The RFID combines with the EPC standard to automatically identify target objects and obtain relevant data, which is easy to implement logistics tracking and real-time monitoring over the Internet. This paper analyzes the characteristics of logistics applications, and proposes the RFID application framework for logistics applications, which has versatility.
Prospects are optimistic about the application
RFID is an automatic identification technology that is combined with a large-scale integrated circuit and wireless communication technology in the 1990s, realizing identification and data exchange of label storage information. It has a non-contact, can be wiped information, a larger read and write distance, a large capacity (relative barcode), and can have a revolutionary impact on modern industrial production and services. In recent years, the total sales volume of global electronic labels grows rapidly in an average of 25%, and the concept of Internet of Things is considered to be one of the most promising ten technologies in this century.
To achieve the idea of "Internet of Things", it is necessary to develop a technical standard similar to the Internet, detailed, unified specifications and open technical standards. But so far, although there is already ISO (International Standards Organization), the JTC (IEC / ISO Joint Technical Committee) has issued relevant technical standards, but many of the international standards are still a suggested provision, especially the application layer standard. . Due to the lack of unified standards, there are currently many countries, a variety of standard products, which have a certain impact on the practical application of enterprises. Most of the RFID companies are not the same, the frequency, encoding, storage rules, and data content, etc.; readers and tags cannot be universal, and the company and enterprises cannot smoothly carry out data exchange and cooperation work. Thus, the application range of RFID technology is limited in an internal place.
At present, RFID is being practicalized from research, and its single technology has become mature, but its application is still in the stage of slow progress, and there is a large number of problems that need to be solved from technology or markets, of which RFID application architecture and security strategy, etc. Aspect is particularly prominent. RFID applications are wide, commonly used in warehousing logistics management, asset tracking, production process control, mobile vehicle automatic identification, identity authentication, intelligent transportation, network home appliance control, etc., and remain continuously expanded. In the International Logistics Market, the world's largest retail company such as Wal-Mart, Carrefour, Metro and Tesco, etc. are starting RFID application projects, and RFID technology is selected as a means of further reducing cost increase, will be fully implemented in the world's chain supermarket goods logistics Technology, with intelligent labels to replace traditional barcode labels.
In my country, the development of RFID technology has just started, and the standardization of electronic label applications has begun, but national standards have not yet been officially introduced, and the EPC / RFID policy white paper is still in the wait-and-see stage, especially in applications. Gap. There is no complete application of RFID technology as information collection and tracking in my country's logistics and manufacturing enterprises, which also seriously affects and restricts the improvement of service levels within the industry. At present, my country's application market for commodity identification labels has not yet been formed.
Analysis of Logistics Application Characteristics
The current logistics process is asymmetrical, there is no shortage of information such as timely information, and it is difficult to achieve timely adjustment and synergy. With the promotion of the global economic integration process, the resources between the provisioning, management and balance supply chain (cross-regional, transnational) become increasing, with product electronic code (EPC code) and RFID to the core on the Internet Constructing the "Internet of Things" will fundamentally change the management level of product flow monitoring and dynamic coordination of products production, transportation, warehousing and sales of products worldwide. In order to apply RFID technology to the logistics industry, the characteristics of logistics applications are first analyzed.
Logistics refers to the physical flow of the item from the supplied ground. According to the actual needs, basic functions such as transportation, storage, loading, handling, packaging, circulation, distribution, delivery, information processing ("Logistics Terminology" national standard). From different levels, logistics can be divided into internal logistics, third-party logistics and social logistics. The logistics industry that is generally added is usually referred to as a third-party logistics (TPL, Third Part Logistics). Third-party logistics is a trading method of providing personalized series logistics services to the demand for a specific price within a specific price of the logistics service provider. Third-party logistics is usually a logistics across enterprises, because it is capable of optimizing resource optimization due to a greater time and spatial range, and reduces the total logistics cost. The logistics industry has its own special application theory and technology. From the basic application level, there are Internet, Geographic Information System (GIS), GPS, Barc Code, RF Identification Technology (RFID); Environmental Systems, Electronic Data Exchange (EDI); in the work management level, There is JIT technology; in the sales point management level, there is a POS system, a valid customer information feedback (ECR), automatic continuous replenishment technology (ACEP), fast response (QR), etc. These levels of technology, Internet, barcodes, EDI, and POS systems are more common in my country, while RFID, BIS, ACEP and other technologies, only in several large companies are available. Among them, RFID technology, due to the high cost of the RF label, currently in the logistics process, the logistics process is used for the consumer product logo, mostly for logistics appliances, such as the logo of the tray, the package; due to the radio frequency identification technology application Many factors such as frequency, transmit power, label types are currently not unified standards in social scope as barcodes, so it is mainly used in some enterprise internal systems. These two factors restrict the current RFID technology in the logistics industry. It can be said that my country's logistics industry has a large distance from the international advanced level.
