Expert Systems with Applications 41 (2014) 137–155

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Expert Systems with Applications

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/eswa

Embedded devices for supply chain applications: Towards hardware

integration of disparate technologies
Ahmed Musa a,⇑, Angappa Gunasekaran b, Yahaya Yusuf a, Abdelrahman Abdelazim c
a
Division of Systems and Operations, Lancashire Business School, University of Central Lancashire, Preston PR1 2HE, United Kingdom
b
Department of Decision and Information Sciences, Charlton College of Business, University of Massachusetts–Dartmouth, United States
c
College of Engineering, American University of the Middle East, Egaila, Kuwait

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Keywords: The emergence of the RFID technology and its application to supply chain processes has in particular led
RFID to the creation of such standards as the EPCglobal’s model of supply networks as a tool for materializing
Microsystems intra- and inter-enterprise visibility of resources and products, collaboration and integration. Among
Intelligent objects other critical uses, RFID has been deployed by supply networks to improve asset utilization, effectively
Logistics
combat counterfeiting, and advance targeted product recalls. However, new affordable and deployable
Positioning
Multi-agents
technologies and microsensors have recently appeared and keep maturing. This paper discusses the
needs and the possibilities that exist for leveraging these technologies and sensors with RFID to guaran-
tee continuous and seamless visibility of all assets (fixed and mobile resources and field personnel) of
smart enterprises, thereby expanding and complementing the roles of RFID. It examines the design chal-
lenges for the integration of these technologies for advanced logistics operations at the level of product
classes or their instances. It then outlines our development of an embedded microsystem that combines
RFID, GPRS, GPS and environmental sensors for applications in logistics. The prototyped microsystem
demonstrated the feasibility of the multi-sensor integration paradigm that the paper proposes.
Crown Copyright Ó 2013 Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Evidence available from several recent studies (e.g., Hermansen,
2010; Nativi & Lee, 2012; Modrák & Moskvich, 2012; Frost & Sulli-
van, 2005) suggests that the reasons for businesses to adopt mobile
and wireless data (in their broadest sense) are compelling and well
recognised and accepted by many enterprises. In fact, the adoption
of these technologies, especially mobile Internet, GPRS, 4G, and
RFID, by the largest companies is growing steadily despite the sig-
nificant costs of requisite initial capital investment (in hardware,
software, manpower development, and business process re-engi-
neering) and a persistent backdrop of economic downturn. The rea-
sons why businesses adopt wireless and communication
technologies can be adduced to the facts that: in many industrial
sectors the margins are low and continue to shrink; competition is
ever fiercer; globalization has established itself rather enduringly
and supply chains have become more extended and dispersed; en-
ergy and labour costs are rising; environmental concerns are grow-
ing due to increasing public awareness of the issues at stake;
product lifecycles are decreasing while customization is escalating;
⇑ Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: amusa@uclan.ac.uk (A. Musa), agunasekaran@umassd.edu (A.
Gunasekaran), yyusuf@uclan.ac.uk (Y. Yusuf), abdelrahman.abdelazim@aum.e-
du.kw (A. Abdelazim).
shipment errors and delays are costly to remediate; excess invento-
ries are as hurtful to firms as stock-outs; manufacturers and retail-
ers have redoubled their efforts to rein in backroom shrinkages; and,
crucially, the technologies are available and are always worthwhile
investments in the long run (Trkman, McCormack, Oliveira, & Ladei-
ra, 2010; Chen, Cheng, & Huang, 2013; Poon et al., 2009; Sarac, Absi,
& Dauzére-Pèrez, 2010). It can be said that the main benefits of these
technologies are that they enable enterprises to be more coordi-
nated or integrated, smarter, leaner, more agile, efficient and pro-
ductive. Most of these advantages revolve around enterprises
being able to achieve satisfactory levels of real-time visibility of
their resources (fixed and mobile assets, personnel and merchan-
dize) and coordinate their operations, both internally and with net-
work partners, more effectively. The resulting industrial paradigms
are e-business, e-commerce, on-demand collaboration, event-dri-
ven decision support systems, virtual/smart/extended organiza-
tions, and agent-based control of supply chains (Antunes, Melo, &
Costa, 2007; Ilie-Zudor, Keméne, Blommestein, Monostori, & Meu-
len, 2011; Rönkkö, Kärkkäinen, & Holmström, 2007; Wamba, Lefeb-
vre, Bendavid, & Lefebvre, 2007).
RFID has come to be recognized as an essential enabler of visibil-
ity of resources and products in the operation of smart enterprises.
This is being used to track and trace product classes and instances
as they traverse the supply chain. The EPCglobal has emerged as
an organization that develops and disseminates open, affordable,

