SmartRF-A Flexible and Light-Weight RFID Middleware

Radio frequency identification (RFID) based system are expected to be deployed in a considerable manner in the near future. One of the crucial requirements for such vast deployment is the need for a scalable, robust and a in-complex software system to interface various RFID hardware with the RFID applications. In this paper, we present SmartRF, an RFID middleware which is flexible, simple and scalable. SmartRF allows usto interface RFID tags and readers to multiple applications in a technology-neutral (protocols, air-interface, etc.) manner. The object-oriented and layered design of SmartRF allows development and integration of new features with little effort. The middleware provides the application a flexibility to interact with one or more readers or even part of a reader. SmartRF supports dynamic joining and dis-joining of applications and hardware.We also present a generic application framework which helps in designing complex applications with ease. Two case studies - electronic file tracking and postal bag tracking which have been developed using SmartRF and the application framework are presented in the paper.