complete the warehouse operation management within the area. 3) Regional monitoring machine: used to complete the monitoring of equipment, environment, personnel, vehicles and other information within the area. 4) Information aggregation nodes: including warehouse application nodes (RFID readers), identity authentication nodes (RFID readers), specific target monitoring nodes (RFID readers/WSNs central nodes), environmental monitoring central nodes (WSNs central nodes), etc. 5) Electronic tag and ordinary sensor nodes: provide direct basic data to the information aggregation nodes. In addition to the above main components, it is also equipped with electronic tag and node issuing workstations, warehouse management workstations, warehouse area monitoring workstations, network communication protocol converters, etc., thus forming a complete warehouse supervision hardware system. 2. Design of adaptive system network communication structure In order to provide an efficient and reliable system architecture for the supervision of warehouse goods, this paper designs a unique adaptive system network communication structure, as shown in Figure 1. Under normal operating conditions, the information transmission path is: electronic tag or ordinary sensor node → warehouse node → communication protocol converter → local management unit → application server → data server. Data from the electronic tag or ordinary sensor node is first aggregated, categorized, and processed locally on the local management unit before being uploaded to the central server. The local management unit is responsible for warehouse management and monitoring within its assigned area. The advantage of this structure is that the local management unit preprocesses the data, ensuring real-time processing of the results and significantly reducing the workload of the central server, thereby improving overall system performance. When the local management unit malfunctions, the information transmission path changes to: electronic tag or ordinary sensor node → warehouse node → communication protocol converter → application server → data server. In the system architecture design, there is a physical connection between the communication protocol converter and the application server. Normally, they do not exchange data directly; the communication protocol converter only communicates with the local management unit. If the local management unit malfunctions, the application server takes over the communication to ensure that data from that area is promptly aggregated to the central server, allowing the entire warehouse area to be monitored by the warehouse area monitoring workstations. After the local management machine resumes normal operation, the application server will automatically release management rights, disconnect the communication connection with the communication protocol converter, and restore the communication link in normal condition. Figure 1 shows a schematic diagram of the system network communication structure. Furthermore, this system fully considers contingency plans for special situations when the central server fails: the central server periodically downloads relevant data from each local management machine to the local management machine. If the central server fails, the local management machine can work independently based on the last updated data and temporarily store the data for its area. When the central server recovers, it will update and interact with the data again. IV. Software System Architecture Design The system software architecture is shown in Figure 2. Basic data collection is completed by embedded software in electronic tags and WSNs nodes, and information interaction is performed with various functional modules such as warehouse management. The system software interconnects with other systems through third-party software interfaces. The system adopts a multi-layered hybrid architecture, utilizing the advantages of C/S and B/S to meet the needs of different application subsystems, and implementing a multi-layered architecture mode of user interface layer, business logic layer, and data information layer. Figure 2 System Software Architecture Diagram V. Design of RFID Reader/WSN Nodes The RFID reader/WSN nodes in this system are shown in Figure 3. The parts within the dashed boxes are standard components of the central node/RFID reader, while these are optional components for ordinary nodes. Additionally, various sensors interconnect with the reader/WSN nodes through expandable I/O interfaces. Figure 3 RFID Reader/WSN Nodes VI. Conclusion The author's innovations are reflected in the following aspects: the organic combination of RFID and WSN technologies provides efficient basic data for warehouse supervision; based on RFID and WSN technologies, a fully digital warehouse management platform is constructed, and based on database and data mining technologies, comprehensive information support for warehouse management is achieved; context-sensitive online information interaction technology is used to improve human-computer interaction; a unique adaptive system network structure is adopted to provide a flexible, efficient, and reliable system communication architecture for warehouse supervision. Practical applications show that the RFID and WSN-based warehouse monitoring system designed in this paper can provide a new solution for fast, real-time, and accurate information collection and processing for warehousing, production, and operation-related enterprises, thereby comprehensively improving the informatization level of related enterprises, standardizing warehouse management, and reducing the accident rate. References: 1. You Zhanqing et al., Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) Technology: Theory and Application [M], Beijing: Electronic Industry Press, 2004. 2. Meng Xiaoming, Research on RFID-based Logistics Information Management System Model [J], Microcomputer Information, July 2006, No. 6-2, pp. 236, 273-275. 3. M. Satyanarayanan, Pervasive Computing: Vision and Challenges [J]., IEEE Personal Communications, Vol. 6, No. 8, 2001: pp. 10-17. 4. Bing Zhigang, Liu Jingtai, Chen Tao et al., A Review of Research and Development Problems of Wireless Sensor Networks Based on Intelligent Micro-nodes [J], Computer Engineering and Applications, Vol. 41, No. 17, 2005: pp. 9-12. 5. Bing Zhigang, Fang Jinglin, Gu Zhaolin, et al., Computer Control - Fundamentals, Techniques, Tools and Examples [M], Beijing: Tsinghua University Press, 2005. Li Li, An Implementation of a Bluetooth Wireless Sensor Network [J], Microcomputer Information, July 2006, No. 7-2, pp. 246-248.
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