0957-4174/$ - see front matter Crown Copyright Ó 2013 Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.eswa.2013.07.017
138 A. Musa et al. / Expert Systems with Applications 41 (2014) 137–155
global, multi-sector industry standards and other services for the
adoption of RFID in supply chains (EPCglobal, 2004; Harrison,
2004). The objectives of EPCglobal are to provide unique serialized
identity for all manufactured products and other physical objects
in the global supply network; offer automated reading, tracking
and tracing of all physical assets; and bring about, through the EPC-
global network, the provision of accurate, real-time information
about all physical objects (reader-based physical activity should
automatically bring up to date all information on computer systems
of trading partners). Many studies have been conducted in recent
times on the enormous opportunities that exist for supply chain
integration and agility by means of RFID. So far, the technology has
been piloted by many manufacturers, retailers, logistics service pro-
viders, civilian and military aviators, healthcare suppliers, agricul-
turists, libraries, etc. (e.g., Doering, 2006; Wamba et al., 2007;
Rekik, Sahin, & Dallery, 2007; Wang, Lin, & Lin, 2007) and almost
all the trials have concluded that RFID holds immense potential for
product visibility and process optimization (Tzeng, Chen, & Pai,
2007; Chao, Yang, & Jen, 2007).
But beyond RFID, other technologies are increasingly becoming
affordable for mobile and real-time supply chain coordination and
integration. These include: interoperable, high-bandwidth and
high-speed, private and public infrastructure-based wired and wire-
less telecommunication networks (Andrews, Ghosh, & Muhamed,
2007; Ahmad, 2005); pervasive wireless ad hoc and mesh sensor
networks with nodes and sensors that possess some limited capacity
for thin databases, computation and communication (Akyildiz, Su,
Sankarasubramaniam, & Cayirci, 2002; Akyildiz, Wang, & Wang,
2005; Hoebeke, Moerman, Dhoedt, & Demeester, 2004); and ubiqui-
tous positioning, i.e., positioning service provisioning that is avail-
able with high-accuracy anywhere anytime, even indoors (Barnes
et al., 2003; Lachapelle, 2004; Pfeifer, 2005; Bryant, 2005; Bensky,
2008). Although it is possible to interface RFID readers to the Inter-
net, the tags themselves thus far do not have this functionality.
Moreover, positioning beyond the RFID reader location is, of course,
not part of the EPCglobal’s model of the supply network. The ques-
tion then is: what is the possibility of leveraging the technologies
of pervasive mobile computing, all-IP-based Internet access, and
ubiquitous positioning with RFID, for complete visibility of all assets
and manufactured products in truly smart extended enterprises?
This is the issue that is explored in this paper. Such effort, if success-
ful, will have several applications in many areas of human endeav-
our far beyond management of supply chains. This paper argues in
favour of such a system. In order to demonstrate the practical viabil-
ity of such a microsystem and the associated visibility system, we
have developed the prototype of the device. Recent attempts at inte-
grating sensors for visibility in logistics have included Mattoli et al.
(2010) and Oliveira et al. (2012), but none of them have had the
objective of combining the technologies outlined here.
Modern developments in micro-electromechanical systems
(MEMS), semantic web services, intelligent mobile agents, and soft-
ware-defined radios have greatly aided embedded devices for logis-
tics. A web service is a set of executable codes that exists on a host
somewhere in the cyberspace and is callable through a standard pro-
tocol. The mobile agent technology, on the other hand, permits a
code and its associated execution states to travel from one execution
platform to another at runtime, which is useful for the design and
functioning of resource-strapped mobile devices. Surrogate agents
on remote servers can noticeably expand the capacity of thin devices
for data processing and global data retrieval by migrating computa-
tions to designated adequate platforms and data resources. MEMS is
a technology concerned with the manufacture of sub-millimetre
physical structures by means of photolithographic patterning and
chemical etching. Besides miniaturization, and the corresponding
low thermal power consumption, MEMS presents the benefit of par-
allel fabrication of multitudes of micro-devices on the same semi-
conductor, which can significantly reduce fabrication capital
outlay for sufficiently large volumes.
The paper is organized as follows. Section 2 states the research
motivation and questions, and then describes the methodology
adopted to achieve the research aims. Section 3 justifies the re-
search questions and methodology. Section 4 describes the EPC-
global model of the supply network, which is enabled by RFID,
and compares the EPCglobal network with the needs of the smart
extended enterprise. Section 5 suggests overcoming the current
node and sensor limitations of the EPCglobal model by means of
configuring RFID with ubiquitous location awareness, wireless sen-
sor networks, sensors for temperature, pressure and humidity mo-
bile communication, and the smart highway infrastructure.
Section 5 also discusses the challenges that are associated with
the attempt to achieve complete visibility of resources and prod-
ucts by means of these technologies. Section 6 discusses several as-
pects of the proposed technology as well as illustrates the resource
requirements and limitations of mobile micro-devices. It then dis-
cusses the possibilities of using semantic web services, mobile
intelligent agents, and software-defined radios to counterbalance
the resource limitations in deploying lightweight mobile clients.
Such constraints emanate from the inherent inadequacies of GNSS
satellite signals, device battery, memory, computing power, com-
munication, and screen size. Section 7 discusses the development
of the prototype of the proposed microsystem, and Section 8 pre-
sents the results of field tests of the device. Section 9 concludes
the paper and describes future work. Appendix A contains the glos-
sary of abbreviations used in the paper.
2. Research questions and methodology
The aim of this paper is to investigate the challenges that belie the
development and deployment of embedded micro devices for fulfill-
ing product visibility in logistics at the product instance or compos-
ite/aggregate level. Such an embedded device should provide not
only product identification as RFID does, but also it should be able
to access enterprise databases remotely as well as sense and report
parameters like position, temperature, humidity, pressure, vibra-
tion, etc. It should also have some onboard computational capacity
for tasks such as computing positions from GPS and some other posi-
tioning signals, or delegate the task to surrogates on remote servers.
To this end we asked the following research questions:
(a) Is there a real current need in supply chain management for
the advanced microsystem described above?
(b) If the need existed for them, how cost effective will such a
microsystem be?
(c) What are the design and development challenges for such a
device?
(d) How could recent developments in pervasive computing,
mobile communication, positioning technologies, software
radios, web services, multi-agents, etc., help overcome the
challenges in the design, development and field deployment
of such a device?
In seeking answers to these questions, we conducted an in-
depth, multi-disciplinary literature review to assess the need, chal-
lenges and opportunities of developing such a device. We then per-
formed design, experiments, development and tests to actually
develop a prototype of such a device and demonstrate its viability.
3. The need for embedded systems for logistics
Smart enterprises are some of the preeminent examples of ben-
eficiaries of embedded and intelligent systems in logistics. The pro-
duction and service industries of the digital and Internet age are
 A. Musa et al. / Expert Systems with Applications 41 (2014) 137–155
based on distributed and networked organizations. These organi-
zations together have traditionally been considered to constitute
supply chains, but with the advent of information and communica-
tion technologies (ICT) and management strategies for the integra-
tion of these organizations, and with their continued dependence
on knowledge as a fundamental resource, they are now better re-
ferred to as smart enterprises/organizations. In these organizations
or entities, flexible, independent organizational and production
units are collaborating dynamically and in real-time to create value
by reacting in intelligent ways to the challenges and uncertainties
of the environments in which they operate and of their customers
(Filos, 2006; Hsu, 2007; Antunes, Melo, & Costa, 2007).
Smart organizations may be coordinated as business-to-busi-
ness, business-to-customer, and customer-to-customer interac-
tions, respectively. These structures are nowadays achieved
through the Internet or some other dedicated ICT facility, but
increasingly the Internet is the dominant means of interaction.
However, electronic business (or e-business) is not defined by just
the technology but also by the belief and intention of these organi-
zations to integrate and permit the unfettered flow of reliable,
timely and valuable information between them. The value of elec-
tronic exchanges between organizations and between them and
customers - and between customers themselves (such as in e-auc-
tions) - as enablers of smart organizations is well acknowledged in
contemporary business literature (Hsu, 2007; Hsu & Wallace, 2007;
Kazi, Hannus, & Ollus, 2002). Benefits accrue in terms of reduced
transaction and cycle times and costs, and of facilitation of links be-
tween buyers and suppliers in areas such as new product introduc-
tion, procurement and network alignment and management. But
barriers still exist in attempts at creating smart enterprises. These
include organizational inertia, existing assets, desire for job preser-
vation (especially by top managers), prevalence of different legacy
systems, commodization of buyer-customer relationships, ineffi-
cient and costly logistics infrastructures and methodologies, lack
of standard data formats, and, of course, the daunting complexity
of the emergent phenomena that arise from the interactions of
competitors, including companies that learn and adapt to the ac-
tions of others (e.g., Kelly & Allison, 1999; Bonabeau, 2002; Chae,
Yen, & Sheu, 2005; Markose, Arifovic, & Sunder, 2007).
Within and outside any smart or virtual organization, the logis-
tics task is how to ensure that the work to be accomplished by the
organization is made as easy but effective as possible while reacting
to unstable or seemingly unpredictable customer demands and
expectations at the marketplace. In the digital age, a marketplace
is indeed a ‘marketspace’, the whole dynamic cyberspace shared
by trading or collaborating partners. Whilst inability to satisfy even
transient customer orders can lead to loss of vital market and further
add to pressures on profit margins in competitive markets, over-
stocking of even long-life merchandize can be expensive, due to han-
dling, storage and eventual-disposal costs. In order to ensure the
availability of products when demanded by consumers, a smart
organization must manage its logistics infrastructure in terms of
both product availability and demand management. Partners in a
smart organization must be aware of what is selling in the market-
space and be ready to anticipate and respond to especially sudden
changes in demand. This can be achieved only through continuous
visibility and the provision of seamless information flow throughout
the smart organization. But even those items that attract less volatil-
ity in demand can benefit from efficient and cost-effective logistics
systems, enabled by resource and product visibility and control.
The essence of logistics management is to be able to adequately
manage all these components in such a manner that a smart orga-
nization is indeed progressed as a ‘value organization’ (i.e., an agile
organization that, whilst not being necessarily the leanest, is able to
grow its profits and strategic interests in real terms). In order to
realize the potential advantages of cost reduction and service
139
enhancement, or even perfection, it is necessary that there is coop-
eration and coordination throughout the smart organization. The
modern approach to smart organization management is to inte-
grate the logistics tasks (raw materials, storage facilities, inventory
control, transportation, unitization and packaging, and informa-
tion/communications) and reduce functional barriers between
them (Nagy & Salhi, 2007). Thus we can imagine the emerging sce-
nario that runs like this: a retail chain uses radio frequency identi-
fication (RFID) technology to collect reliable sales data from its
checkout system across hundreds or thousands of outlets, and then
uses the data to schedule transport and decide levels and locations
of stock holding. If the level of inventory can be diminished, then
probably fewer warehouses are needed by the manufacturer or re-
tailer. If communication and transportation can be meaningfully
integrated, then the retailer can migrate from stocking goods in a
warehouse to running a distribution centre which sorts products
for immediate store delivery and benefits from such logistics con-
cepts as merge-in-transit, cross-docking, centralization, aggrega-
tion and consolidation. The retailer can then hope to match
customer needs as they vary geographically and temporally. This
scenario approaches the just-in-time concept in smart organization
management, which is crucial in the virtual warehouse model
(Landers, Cole, Walker, & Kirk, 2000; Ala-Risku, Kärkkäinen, &
Holmström, 2003) and in agility theory (e.g., Goranson, 1999; Hsu
& Wallace, 2007; Li, Lin, Wang, & Yan, 2006; Mezgar, 2006; Agarwal,
Shankar, & Tiwari, 2007). The EPCglobal network model described
in Section 4 extends this scenario further.
Emerging supply network and logistics management concepts
are epitomized by integration, collaboration, synchronization and
the creation of virtual organizations based on networks of smart
organizations (e.g., Hsu, 2007; Zeimpekis, Tarantilis, Giaglis, &
Minis, 2007; Martínez-Sala, Egea-López, García-Sánchez, & Gar-
cía-Haro, 2009; Holmström, Kajosaari, Främling, & Langius,
2009). These new notions entail several requirements, chief among
which are: wholesale integration of enterprise processes; informa-
tion sharing and resource and product visibility across organiza-
tions; establishment of collaborative relationships and decision
making; and synchronization of decisions to real-time events
(Meyer, Främling, & Holmström, 2009; Cimino & Marcelloni,
2011; Kiritsis, 2011; Wong, Leung, Guo, Zeng, & Mok, 2012). How-
ever, the present reality is quite a long way from these desires, be-
cause it is still encumbered by corporate cultural differences,
fragmented and inadequate information and communication sys-
tems (both within and among trading partners), isolated decision
making, and use of decision support systems that rely on past
events instead of real-time or near-real-time dynamic conditions.
Of the several research and technological initiatives and associ-
ated study questions identified by recent studies in supply chain
coordination and integration (Tu, Zhou, & Piramuthu, 2009; Su &
Yang, 2010; Liao, Lin, & Shu-Hsien Liao, 2010; Meiller, Bureau,
Zhou, & Piramuthu, 2010; Chen, 2011; Chen, Hsu, Liu, & Yang,
2012; Zhou, Yoon, & Piramuthu, 2012), one that is high on the list
is the development of inexpensive, flexible, robust RFID transpond-
ers, transceivers and navigation and environmental sensors that
will provide reliable information regarding the location and status
of shipments and mobile assets along the supply chain.
In order for the smart organization to exploit the full potential of
supply chain product visibility, additional information about the
inventory is needed beyond identification and location (Grasman,
2006; Kiritsis, 2011; Cimino & Marcelloni, 2011; Jakkhupan, Arch-
int, & Li, 2011). This is especially true in the case of closed-loop prod-
uct lifecycle information management (PLIM). PLIM is the use of IT
systems for managing the entire lifecycle of a product, from concep-
tion to manufacturing, distribution, sale, use, maintenance, and dis-
posal or recycling. Besides identification, information storage, and
sensing the ambient environmental parameters, embedded devices
140 A. Musa et al. / Expert Systems with Applications 41 (2014) 137–155
can also be used to impart some level of intelligence to products as
well as support concepts such as the Internet of things. Product intel-
ligence has been categorized into several levels by Kiritsis (2011); see
also Jedermann and Lang (2008) and Meyer et al. (2009) for some
other classification schemes. Table 1 proposes a new classification
scheme that has four layers or classes of intelligence. The most ad-
vanced level of product intelligence is level 4. The essential require-
ments of level 4 product intelligence are a suitable identification
technology, sensors and the associated sensor networks, and onboard
processors. Onboard processing or compute power does not have to
be exceedingly large since a thin device can delegate computations
to surrogates on servers, although communication too requires
some compute capacity; so does many onboard security features.
Embedded devices are valuable for high-valued products like
aviation and military parts and assemblages, farm machinery,
automobiles, expensive household appliances. Yet the tracking de-
vices marketed by vendors such as PearTrack (www.pear-
track.com) and Savi Nettworks (www.savinetworks.com) do not
satisfy level 4 intelligence. Research designs such as by Mattoli,
Mazzolai, Mondini, Zampolli, and Dario (2010) and Oliveira, No-
guez, Costa, Barbosa, and Prado (2012) are made for specific indus-
tries and hence are not applicable across the supply chain.
The EPCglobal network is an international standards-based mod-
el of supply chain visibility by RFID. It has attracted great attention
both within the academic and practitioner communities. However,
it does not actually assure continuous product visibility where there
are no RFID readers. Moreover, where there are RFID readers, the
network only provides a means of uniquely identifying a product.
Hence, it provides only level 1 type of intelligence (Table 1). Section 4
describes the EPCglobal network and its shortcomings.
4. EPCglobal supply network model
4.1. Network model
The EPCglobal network is not the only tracking and tracing
architecture or platform currently available (others are described
by, e.g., Främling, Harrison, Brusey, & Petrow, 2007; Spieß, Born-
hövd, Lin, Haller, & Schaper, 2007; Woo, Choi, Kwak, & Kim,
2009; Thakur & Hurburgh, 2009; Chatziantoniou, Pramatari, &
Sotiropoulos, 2011; Cimino & Marcelloni, 2011; Xu, Wijesooriya,
Wang, & Beydoun, 2011; Wu, Ranasinghe, Sheng, Zeadally, & Yu,
2011) but it enjoys the wider industry support. The essence of
the EPCglobal network is to provide an industry-wide, global infor-
mation infrastructure for smart enterprises (EPCglobal, 2004; Har-
rison, 2004; Mealling, 2004). It has the key components (Fig. 1): a
system of RFID transponders and readers for product identification,
the RFID middleware, the EPC information service (EPCIS), the EPC
discovery service (EPCDS), and the object name service (ONS). Each
of these modules is essential to the system, for secure discovery
and sharing of real-time information about movements and other
properties of products within the supply network. The EPCIS has
its contents written in physical markup language (PML).
The EPCglobal network model aspires to achieve real-time sup-
ply chain visibility at the item, case and/or pallet level from the
manufacturer to the retailer by using a system of RFID transponders
and readers. The manufacturer registers within his local ONS every
transponder or each transponder contains a unique EPC, a code that
identifies the product and its manufacturer. Additional information
associated with each product (such as product dimensions, weight,
production date, distribution history, temperature and humidity
profile, expiration date, etc.) have recently been proposed for inclu-
sion in the onboard RFID microchip. It is thus probable that these
types of information will subsequently form part of the EPC infor-
mation packet (e.g., Lekakos, 2007; Spieß et al., 2007). When the
manufacturer tags with an RFID transponder any item that he pro-
duces, the information about that product is added to his local ONS
and EPCIS; and the fact that this data now resides in his local EPCIS
is transmitted to the EPCDS, which is linked to the root ONS.
Depending on the agreed level of tagging in the supply network,
each individual manufactured product may be tagged, or only the
cases and pallets may be tagged with RFID transponders. As the
pallets leave the manufacturer’s premises, an RFID reader at the
loading bay reads all the tags. The information is transmitted to
the manufacturer’s savant server. The savant contains a middle-
ware that filters the received data and selectively forwards the
information to the local ONS, EPCIS and the application platforms
of the manufacturer. The local EPCIS then becomes aware that
the tagged products have departed the manufacturer’s premises
and this information is again passed on to the EPCDS. The ad-
dresses of specific web pages in EPCIS and EPCDS containing the
needed information about each product are provided to the savant
by the ONS server. The root ONS provides the locations of all local
ONS, which in turn make available the locations of the local EPCIS
and the web page addresses therein.
The root and/or central ONS, EPCIS and the EPCDS are adminis-
tered by third-party service providers such as VeriSign. The ONS is
akin to the DNS (domain name service), which traces web pages on
the Internet by means of IP addresses. The ONS links every EPC to
its specific address in the local EPCIS and the central EPCDS. It is
thus the cement that holds the constituent parts of EPCglobal net-
work together.
When the products arrive at the distributor site, they are auto-
matically read by the RFID reader located there and the informa-
tion is registered with the distributor’s EPCIS and with the
central EPCDS. When the distributor requires detailed information
about any product, he will ask the central ONS for the location of
the manufacturer’s ONS, which in turn will provide the location
of the manufacturer’s EPCIS. At the retailer site, the same proce-
dure is repeated. The retailer can request detailed real-time infor-
mation about each product from the manufacturer’s EPCIS; the
distributor’s EPCIS may also have cached the relevant information
and may be able to transparently provide it to the retailer.
The enterprise application layers in Fig. 1 may include some of
the following modules at different sites of the supply network:
enterprise resource management module, product traceability
and reverse logistics module, customer information services,
inventory management and collaborative forecasting and replen-
ishment module, promotion management module, etc.
4.2. Limitations of EPC network model
The first obvious limitation of the EPCglobal network would
seem to be the lack of explicit guarantee of the security of the en-
tire system. Because of the global and multi-enterprise nature of
the service, the matter of security threats to the EPCglobal network
cannot be overemphasized. EPCglobal’s Hardware and Software
Action Groups have been created to examine all aspects of security
provision for the network and to develop suitable and adequate
mechanisms that will guarantee secure utilization of the service
(EPCglobal, 2004). However, so far there are no security protocols
for the service, and it appears that this question has been left to
the application solution providers. Shih, Sun, and Lin (2005) have
attempted to develop a comprehensive (web services) security
architecture for the EPCglobal network.
One other evident shortcoming of the EPCglobal network model
is the need for centralized database architecture, for example, the
root ONS and EPCDS. Centralization can hinder scalability and sig-
nificantly increase communication network and signal latency,
especially in view of the expected exponential growth in supply
network size and data as a result of the adoption of RFID and EPC-
 A. Musa et al. / Expert Systems with Applications 41 (2014) 137–155 141

