FlexRFID: A design,development and deployment framework for RFID-based business applications

The surge of RFID technology and ensuing competition in the RFID vendor market has increased the complexity of integration of RFID into current business processes. To address this problem, we present FlexRFID, a modeling template composed of state indicators, conditions, a simulation engine, and a device-independent deployment architecture for rapid prototyping of control applications using RFID and sensor hardware. The modeling technique is based on Moore Machines, a variant of finite state automata that allow states to be associated with outputs. With FlexRFID, users design applications by modeling business logic via transition of states based on sensor events. Outputs associated with individual states can handle operational characteristics of the application. In this article, we present the modeling methodology and demonstrate how organizations can develop complex applications easily using FlexRFID. We believe that the simplicity and flexibility of FlexRFID will lead to the development of RFID applications quickly even with limited resources. In addition, the parking entry application presented in our paper demonstrates FlexRFID’s capability of being used in business application context, as well as in research, training, and teaching.