An Object Management and Fuzzy Based Location Estimation Method Using Active RFID Tags

Abstract

According to recent statistics, the proportion of small stores in retail stores has decreased, and the proportion of corporate-managed retailers such as large supermarkets are increasing. In addition to upsizing of the retail store, the number of clerks of each retail store is remarkable decreased, so efficiency of object management work has been drawing much attention. As mainstream of current object management, a bar code which is very inexpensive and has a certain performance is used, but in reading a bar code, since there is human intervention, there is a possibility of human error and it takes time and labor to manage many objects. In this research, by using active RFID tags as a tool for object management, we aimed to improve the efficiency of object management work by automating reading of object information and reducing artificial mistakes. In addition, location estimation of objects was performed by using the radio wave strength emitted from the tag, and aiming for further efficiency improvement. As a location estimation method, we propose a fuzzy based location estimation method and compare the estimation accuracy with k-NN method. We evaluate how these systems are useful for the object management.