Table 1
Proposed levels of product intelligence.

Level of intelligence Characteristics

No. Basic function
1 Identification The product has a unique local or global identity (e.g., by barcode, passive or active RFID tags).
An external inquirer system is required to determine and use the identity of the product.
The identity of the product allows it to be linked to a physical, geographical position.
2 Data acquisition and There is a system of RFID tags and readers for universal product identification.
handling
Sensors (detectors, transmitters, actuators, filters, localization engines, etc.) are part of the system and hence the product can
monitor its ambient environment.
The product can store the data it acquires from its environment.
The system has a language and associated means to allow the object to display its features (physical state, location, etc.) and needs
(e.g., for production, movement, storage, maintenance, recycling, etc.).
The product can wireless and autonomously communicate the measurements it makes and its state and needs to a backend data
storage and/or analytics system.
3 Problem recognition and All of level 2 features.
reporting The product can identify problems in its handling of data (e.g., system malfunction) or in its physical environment (e.g., temperature
and location exceptions, etc.) and communicate the situation to the backend command and control system. At this stage the product
is still unable to determine what needs to be done to remedy or handle the exception; neither is it able to control its own destiny.
4 Decision making All of level 3 features.
The product is able to determine what needs to be done to remedy or handle exceptions, as well as control its own destiny.
The product can advise backend systems on remedies to the exceptions it has discovered and reported.
The product can give advice on its proper use/handling, maintenance needs and procedures, remanufacturing, recycling or disposal.

global’s standards. Also, the needs of real-time decision support
systems, which are being progressively enabled by the RFID tech-
nology and other sources of real-time information, will substan-
tially raise the required level of network resources
(computational capacity and communication bandwidth). Then
there is the rapid progress that is being recorded in the develop-
ment and deployment of wireless mobile ad hoc networks, which
will almost certainly ultimately be employed in supply chain
administration and coordination (Spieß et al., 2007; Hsu, Lever-
mire, Carothers, & Babin, 2007; Akyuz & Rehan, 2009). These will
definitely lead to a huge rise in the data needed or available for
supply network coordination in real-time.
Another obvious drawback of the EPCglobal network model is the
apparent loss in asset visibility between RFID readers. This becomes
critical during shipment transit from one location in the network to
another. Hence we refer to this as ‘‘inter-reader or inter-checkpoint
limitation’’. Third party logistics service providers, who provide car-
rier and related logistics services, normally employ technological
solutions to track vehicles and consignments in real-time, using
mostly GPS for position determination and some form of data trans-
fer protocol for communicating the position and status of shipment
to their own databases. In general, they make tracking information
available to their customers by way of web access to their (logistics
service provider’s) websites. Shippers have to retrieve tracking
information from such websites manually. This is inefficient and a
serious stumbling block to real-time and automatic supply chain
coordination, especially in cases of international, intermodal and/
or multi-carrier services. Furthermore, each carrier often operates
its own fleet of vehicles and tracking systems and data formats for
providing tracking information to its customers about shipments.
Some logistics service providers, as a requirement of their busi-
ness models and contracts, have to tightly integrate their ICT infra-
structure with those of their customers (Mukhopadhyay &
Setaputra, 2006; Selviaridis & Spring, 2007). Therefore, they are
probably better able to integrate their tracking systems with the
operational systems of their business customers, despite the costly
and burdensome nature of such integration (Främling et al., 2007).
In such a case, there is no need for manual queries and retrieval of
tracking information and subsequent entry into the enterprise
applications of shippers. However, one disadvantage of this arrange-
ment is that it inextricably binds the shipper to the carrier in usually
and necessarily long-term contracts. For impermanent multi-com-
pany contracts, such as in international infrastructure or plant
assembly projects, this high-level and enduring integration of ICT
infrastructure is neither feasible nor advisable. One feature of such
projects is the large number of suppliers, customers, logistics service
providers and hardware components involved in project delivery.
But even logistics service providers do not provide comprehen-
sive resource and product visibility since they are perhaps unable
to track shipments throughout transit, especially in intermodal
and international freighting. Also, their tracking systems are nor-
mally not product-centred but rather vehicle-focussed. That is, in-
stead of tracking individual products and items, in reality they are
only able to track trucks, payloads and shipping containers. If they
want to locate an individual product, they first must link it to the
containment in which it has been packed by the manufacturer,
then the pallet, and on to the freight. From the point of view of cur-
rent information modelling techniques in material flow and man-
ufacturing, modern item-centric enterprise business information
logic, and the requirements of on-demand, real-time coordination
of complex, multi-echelon enterprises, this present scenario of lot-
based tracking information is not satisfactory (Parsons & Wand,
2000; McFarlane, Sarma, Lung Chirn, Wong, & Ashton, 2003;
Rönkkö, Kärkkäinen, & Holmström, 2007; Främling et al., 2007).
Contemporary extended-enterprise business logic seeks to circum-
vent anonymity of materials and products and also encourage the
realization of concepts such as customization, quick response, just-
in-time and evanescence. Evanescent projects or contracts are
multi-company ventures that have short lives.
Section 5 suggests extending RFID to the capabilities of embed-
ded devices and Section 6 discusses the main challenges of such an
endeavour.
5. A multi-sensor embedded device for supply chain visibility
Of the limitations of the EPCglobal network model discussed in
Section 4, the problem of centralization of information can be allevi-
ated by modifying the model to instead use enterprise-centred dis-
tributed databases that grant secure access to all trading partners.
The problem with this is that if one enterprise in a supply network
142 A. Musa et al. / Expert Systems with Applications 41 (2014) 137–155