The modern logistics system is from supply, procurement, production, transportation, warehousing and sales to consumption, it involves four major elements of (people, wealth, things, things), among which "people" refer to the operators of the logistics. Such as producers, transporters, vendors, consumers, etc., operator information, role settings, and permission control are critical; "Finance" refers to funds between the links, RFID systems and finance systems, EDI integration, item prices and Cost control is the key; "object" means the flow of items and material resources in the supply chain, and item information and time and space characteristics (time, place) are key. Such as the production date, shelf life of the item, the storage time, the sales time, etc., the origin, supply and reception of items, "things" refer to business activities of the logistics link, such as production, sales, warehousing, distribution, consumption, etc. Tracking information, resource optimization, and collaborative processing are key. Due to the adoption of automatic identification technology, the information and information system on the items on the information system to the information system realize non-contact interaction and processing, which fundarates the bridge between the communication material world and the information world, so that the material world and the information world can carry fast Efficient conversion, processing, and feedback constitute "Internet of Things".
RFID can achieve multi-objective, non-contact automatic recognition, RFID-based Internet of Things emphasizes the interaction of substances and information, and applies RFID technology to information collection and logistics tracking of the logistics industry, which can greatly improve the service level within the industry. Performance in: First, information acquisition and information processing can be realized; the second is to realize the automation of operational links such as commodity exercises, such as sorting, handling, loading and unloading, storage, etc .; the three is automated and even intelligent, Such as inventory management, automatically generate orders, optimize distribution lines. Applying RFID technology to logistics management, we need to treat the logistics process from a large system, share RFID information over a larger range, with the lowest overall cost to achieve the highest supply chain logistics management efficiency. At the same time, RFID applications need to be combined with their own characteristics: (1) Due to supply chain management and logistics, the label can be further processed (modify data, writing new data), and the RFID tag is no longer a static cargo identifier. Its dynamic variation reflects the status of the item, the interaction between the goods and the owner.
The items are detected from various links such as production, storage, circulation, consumption, requires recording, processing, and traceability of the operation of the items using RFID. If the RFID is applied to manufacturing production management, it does what operations do when the parts are entered on the pipeline. The tracking and monitoring of the item is the information processing process of the RFID system to the item, and the information automatically records the information flowing throughout the supply chain. The status of the status is often determined the next step of the processing of the article.
(2) Due to the dynamic role of RFID, the RFID and the enterprise can keep in touch with the society. Such as: In the supermarket, when the customer truck passes the reader, the salesperson can not only quickly get the product information and price, but also quickly provide information, consumption warning information; car maintenance, RFID, when the car enters maintenance After the factory, the reader automatically collects all the maintenance information and related information of the car according to the information in the label, and writes the recorded records to the label.
(3) RFID represents a full-scale information processing and service process of modern industrial society, transportation, retail to consumption. RFID uses information (EPC code) in the label to acquire, process, and release, and implement system application nodes to work together. Each RFID passes it to the item information to transfer it through the Internet of Things to any where it should arrive, and may work according to the information obtained on the Internet of Things (as shown in Figure 1).
RFID application framework for logistics applications
Elements of RFID application architecture
RFID enables multi-objective identification, run target identification, and implements item tracking and logistics management through the Internet. Radio frequency identification of the logistics process is generally a system of inductive coupling mode. The working process is usually: the antenna of the radiographic reader is transmitted in its functional region to form an electromagnetic field, and the item containing RF tag is read and written when this area is read. The signal emitted by the device, transmitting the stored data to the reader, the reader receives the signal transmitted by the RF tag, and obtains data after decoding, and the read tag data can be seamlessly integrated with the information system. Therefore, the RFID application framework is capable of adapting both the reader to the information processing (read and write) of the RFID identity, but also can adapt to the background data transmission, information processing, and various applications on the RFID system.
In the EPC standard system, RFID systems include EPC, TAG, Reader, Savant, Ons, PML, and the like constituent elements. The EPC code records the world's unique identification of each item, plus the other three-segment data, 64-bit, 96-bit, and 256 bits; electronic tag (TAG) carries electronic product code (EPC code), is The unique identifier of the manufacturer gives the item during the production process; the reader collects label data, transmits it to the software middleware (SAVANT); SAVANT is responsible for managing and transmitting product electronic code related data; object naming system (ONS, OBJECT-NAME SYSTEM) An automatic network service system, similar to the domain name resolution service (DNS), provides a global information sharing mechanism so that the Savant software implements the connection between the EPC and the Internet nodes in each link in each part of the material circulation; communication language specification is called PML ( Physical Markup Language, Physics Markup Language). The RFID system information acquisition process is shown in Figure 2. Layered RFID application framework
For the application characteristics of the logistics industry, we have established a general RFID logistics application framework for reference to the EPC standard. It can be divided into four levels (as shown in Figure 3):
(1) Environmental layer: RFID application environment structure, including items (with labels), antenna, reader, sensor, instrument, computer hardware, server, network equipment, terminal equipment, etc.
