A sensor network based on RFID inventory for retail application

RFID is a trend in the retail sector and made possible a quick inventory of a large stock, therefore it is expected to improve productivity. Currently the solutions are based on inventories which record the input and the output of the goods and provide the stock situation. In this paper, we develop another solution based on the real-time visibility of the items. With a sensor network, it is possible to detect all the items and locate them. In fact, we capture three data: the item identification, the place and the time. This paper presents our work on this solution, some simulations in the warehouses´ environment, and our realization of a sensor network based on the Zigbee protocol coupled to a UHF RFID reader.