EPCglobal resolution services

Local ONS

EPCDS

Middleware Local EPCIS Middleware Local EPCIS Middleware Local EPCIS

Reader Reader Reader

Local Enterprise Local Enterprise Local Enterprise
ONS application ONS application ONS application

Manufacturer Distributor Retailer

Products Products Products

Fig. 1. EPCglobal network.

1. Identification & authentication (RFID)

6. Positioning sensor 2. Wireless data communication with

(GPS + terrestrial sensors) enterprise databases

Smart
tag
3. Miscellaneous sensors (temperature,
5. Context awareness
pressure, chemical composition, etc.)

4. Intelligent module (information handling, exception handling, decision making)

Fig. 2. A schematic of the proposed microsystem.

suffers a sudden breakdown of its internal ICT infrastructure, or even
cease trading, then other members of the network will be severely
affected (Främling et al., 2007; Woo et al., 2009). The way out of this
difficulty is to always maintain backups of multi-enterprise data on
central repositories that will experience traffic only in cases of emer-
gency. In any case, keeping duplicates of essential data has been an
established necessity in all IT deployment.
The aim of this section is not to dwell on this problem but on
the question of inclusive asset visibility by multi-sensor embedded
devices. That will overcome the identification-only and inter-read-
er limitations of RFID. Complete, inter-reader visibility of mobile
assets can be realized even at the product level by complementing
RFID with positioning/navigation and wireless communication.
GPS technology, which is often used by logistics service providers
to track freight vehicles, has the constraint that its signals are un-
able to penetrate foliage, tunnels and buildings with enough
strength to yield precise, unambiguous position. Moreover, under
such situations, signal multipath can be a serious source of position
error. Therefore, under tunnels, foliage and in urban canyons, logis-
tics visibility can be lost. Among other drawbacks, logistics visibil-
ity cannot, therefore, be extended to the shop-floor. Furthermore,
GPS and related technologies require signal receivers that, unlike
RFID transponders, are currently too expensive for item-centric
positioning. There is thus a need to make positioning at the prod-
uct level sufficiently accurate, affordable, and possibly integrated
with RFID. If a mechanism for direct communication between the
resulting device and enterprise databases can also be included in
the design, then we would have an integrated ‘identification, posi-
tioning, communication, and decision making technology’, as illus-
trated in Fig. 2. Chip technology is progressing rapidly and it is now
possible to develop such a system-on-chip. We discuss in section 6
some aspects of the technology.
In Fig. 2, module 1 is for resource and product identification and
authentication. The technology to be used to accomplish this task
is DASH7 RFID. Authentication involves verifying the validity of
at least one form of identification of the product. Module 2 is sim-
ply a wireless network card to handle all external communication
with the device through GPRS and SOAP/HTTP. Module 3 hosts
miscellaneous environmental sensors that supply information
about the ambient environment (temperature, pressure, humidity,
chemical composition, etc.) of the device. Module 4 houses the
main processor and power source. Section 7 contains further de-
tails of the modules on the device.
The smart tag should necessarily fulfil the following properties:
scalability in applications; adaptability in operations (i.e., it should
operate according to the environment, which it should be able to
sense on its own, namely, it should be context aware); have indoor
and outdoor positioning capabilities; have resources for IP-based
wireless communication; deliver sub-metre positioning accuracy
(depending on the operating environment and the needed applica-
tion requirements); be miniaturizable into a ‘smart nugget’; pos-
sess robust geoencryption capability; and eventually be
affordable for tagging logistics units (such as cases and pallets)
as they pass through the logistics pipeline. RFID technology is pres-
ently being piloted by many supply chains for identification and
tracing of logistics units and stock-keeping units as they traverse
the logistics pipeline from the manufacturers to the end customers.
The proposed device should, therefore, substantially expand the
frontiers of applications of RFID, positioning, and the extensive
speciality of location-based services (Nagy & Salhi, 2007; Partyka,
2007).
IP-based communication capability will ultimately remove the
need for RFID readers, since although the tag would have only thin
computational resources, it will be able to communicate directly
 A. Musa et al. / Expert Systems with Applications 41 (2014) 137–155 143

with enterprise databases. Such communication will also be neces- 6.2. Wireless communication
sary for the tag to outsource signal processing. But communication
is costly in terms of power consumption; in fact, it is costlier than As a necessity, the smart device in Fig. 4 will have a wireless
computation. There would, therefore, be need for further intense network interface control (NIC) so as to communicate with remote
research in power optimization for such a thin device. This is ex- enterprise databases. But ongoing progressive advances in wireless
plored further in Section 6.3. networks have considerably broadened the scope of these net-
works. In this section we briefly illustrate these networks and pro-
vide a conceptual framework within which they may all ultimately
6. Aspects of the new embedded device
converge. The gateway or bridge that will grant the smart device
access to remote databases may actually be a router or node of a
6.1. Positioning
wireless ad hoc or mesh network, since a wireless router is often
equipped with multiple wireless interfaces that are possibly built
Every navigational technology is based on position determina-
on different wireless access technologies.
tion. Today, GPS carrier phase techniques can, in unobstructed
Fig. 3 illustrates how the various networks are converging
skies, yield centimetre-level positioning accuracies in differential
seamlessly, thereby enabling uninterrupted coordination of sup-
mode. The availability of GPS signals on L2C and L5 frequencies en-
ply networks and their resources. In Fig. 3, a personal network
riches the situation. GPS satellites have five frequencies, namely,
constitutes a type of client meshing that provides peer-peer net-
L1-C/A, L2-P/Y, L1C, L2C and L5. The safety-of-life signal L5 is the
works among client devices restricted to the individual person;
most effective of the three civil signals L1C, L2C, L5 because it is
client nodes form the actual network to perform routing and con-
about 5 decibels more powerful than L1, with a chipping rate of
figuration functions as well as grant end-user applications to the
107 chips per second or 10 million cycles per second (Mcps) com-
person.
pared to the 1 Mcps codes used by L1 and L2. The L5 signal thus
In Fig. 3 we should note the special role that network gateways
provides more protection against radio frequency interference
(NGWs) will play in the integration of heterogeneous networks.
and multipath. Also, at 1176 MHz frequency, the L5 signal separa-
The NGW is a device that is specific to every network and provides
tion from L1 (1575 MHz) is significant enough to enable GPS
it with an interface to the Internet. It will most likely be a piece of
receivers to directly drastically control the ionospheric refraction
equipment with large enough memory to afford domestic storage
effects on signal propagation.
and some level of intelligence. It might be a special, committed de-
However, even with the anticipated full operational status of
vice, or an added functionality in the core network. Another impor-
the Europe’s Galileo system in 2013 and the consequent doubling
tant player for the success of Fig. 3 is the mobility provider (MP).
of navigation satellites in space, satellite navigation on its own can-
The MP will not be a piece of equipment or specific application
not guarantee the positioning accuracy of a few centimetres that
as such, but a new business model. It is a heterogeneous service-
will be needed on shop-floors. The reasons have been mentioned
provider platform that gives a functional environment to manage
previously. Positioning data from satellites can be substantially
matters relating to the networks, users, services and contents.
augmented or assisted by terrestrial techniques. Many methods
The MP would use a service platform that communicates with indi-
have been developed in recent years to meet the needs of the mil-
vidual NGWs and provisions service control functionalities, facili-
itary, location-based services, personal navigation, automated
tates access to services and guarantees reasonable, network-
vehicles and highway systems, etc. (Barnes et al., 2003; Lachapelle,
dependent QoS. This will obviously include the ability of users to
2004; Duffett-Smith & Hansen, 2005; Retscher, 2006; Retscher,
roam seamlessly and transparently between networks; roaming
2007; Retscher & Thienelt, 2004; Retscher, Moser, Vredeveld,
is already a possibility today. To the users, the MP is an all-net-
Heberling, & Pamp, 2007; Prasad & Ruggieri, 2005; Li et al., 2006;
work, one-stop shop for service provision across networks. The
Grejner-Brzezinska, Toth, & Moafipoor, 2007; Mok, Retscher, &
MP will assume the responsibility for billing individual service
Xia, 2007; Rollo, 2007; Groves, 2008; Bensky, 2008). Table 2, com-
users across networks and for provisioning roaming, depending
piled from several sources, lists some of those techniques that can
on the user subscription with the various network operators and
be employed with GPS to provide continuous visibility in intelli-
service providers. Roaming and handoff schemes in IP-based mul-
gent logistics.
tisystem networks have been treated by, e.g., Akyildiz, Jiang, and
When used independently, some of the methods in Table 2
Mohanty (2004), Beaubrun, Pierre, and Conan (2005), and Leggio,
yield relatively poor positional accuracies, ranging from metres
Manner, and Raatikainen (2005). For our proposal in Fig. 3 to be
up to a kilometre. But when integrated in hybrid navigational sys-
realized, existing mobile IP handover schemes (such as MIPv6) will
tems, they can give impressive results (centimetre-level accuracy)
need to be substantially improved, to permit flawless roaming
even in high dynamics, as they compensate for each other’s defi-
across diverse networks.
ciencies. The accuracies obtainable by hybrids depend greatly on
In the case of the personal network in Fig. 3, for example, the
the sensors deployed, the operating environment, and the data
NGW will be a personal device that receives instructions from
processing algorithms used (Tesoriero, Tebar, Gallud, Lozano, &
the core personal network to send/request contents to/from other
Penichet, 2010). Only extensive simulation, robust field experi-
networks (including other personal networks) anywhere anytime.
mentation, prototyping and cost-benefit analysis can suggest the
It will then search for the most advantageous of the advertised
best positioning technologies to employ in Fig. 2. However, it
slots and then communicate with the MP to settle on service
can be said with some level of confidence that high-sensitivity
charge, QoS, throughput and bandwidth efficiency, and handoff/
GPS, cellular networks (especially WiMax), and WLAN (especially
mobility. Thereafter, through the network of choice (DSL, cellular,
Wi-Fi and UWB in urban areas and DSRC on roadways) will be
hotspot, picocell), the NGW sends or receives the sought packets.
strong candidates. The problem with WLAN-based methods is
that dedicated infrastructures do not yet exist, and they are ex-
pected to be costly to provision with sufficient density. Wi-Fi sig- 6.3. Resource requirements for the embedded device
nals abound in urban localities in many countries but they are
privately owned and not originally installed for positioning Currently, the sensor nodes of wireless sensor networks can
purposes. perform computing tasks such as beam forming, aggregation or
144 A. Musa et al. / Expert Systems with Applications 41 (2014) 137–155