(2) Collection layer: RFID-based logistics information collection, through the reader to collect information in the RFID tag, perform simple information pretreatment (decoding, anti-rushing, multi-channel information to weight, information filtering, classification) Transfer to the integrated layer.
(3) Integrated layer: RFID application support platform, supports input, acquisition, transmission, processing, and synergies of RFID information. Including Resource Directory Services (Ons), RFID Middleware (SAVANT), Integrated Platform, Information System and Information Transmission.
Resource Directory Services: including item coding management, resource catalog, and Ons lookup, discovery, location, verification mechanism.
RFID Middleware: Mainly resolved information semantics definition, reader information acquisition, information writing (written or segmentation write), database interface.
Integrated platform: Mainly in the middle of the intermediate parts to increase the interfaces of third-party applications (for finance, OA, e-commerce, MIS system, ERP system, CIMS system, SCM system, CRM system provides data interface), so that various applications Compatible with RFID.
Information System: To efficiently, reliable and convenient management of RFID information, establish a unified logistics database, enter, modify, query, and statistics for data.
Information Transmission: Transmission architecture of RFID information between an off-site point to the point, a security architecture of the off-site RFID system information transmitted, and realizes the distribution and flow of RFID information.
(4) Application layer: RFID backend software system and application system interface to form a customizable logistics application system. Including corporate information management software, analyzing statistics and report generation; dedicated field application software, meets individual business needs of industry applications; website platform, convenient supply chain information, registration, query and interaction information services; collaborative work platform, implementation RFID works with other systems.
RFID applications can be divided into: enterprise applications, cross-enterprise applications, industry-grade applications, cross-industry applications, national applications, multinational applications, etc.
Enterprise-level applications: Data acquisition, process control, etc. implement data acquisition, process control in corporate network platforms. Industry-grade application: as the basic information carrying and processing units in production, circulation, sales, and use, emphasize the cooperation between enterprises, enterprises and management departments.
The above is a basic RFID application reference frame for logistics applications. Different types of electronic tags and readers can be designed for different applications and business processing, and the RFID system has different power and performance, but its application framework is generally the same.
Distributed RFID application system
The RFID application can be within the enterprise, cross-enterprises, industries, cross-industry, national or even transnational, so it can be a distributed system, including information about multiple companies in different fields, need to share information from information through the Internet of Things Collaborative work, its system is shown in Figure 4. Application nodes of supply, production, transportation, storage, sales and consumption in logistics supply chain, various nodes, have information acquisition capabilities (data acquisition module), data integration capabilities (information integration platform), autonomous Ability (professional industry applications, third-party applications) and communication capabilities (local area network, Internet, wireless communication), and nodes, information interaction and function synergies through the ONS mechanism of the logistics center.
For distributed RFID systems, collaborative issues include two aspects:
(1) Enterprises cannot write all useful information to the label, categorize the information, with only critical information (such as product coding, category) into the label, other more information (such as time information, location information, status information, etc. ) Store Internet servers, other companies can automatically find and get this information over the Internet and ONS mechanisms.
(2) Integrate the product and information of the relevant enterprises in the label to record the various processes and processing of the goods in the supply chain, which should be easily written and updated, and this information should be easily written and updated. Provide information services for different application objects.
Web Services provides an effective way to solve collaborative problems in the above two aspects. Web Service Directory Services can be published through UDDI (Universal Description, Discovery and Integration: Unified Description, Discovery, and Integration) protocol, subscribe to the distribution building based on XML data delivery, use the SOAP protocol built on the HTTP protocol (Simple Object Access Protocol: Simple Object Access Protocols enable automatic interaction on the Internet to implement information on the Internet.
UDDI defines the method of the release and discovery of Web Service, provides registration, search, exchange, and use Web Service standard. Divided into three types of information: White Page is the address, contact method and corporate identity; Yellow page is based on the standard classification, the XML Web Services organization to the directory; green page (Green Page is the web service technology information provided by the company.
The Web service application system includes three roles: Service Provider, Service Broker, Service Requester (Service Request), implements three ways between each role: Publish (release) operation , Find (discovery) operation, Bind operation, as shown in Figure 5.
The RFID is basically the same foundation, and the RFID implements information sharing and interaction in the Internet of Things; the web service implements automatic traffic on the Internet through UDDI, providing product-consumption chain high-level information synergistic processing mechanism, both The combined application can provide integrated platforms and solutions for different applications. Future prospects
As an emerging automatic identification technology, RFID is at the beginning of China, but its development potential is huge, not only in logistics control, it is a combination of real world object identification and information dissemination. Means will have an important role in all aspects of society, such as industrial production control, personal identification, activity target monitoring, etc.
The basic conditions and informationization methods of logistics enterprises in my country are uneven, and therefore, RFID technology will still coexist with traditional barcode technology in a quite time in the future. How to complete the transformation of enterprise process management on the basis of existing information systems, implementing the integrated application of barcode systems and RFID technology is a problem that every logistics company is concerned. The logistics system is a cross-crossing, huge social system that needs to study and establish an RFID application architecture facing the national logistics system.