Table 2
Key terrestrial positioning methods that can augment GPS in logistics applications (see Appendix A for the meaning of abbreviations).

Method Description
Network-based differential GPS Differential corrections for spatially correlated errors are sent to stand-alone or mobile GPS receivers from
continuously operating reference stations (CORS) to substantially improve positions determined by the
receivers. Such corrections can be transmitted to mobile receivers via the RTCM SC-104 protocol over
conventional radios. They can also be sent by plain IP protocol or by web services request-and-respond
communication. The number of reference stations and data processing procedures used depend on the size
of the region over which the corrections are intended to be valid. This approach requires the CORS
infrastructure to be first established.
SBAS (WAAS in USA, EGNOS in Europe, MSAS in Japan, Space-based augmentation systems have been developed by aviation authorities and commercial outfits
Beidou in China, GAGAN in India) mainly for aviation purposes. They consist of extensively spread reference stations that keep a close watch
and accumulate data on the GPS satellites. These data are sent on to the SBAS master stations for processing
to decide the integrity and differential corrections for all monitored satellites. The integrity and differential
corrections are then forwarded to a ground station and uplinked to geostationary satellites together with the
navigation messages of the geostationary satellites. The geostationary satellites then downlink the integrity
and differential corrections for all monitored satellites by means of GPS L1 frequency with a modulation
protocol akin to that employed by GPS. Hence, the geostationary satellites can also serve as additional GPS
navigation satellites. On the basis of the down-linked information, the user receiver forms what are called
‘horizontal and vertical protection levels’ for position computation based on a weighted solution from the
geostationary satellites. The limitations of SBAS for LBS are that the augmentation satellites also transmit
signals that cannot penetrate subways with adequate strength; and in northern regions, the low elevation
angles of the SBAS satellites mean that their signals are unable to improve navigation in urban canyons
(Pozzobon, Wullems, & Kubik, 2004). The Chinese Beidou is currently being upgraded into Beidou-2 or
Compass, a global navigation system.
eLoran Loran means ‘long range navigation’, a 100 kHz terrestrial, low frequency, pulsed radio navigation system
that operates in much of the northern hemisphere. eLoran is ‘enhanced Loran’, which is an internationally
standardized PNT service for use by many modes of transportation and in other applications.
Locata Developed to obviate some of the challenges of the pseudolite system (in terms of hardware cost, near
constellation, unsynchronized signals). The technology is based on a system of purpose-built ground
transceivers that transmit GPS L1 C/A signals, which can be picked up by stand-alone low-cost GPS-like
Locata receivers that are able to track both GPS and Locata signals. Can yield sub-centimetre accuracy in
real-time, but requires special infrastructure (Barnes et al., 2003).
Cellular networks This category is based on existing cellular telecommunication networks. Therefore, where cell geometry is
poor or absent, this category is not useful. Positioning approaches include Cell-ID, time difference of arrival,
angle of arrival, enhanced observed time difference, observed time difference of arrival, matrix, and gprX.
gprX is a mobile unit-based proprietary algorithm that is transparent to the network operator’s
infrastructure (Chai, 2004). Being proprietary, not much is available about the details of this method.
Although both GSM and CDMA incorporate positioning capabilities, location accuracies obtained from
UMTS/WCDMA/3G significantly surpass those achieved from GSM and CDMA.
Cellular-assisted GPS For a GPS receiver, it takes at least 18 seconds to receive orbit and clock models (among other needed
parameters and models) that are necessary for position calculation. In cellular-assisted approaches, the
network sends the receiver a copy of the navigation message. Time-to-first-fix can then be reduced to less
than 18 s. Alternatively, the network may compute receiver’s position (on the network’s location server)
using the information provided by the receiver and send the computed position to the receiver.
Dead reckoning This category is founded on knowledge of distance (or change in position) and heading. Heading is often
provided by MEMS magnetometers. This technology position fix for initialization. Errors grow fast with
distance travelled. Local magnetic effects on the magnetometer can be diminished by coupling the
magnetometer with an IMU or azimuthal gyro (Bonsen, Ammann, Ammann, Favey, & Flammant, 2005) and
using an optimal combination of data from the two sources (Ristic, Arulampalam, & Gordon, 2004).
Inertial systems This is based on the inertial measurement unit (an assembly of accelerometers and gyros organized in a
configuration suitable for measuring acceleration and orientation changes in three dimensions). Position is
obtained by integration. The technology requires zero velocity updates. High-grade IMUs are expensive, but
low-grade fabrications are now available. Miniature MEMS IMUs currently have dimensions of no less than
10  10  5 mm and consume 6 10 mA. In sizeable quantities, their prices are sufficiently low for LBS and
other logistics needs.
Map/feature matching This category is based on identifying notable features in the environment and correlating them with a map
database to determine position solely from this information. The algorithms used can broadly be classified as
topological, probabilistic and fuzzy logic-based (Quddus, 2006; Quddus, Ochieng, & Noland, 2006, 2007).
These are well developed for air navigation but still immature for personal navigation. In transport
telematics, map matching has a slightly different meaning, which is that it is used to integrate positioning
data with digital road network data to enable vehicles to be placed correctly on the road map. This
presupposes that positioning data are available. Major drawbacks of map matching are that the base maps
may be inaccurate or incomplete and mobile terminals in most cases will lack the resources to store high-
resolution maps or to download them from a remote server in real-time. Inaccuracies of maps may emanate
from, e.g., some features being omitted or grossly idealized in the maps. Also, detailed maps of sites, such as
campuses or airports, may not be available from the map content provider.
WPAN This group of approaches is based on personal area networks (Bluetooth, ZigBee, RFID). The basic form of
position information comes from a WPAN client noting the location of the host station. The accuracy of the
position fix is hence directly that of the reference host station.
 A. Musa et al. / Expert Systems with Applications 41 (2014) 137–155 145

Table 2 (continued)

Method Description

WLAN This category is based mainly on Wi-Fi access points (APs). Approaches include two-way time of arrival, time
difference of arrival, fingerprinting, and sniffers. This method is well suited for both indoor and outdoor use.
Skyhook Wireless, for example, has mapped and documented over 50 million Wi-Fi APs around the world.
Apple iPhone™ and iTouch™ cellphones furnish locations using Wi-Fi APs, based on software from Skyhook
Wireless. It seems that long-range active RFID transponders can also be used in ways similar to APs, but the
infrastructure does not yet exist.
UWB UWB signals can travel undetected and penetrate buildings. Methods for creating UWB signals include
impulse radio and frequency hopping over OFDM. Technology is suitable for both indoor and urban use, but
requires a dedicated infrastructure.
Ultrasound In environments with a lot of metal surfaces (such as in silicon wafer fabrication complexes), the use of RF
communications can be a problem because of electromagnetic reflections. In such scenarios, ultrasound
transmitters and sensors can be deployed for positioning in place of RF systems. A novel experiment that
combines active RFID transponders and ultrasound transmitters is reported by Thiesse and Fleisch (2008).
Radio and TV broadcasts This method uses existing radio and TV transmission infrastructure, but a reference station is needed for
transmitters not synchronized to UTC. The approach could use both analogue and digital TV, DAB radio, and
AM/FM broadcasts. Signals can penetrate buildings.
MRERA MRERA stands for ‘minimum range error algorithm’. This technology was developed for vehicle tracking in
dense, high-rise urban areas where visibility to GPS satellites is poor but it is still possible to receive signals
from at least one satellite for certain durations. It relies on GPS pseudoranges to one or two GPS satellites and
ranges from the vehicle to a network of fixed RFID or Wi-Fi landmarks (Mok et al., 2007). It completely
avoids the use of dead-reckoning but requires a database of the fixed landmarks.
DSRC-WAVE Radio beacons or wireless mesh networks installed along roadways as part of the smart highway
infrastructure can be used to locate vehicles in their vicinity. In the future, this is likely to be an important
ingredient of any real-time logistics coordination infrastructure.
Chip-scale atomic clocks This nascent technology aims to replace the temperature-compensated quartz crystal oscillators (TCXOs)
used in commercial GPS receivers with chip-size atomic clocks with power dissipation below 30 mW and
fractional frequency instability below 10-11 over a period of 1 h (Knappe et al., 2004; Knappe et al., 2005;
Youngner et al., 2007; Kitching et al., 2005; Kitching, 2007; Nguyen, 2007). When commercially available,
this will revolutionize positioning, as the technology could be used in other (non-GPS) time-based
positioning systems.
Barometry A miniature MEMS barometric altimeter, if operated in differential mode, can identify relative heights to an
accuracy of 2 m. With suitable, but rather complex, aiding, this accuracy can be significantly improved.

All-IP interconnection:
Internet, GPRS, UMTS, 4G (WiMax & LTE), WLAN, WAN, future networks

Mobility provider
Corporate area network
Other networks (urban

Vehicle area network

Wi-Fi, ad hoc sensor

Personal (wearable)
Traditional networks

Home area network

(DSL, cellular, EDI)

Road infrastructure
networks, etc.)

area network

Fig. 3. Layers of heterogeneous networks all connected via IP core.

filtering of allied data, and course-plotting or routing. The central implies direct noshing of real-time data into enterprise databases,
nodes or gateways of these networks can provide enterprise level and adaptive control of sensor networks and RFID-bearing objects
computing capacity to supplement and integrate the distributed based on data from enterprise databases. With adequate and effi-
processing at sensor nodes (Akyildiz et al., 2002; Shah & Rabaey, cient computing resources to support the requisite onboard com-
2002). Because of the limited power supply, which is invariably puting, these nodes can be utilized as new enterprise data
sourced from onboard batteries, the sensor node computing has sources (Hsu et al., 2007).
to be energy efficient. But, generally, computation is not as Whilst the above statement portrays a perfect scenario, the real-
power-dissipating as communication, and, therefore, an advantage ity is that most mobile terminals, such as the one proposed in Fig. 2,
can be derived in embedding some database capability into on- are thin or slender devices - in the sense that they have only limited
board computing for sensor nodes, to make them independent in memory, horsepower, and communication throughput. There will
control. From a technology viewpoint, the same level of indepen- thus be a need for the device to outsource data processing to remote
dence can be argued for chip-based RFID, i.e., RFID microchips hosts by means of semantic web services and intelligent mobile
can be empowered to operate as mobile data processing and trans- agents. However, the most suitable services for thin devices are un-
mitting nodes. Also, one can envision a two-way interaction be- likely to be web services since these require extensive processing
tween enterprise databases and sensors and RFID hardware. This power and memory for encoding and decoding of requests and
146 A. Musa et al. / Expert Systems with Applications 41 (2014) 137–155

GSM Antenna SHT11

Data
Temperature and
Clk humidity sensor
UART
SIM 5210E ARM9 processor
Wireless modem MPXA6115A
Pressure sensor
(Location engine)
GPS Antenna
256K-Bit CMOS
Parallel EEPROM
GPS receiver
frontend
ATR0601 256K-Bit CMOS
Parallel EEPROM
UART User
Dash7 terminal LED
CC430F5137

Power optimizer

Power supply

Fig. 4. Logic block diagram of the embedded device.

and NTA (network traffic accelerator) technologies to support TCP/

Table 3
System specifications.
GPS receiver/location engine
Able to process at least 5 GPS satellites simultaneously
Be compatible with different GNSS standards, e.g., GPS + GLONASS + Galileo
Be upgradable
Dash7 RFID terminal
Operates in bandwidth 433.04 to 434.79 MHz
Operating rangeP100 m
GPRS+HTTP communications
Be compliant with all the configurations in order to ensure reliable
communication in typical logistics operation conditions
Single-band UMTS/HSDPA 2100 MHz
Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE 859/900/1900 MHz
HSDPA 7.2 Mbps
Environmental sensors
The operating limits of the sensors should slightly exceed the conditions
encountered in full range of possible service environments.
Temperature: Operating range 40 to +60 °C, Accuracy ±0.5 °C
Humidity: Operating range 0 to 100% RH, Accuracy ±0.5%
Pressure: Operating range 0 to 50 kPa, Accuracy (0 to 85 °C) ±2.5%
Power supply
Supply voltage: 2.7 to 3.6 V
Rechargeable battery pack
60 day battery life, subject to use
Dimensions
100  100  50 mm
Weight
100 g
responses. Furthermore, the HTTP communication protocol and
XML encodings used in web services will likely prove too arduous
and inefficient for the resource-poor wireless sensors. Hence, wire-
less sensor networks require thinner web services. Attempts at
developing lightweight web services have already begun (Priyantha,
Kansal, Goraczko, & Zhao, 2008). There also are available recent
lightweight TCP/IP stack for embedded devices that possess no oper-
ating system, and real-time transport protocol (RTP) that runs over
UDP (user datagram protocol). Such lightweight implementations
of TCP/IP, however, do not enjoy the same level of robustness as
the complete/heavyweight TCP/IP protocol. That brings us to the
question of the possibility of adapting TOE (TCP offload engine)
IP communications for resource-deficient devices. Presently, TOEs
are mainly employed with high-speed networks (such as gigabyte
Ethernet and 10 gigabyte Ethernet) to delegate the processing of
the entire TCP/IP stack to the network controller. The main short-
coming of TOEs has been that they are difficult to integrate into com-
puting systems because they entail extensive modifications to the
operating system of the computer or device.
Since TCP is optimized for wired networks, any packet failure is
usually attributed to congestion and hence, as a safeguard, the con-
gestion window is drastically decreased (Comer, 2006). But wire-
less networks do experience erratic and normally fleeting signal
losses (resulting from fading, shadowing, handover, and other
radio propagation upshots) that are not attributable to congestion.
Such packet loss can result in the protocol attempting to forestall
congestion by severe reductions in window size. This leads to frit-
tering away of the radio link capacity. At least three solutions (end-
to-end, link layer, and proxy-based) now exist to check these unde-
sirable consequences. We hope to examine these challenges in
greater detail in further studies.
6.4. Semantic web services and intelligent mobile agents
As mentioned earlier, the device in Fig. 4 will exploit semantic
web services and intelligent mobile agents for offloading most of
the needed baseband processing and for interacting with distrib-
uted remote databases. The semantic web service (SWS) technol-
ogy is the semantic annotation of web services and resulted from
the integration of the semantic web (Berners-Lee, Hendler, & Lass-
ila, 2001) with web services (McIlraith, Son, & Zeng, 2001). The
main distinction between a web service and a mobile agent is that
a mobile agent is not bound to the host in which it commences its
execution or in which it resides: it has the unique capacity to mi-
grate (with its code and current execution state) from one host in a
network to other machines that shelters the objects (software enti-
ties) with which it wishes to interact and benefit from being tem-
porarily resident in the same host as the objects (Lange & Oshima,
1998; Modak, Langan, & Hain, 2005; Wooldridge, 2002). The ability
of intelligent mobile agents (IMAs) to travel to destination hosts,
interact intelligently and dynamically with web services and other
agents on those systems, and then return to their origins makes
 A. Musa et al. / Expert Systems with Applications 41 (2014) 137–155 147

them quite attractive for deployment in many applications, but offers maximum design flexibility by processing the RF signal in
particularly in resource-starved mobile terminals. software. This usually implies digitizing the RF signal as close to
Attempts have been made to unify, or at least integrate, semantic the antenna as possible by means of direct sampling and band-pass
web services technology with intelligent agents (Hendler, 2001; Had- sampling. Both the digital baseband and some part of the RF front-
jiefthymiades, Matthaiou, & Merakos, 2002; Karenos, Samaras, Chry- end are subsumed into software. A software receiver, on the other
santhis, & Pitoura, 2004; Shafiq, Suguri, Ali, & Fensel, 2006; García- hand, is normally taken to refer to the design in which the RF
Sánchez, Valencia-García, Martínez-Béjar, & Fernández-Breis, 2008). front-end is applied directly as an input to software, implying that
To this end, many schemes already exist (Pavel, Miloslav, Marek, & the digital baseband hardware is assimilated with software in the
Vladimir, 2011; Wang, Wong, & Wang, 2012; Xu et al., 2011; Salvato- SoC controller. Software-defined radio is a more inclusive designa-
re, Giovanni, Domenico, & Domenico, 2011; Wooju, Dae, & Sangun, tion: it includes the above two design castes and others such as
2008; Singh & Pande, 2002; Pavel, Miloslav, Marek, & Vladimir, the following. If the digital baseband hardware is itself program-
2011; Spyron et al., 2004). We find the integration scheme of Gar- mable - for example, by using a field-programmable gate array
cía-Sánchez et al. (2008) of particular interest, but it is basically a (FPGA) - then the receiver is of SDR type. In many instances, the
heavyweight SWS formalism that is unsuited to mobile devices. We term SDR is used to mean the deployment of FPGA in a device.
are currently developing our own multi-layered integration architec- FPGAs are somewhat a halfway house between software and hard-
ture, in which we hope that both the device management layer and ware: they provide logic functionalities that can be redesigned and
enterprise application layer will be able to call up the lightweight altered as repeatedly as desired. It is anticipated that in the not-
SWS and IMAs that are to be provided in the intermediary layers. Fur- too-distant future, a mobile device may consist of more than 50
thermore, in our scheme we will introduce (in the device manage- radio standards at substantially less than today’s price tag.
ment layer) corporate network proxies for all deployed mobile units
(MUs), which act for, monitor and control the activities of all the
6.6. The role of the smart highway infrastructure
MUs-including fulfilling their processing and communication needs.
We have not decided whether we should use the synchronous or
The smart highway infrastructure is based on the DRSC-WAVE
asynchronous interaction model in the relationship between a proxy
(dedicated short-range communication and wireless access in
and its associated dynamically allocated MUs, but we are aware that
vehicular environment) technology, in which numerous RFID, Wi-
the asynchronous interaction model can potentially relieve the MUs
Fi and wireless mesh network-based sensor arrays are deployed
much of the communication and processing burden.
along the roadway for the purposes of highway regulation enforce-
ment, vehicle and driver safety, and road charging, among other
6.5. Software-defined radio technology
objectives. The wayside transceivers could then exchange data
(using short range, high bandwidth communication) with passing
For reasons of reconfigurability, multimode operation, global
vehicles and relay the information in real-time to a central server;
roaming, interoperability, diversity processing, mass customizabili-
and, of course, the vehicles could also serve as information vectors
ty, remote diagnostics and remediation, adaptive power manage-
between vehicles and from one sensor node to another. An ongoing
ment, die-area and form factor optimization, enhanced signal-to-
study in the State of New York envisions turning the I-87 corridor
noise ratio, white-space cognition and utilization, etc. (Dillenger &
(from the border of Montreal, Canada, to New York City) into a smart
Buljore, 2003; Moreles-Velazquez, Romero-Troncoso, Osnornio-
highway that will support DRSC-WAVE (Doering, 2006; McNew,
Rios, Herrera-Ruiz, & Cabal-Yepez, 2010), it is desirable that the de-
Partyka, Peredo, & Proietti, 2006; Hsu et al., 2007). The US Federal
vice in Fig. 4 be based on software-defined radio (SDR) architecture.
Communications Commission has already allocated a 75 MHz range
SDR is an architecture that employs adaptable software and flexible
in the 5.9 GHz band for dedicated short range vehicle communica-
hardware platforms to take in hand the challenges that crop up from
tion infrastructure, expressly for enhancing the safety and produc-
persistent evolution and technical innovation in wireless systems,
tivity of the country’s transportation network. Known as the IEEE
especially as waveforms, modulation schemes, protocols, services
802.11p standards, this OFDM system is tailored to minimize multi-
and standards progress. In the telecom arena, there is an ongoing
path interference (which is common in highways and large build-
evolution of technologies (from 3G on to 4G), just as new satellite
ings) by doubling the signalling time for each bit transmitted. The
navigation signals and systems are being introduced (new signals
system also crucially curtails signal latency; this property, together
on GPS, Galileo and GLONASS) and many new hybrid technologies
with the signal’s high bandwidth and the desired short radio-link
are being developed for positioning and navigation.
range, allow the hundreds or thousands of vehicles travelling at high
SDR technology, when compared with complete hardware-based
speeds in the range of wayside nodes to exchange vital information
RF and baseband processor, still suffers the drawbacks of higher
with the nodes and between themselves. Similar projects are being
power dissipation and greater processing overhead. Fortunately, in
piloted in some urban areas of Europe (Giannopoulos, 2004).
the case of Fig. 2, web services and intelligent mobile agents can
With respect to real-time logistics and supply network coordina-
be exploited for efficient power management. On the other hand,
tion, this source of latent data could be useful. If the sensor nodes
SDR technology makes the deployment of web services and software
would possess sufficient onboard memory and computing capacity,
agents somewhat less cumbersome. In the case of navigation with
then they could serve as distributed databases that are linked to cen-
GNSS signals, Lomer and Fulga (2007) have already hinted on possi-
tral servers to which enterprises have secure access. Even if they do
bilities that exist for economizing power in software-based base-
not ultimately have that much resource, they could serve as data
band processing onboard mobile hosts; they made no reference to
routers to remote servers. In our proposed scheme of real-time posi-
drawing on external resources, such as web services and mobile
tioning and identification of all enterprise assets, we can foresee a
agents that we hope to use. They suggested that by eliminating the
strong role for this road infrastructure, but as yet it does not exist.
need for a separate baseband microcontroller and its associated
memory, up to 80 per cent of the development cost of a GNSS recei-
ver can be purged, and ultimately, in the future, the price of a com- 7. Development of the device prototype
plete software-based GNSS receiver will be as low as 1 US dollar. In
our case, we hope to be able to beat this further down. To provide a proof of concept and confirm the technical feasibil-
It is important to realize the different variations of SDR, as the ity of the proposed microsystem, we have used off-the -shelf com-
notion has often been confused by some writers. A software radio ponents to develop a prototype of the device depicted in Fig. 2. The
148 A. Musa et al. / Expert Systems with Applications 41 (2014) 137–155
prototype does not as yet use mobile multi-agents for outsourcing
computation and decision making; all the sensor computations are
performed on the device. Also security features have not been in-
cluded in the prototype. Development work on the prototype con-
tinues in earnest. Fig. 4 provides the device logic block diagram.
7.1. System specifications
We stipulated that the embedded device’s main features must
satisfy the specifications in Table 3.
The present system modules are described in Sections 7.2 to 7.8
(see Fig. 4), all of which have been rigorously tested, both sepa-
rately and on the mainboard.
7.2. Dash7 RFID terminal
The Dash7 RFID terminal was used as the interrogator frontend.
The component constantly searches for RFID tags within the range.
When the terminal detects any tags, it updates the main microcon-
troller which in turn sends the tag information through the GPRS
or the HTTP transport binding. DASH7 stands for Developers’ Alli-
ance for Standards Harmonization of ISO 18000-7. Unlike most active
RFID technologies, DASH7 RFID supports tag-to-tag communica-
tion. When this feature is combined with the long range and signal
propagation advantage of 433 MHz RF (signal can penetrate con-
crete and water), DASH7 becomes an attractive substitute for most
wireless ‘mesh’ sensor networking technologies. DASH7 also sup-
ports sensors, encryption, IPv6, and some other characteristics.
DASH7 has the ability to transmit/receive over very long ranges
without requiring a large power draw on a battery. DASH7 uses
the 433.92 MHz frequency, which is globally available and license
free. The low input current of typical tag configurations may allow
battery powering on coin cell or thin film batteries for up to 10
years. DASH7 network serves deployments in which low power
usage is essential and data transmission is typically much slower
and/or sporadic, like basic telemetry.
DASH7 RFID utilizes BLAST networking technology, which we ex-
plain below. Networks based on DASH7 differ from typical wireline
and wireless networks that operate with a ‘session’. So instead of
replicating a wireline ‘session’, DASH7 was designed with the con-
cept of BLAST (Bursty, Light, Asynchronous, and Transitive). Bursty
— data transfer is abrupt and does not include content such as video,
audio, or other isochronous forms of data; Light — for most applica-
tions, packet sizes are limited to 256 bytes (transmission of multi-
ple, consecutive packets may occur but is generally avoided if
possible); Asynchronous — DASH7’s main method of communica-
tion is by command-response, which by design requires no periodic
network ‘hand-shaking’ or synchronization between devices; Tran-
sitive — a DASH7 system of devices is inherently mobile or transi-
tional. Unlike other wireless technologies, DASH7 is upload-
centric, not download-centric, so devices do not have to be managed
extensively by fixed infrastructure (i.e., base stations).
7.2.1. Software
We used the OpenTag library, which is a full-featured commu-
nications stack for DASH7 Mode 2 (ISO 18000-7.4). OpenTag has a
large feature set but small footprint. Its main advantages include:
small, fast, and high configurability; a 32KB Flash MCU was more
than enough for the logistics device’s requirements; it is open
source, which makes it easier to understand and extend; and it
has a C-based API for writing internal (embedded) extensions.
The OpenTag library was deployed on the chip CC430F5137 (see
Section 7.2.2), which was the main target for OpenTag. OpenTag
was used in a customised software program running on the chip.
Its main function can be summarised using the flowchart of Fig. 5.
7.2.2. Hardware
Texas Instruments CC430F5137 chip was used as the RFID ter-
minal. The chip belongs to a family of ultra-low-power microcon-
troller systems-on-chip (SsoC) with integrated RF transceiver
cores. The main advantages of this chip include: support for Dash7
bandwidth 433 MHz; it has a large flash memory (32 KB), which is
capable of holding OpenTag library along with the customized pro-
gram; it has many general purpose ports for communication with
the main microprocessor; and the ports can work in UART mode.
The chip must be configured before it starts to work within the
embedded device. The configuration includes setting up the RF
transmission mode and deploying the OpenTag and the customised
program. The configuration was done by direct connection be-
tween the chip and a PC. The chip was connected to the main
microprocessor by one of its general purpose ports (ports P1 and
P5). The communication method was by UART, which is supported
by both the chip and the microprocessor. The chip costs 5 British
pounds.
The Texas Instrument CC430F5137 SoC product tree constitutes
the following (Texas Instrument, 2013):
(a) Mesh and IP Networks: 6LoWPAN, Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11/
WLAN), ZigBee/IEEE 802.15.4.
(b) Personal Area Networks: ANT wireless connectivity, Blue-
tooth Low Energy, Bluetooth, Bluetooth + ANT, DASH7, Pure-
Path Wireless Audio, ZigBee RF4CE.
(c) Positioning: GPS receiver consisting of antenna and associ-
ated signal conditioning circuitry required to provide the
microprocessor based positioning engine with satellite nav-
igation data for tracking.
(d) Proprietary RF: SimpliciTI™ network protocol, Wireless
MBUS.
(e) RFID (DASH7 sub 1 GHz): ISO 15693/ISO 14443A/B (13.56
MHz), ISO 14443A/B, ISO 15693 (13.56 MHz), NFC, ISO
18000-2 (134 kHz).
The Texas Instrument CC430F5137 SoC lends us the latitude of
exploiting diverse wireless connectivity and DASH7 RFID standards
on the embedded device in the future. Also, its GPS receiver pro-
vides an independent standby to the one designated in Section 7.3.
7.3. GPS receiver module
A typical GPS receiver contains the antenna, RF frontend IC, and
baseband IC. The GPS antenna is responsible for the initial recep-
tion of satellite transmissions. The RF frontend performs initial
analogue signal processing, amplification of the incoming signal
then down-conversion and filtering of the incoming signal to pro-
duce what is termed an Intermediate Frequency (IF) signal with
higher signal-to-noise ratio than the incoming transmissions. The
IF signal is then converted to digital via an analogue-to-digital con-
verter (ADC). The baseband IC handles all subsequent processing
digitally, namely, the acquisition and tracking of signals from visi-
ble satellites and the navigational calculations required to obtain a
solution for the current location of the receiver.
Traditionally, the baseband IC is implemented using dedicated
hardware designed for the task. However, in our embedded device
the digital signal processing has been implemented entirely in soft-
ware on the host processor. The motivation being that the task of
updating or upgrading the performance of the device is somewhat
easier when function is dictated by software. Should new naviga-
tion algorithms become available, or the GPS standards change,
or it be desired to adapt the embedded device to work with alter-
native GNSS standards (e.g., GLONASS, Galileo or other regional
standards), all that will be required is to change the software, the
same hardware continues as previously. Potentially, updates/up-
 A. Musa et al. / Expert Systems with Applications 41 (2014) 137–155
grades could be delivered whilst devices are in service, via wireless
GSM link. A further advantage is that the same processor used to
manage the onboard sensors and communication with the embed-
ded device via the modem can be used also for the location engine,
thus reducing footprint, component numbers, power consumption,
and design complexity for the hardware.
Atmel ATR0601 was used as the frontend IC. The location en-
gine was implemented as software process running on the
ARM920T microprocessor, which was also used to control the
microsystem.
7.4. Modem
Most of the current location and identification technologies ex-
pend the entire positioning computational budget on the chip.
Although this is sufficient for some applications, it increases the
chip cost — as it usually requires a powerful processor. The accu-
racy of GPS can be affected by a number of factors: ionospheric
and tropospheric delays, signal multipath, receiver clock errors,
orbital errors, number of visible satellites, satellite geometry/shad-
ing, etc. For these reasons it was decided to divide the process be-
tween the backend (the server) and the frontend (the embedded
device). In order to achieve this, the device was provided with a
powerful communication modem. The chosen modem is a
HSDPA/WCDMA/GSM/GPRS/EDGE module, which has a rate of up
to 7.2 Mbp. The proposed modem is a SIM5210, a quad-band
GSM/GPRS/EDGE/UMTS engine that works on frequencies of GSM
850 MHz, EGSM 900 MHz, DCS 1800 MHz, PCS1900 MHz and
UMTS 2100 MHz. SIM5210 provides GPRS multi-slot class 12/
class10/class 8 (optional) capability and EDGE.
SIM5210 supports: GPRS coding schemes CS-1, CS-2, CS-3 and
CS-4; EDGE 8 PSK; DTM (class A) multi-slot class 12; DL coding
schemes CS-4, CS1-9; UL coding schemes CS1-4, MCS1-9; and
UMTS HSDPA up to 7.2 Mbps. Other reasons for choosing
SIM5210 include:
(a) With a tiny configuration of 35 mm  35 mm  4.5 mm,
SIM5210 can fit almost all the space requirements in our
application.
(b) SIM5210 provides an RF antenna interface with two alterna-
tives (antenna connector and antenna pad).
(c) The antenna connector is MURATA MM9329-2700 and cus-
tomer’s antenna can be soldered to the antenna pad.
(d) SIM5210 is integrated with the TCP/IP protocol. Extended
TCP/IP AT commands are developed for customers to use
the TCP/IP protocol effortlessly, which is very handy for
our data transfer application.
(e) SIM5210 is designed with power saving (the current con-
sumption is as low as 4.0 mA in SLEEP mode).
(f) The default interface is USB, but it is possible to use an AT
command to change the interface between the USB and
UART. This makes it easy to interface SIM5210 with the
microcontroller.
7.5. Environmental sensors
7.5.1. Pressure sensor
Pressure sensors can be classified in terms of the pressure
ranges they measure, temperature ranges of operation, and most
importantly the type of pressure they measure. In terms of pres-
sure type, pressure sensors can be divided into five categories:
absolute pressure sensor, vacuum pressure sensor, differential
pressure sensor, gauge pressure sensor, and sealed pressure sensor.
In the embedded device, the pressure needed to be measured rel-
ative to perfect vacuum pressure (0 PSI or no pressure). Therefore,
we chose MP3V5050, an absolute pressure sensor that meets the
149
Start
Search for tags in range
Tag found
Read tag information
Send tag information to device manager on main processor
Fig. 5. OpenTag software.
other device specifications in terms of accuracy, temperature
range, power supply and power consumption.
The features of MP3V5050 include: 0 to 50 kPa measurement
range; 2.5% maximum error over 0° to 85°C; ideally suited to
microprocessor or microcontroller-based systems; it is tempera-
ture compensated from 40 °C to +125 °C; patented silicon shear
stress strain gauge; durable epoxy small outline package (SoP);
and easy-to-use chip carrier option. The sensor supplies an ana-
logue output voltage that varies linearly proportional to the pres-
sure, within the specified measurement range.
7.5.2. Temperature and humidity sensor
We selected the SHT11 combined temperature and humidity
sensor. This sensor was chosen because it provides combined dig-
ital humidity and temperature readings, which significantly saves
power and space. Moreover, the fully calibrated sensor provides
excellent long-term stability and accuracy. The sensor integrates
sensor-elements plus signal processing on a tiny footprint. It also
provides a fully calibrated digital output. A unique capacitive sen-
sor element is used for measuring relative humidity, while temper-
ature is measured by a band-gap sensor.
7.6. Memory
From among the available data storage technologies, EEPROM
memory (flash) was selected because it non-volatile (i.e., it retains
the stored information even if it is not constantly supplied with
electric power). The selected memory is CMOS Parallel, which al-
lows fast read and write. This is desired for real-time applications.
This memory exceeds temperature range constraint of the embed-
ded device (the actual range is 55 °C to +125 °C).
The CAT28LV256 256K-Bit CMOS PARALLEL EEPROM is a fast,
low power, low voltage CMOS Parallel E2PROM organized as
32 K  8-bits. It requires only a simple interface for in-system pro-
gramming. On-chip address and data latches, self-timed write cy-
cle with auto-clear and VCC power up/down write protection all
combine to eliminate additional timing and protection hardware.
DATA polling and toggle status bits signal the start and end of
the self-timed write cycle. Additionally, the CAT28LV256 features
hardware and software write protection.
7.7. Microprocessor
The high-speed ARM9 SoC processor was selected as the sys-
tem’s microprocessor. The following issues were considered in
choosing the processor (Atmel, 2013):
150 A. Musa et al. / Expert Systems with Applications 41 (2014) 137–155

a) The processing power: The C8051F040-25 MHz processing Table 4

power is sufficient to control data flows from and to the Power supply analysis.

wireless module. The chosen wireless modem transfer rate Parameter Symbol Min Type Max Unit
is 7.2 Mbps (in the HSDPA mode) while the microcontroller’s Location engine microprocessor
25 MHz can provide transfer rate up to 8 Source voltage RVDD 3.0 3.3 3.6 V
bits 25 MHz 200 Mbps. CVDD 1.65 1.80 1.94 V
b) The hardware interfaces: ARM920T chips have a wide vari- VDD_PLL 1.65 1.80 1.94 V
VDD_ADC 3.0 3.3 3.6 V
ety of interfaces (2  UART, 2  USB, SPI, 6  I2S, 2  AC0 97), Total power dissipation 2 W
which combine make ARM920T suitable to interface
GPS receiver module
ARM920T with all the required components of the microsys- Source voltage RVDD 3.0 3.3 3.6 V
tem, including modem and sensors. Communication with CVDD 1.65 1.80 1.94 V
the wireless modem is maintained via UART. Humidity and VDD_PLL 1.65 1.80 1.94 V
temperature sensors are combined in a single module and VDD_ADC 3.0 3.3 3.6 V
Total power dissipation 2 W
connected to the microprocessor through the I2C interface.
An independent pressure sensor will later be connected to Wireless modem
Source voltage 3.4 3.6 4.4 V
the microcontroller through an AD converter that the micro-
Supply current 2 A
processor provides.
Condition
c) Hardware and software tools: ARM920T has widely accessi-
ble hardware and software tools, to program and simulate Humidity and temperature sensor
Source voltage 2.4 3.3 5.5 V
different system functions.
Supply current Measuring 0.55 1 mA
d) Resources and support: A wide range of recourses and sup- Sleep 2 28 lA
port materials for ARM920T can be found on the Internet. Average 0.3 1.5 lA
ARM920T’s traditional applications include GPS and fleet Power consumption Sleep 2 5 NW
management systems and industrial hand-held devices. Measuring 3 mW
Average 150 NW

The selected microprocessor is of Harvard architecture, which Pressure sensor

Source voltage 2.7 3 3.4 V
uses physically separate memory for program and data storage.
Supply current 7 10 mA
The processor’s 32-bit address bus can access a maximum of
Condition
4 GB of external data memory or a total of 2 CAT28LV256 devices.
The standard for transmission of GPS data is the GPS NMEA sen- Memory
Source voltage 3.0 3.3 3.6 V
tence. Assuming that the stored data is formatted and ready for
Supply current Active 15 mA
transmission, then a single CAT28LV256 is sufficient to store up Standby 150 lA
to 1000 records of location and sensor information. If the data is
stored in raw form and only formatted prior to transmission, then
some savings in memory allocation can be obtained.
data access layer), the logical layer (configuration manager, data
manager, and the alert manager), data repositories, etc. are all on
7.8. Power supply considerations
the server side.
To obtain suitable power supply for the system, the power
requirements of all the components have been examined in detail. 8. Prototype testing
Table 4 is a summary of the power requirements of the main
components. The components listed in Section 7 were all tested separately in
To minimise the complexity of power distribution circuitry, all the lab and together on the motherboard, both statically and
component devices have been selected to require similar range of dynamically. All the test results met manufacturers’ specified per-
input voltages — approximately 3.6 V is adequate. From the above, formance characteristics and tolerances of the various
it can be seen that the system will require a 3.6 V battery with a components.
capability to provide up to 3 A current. Therefore, any of the fol-
lowing rechargeable 3.6 V batteries is suitable for the design: 8.1. Compatibility testing
DMS Technologies 7140-0055, GP Batteries GP400LAHT3A1X, SAFT
MFN7477, and SAFT MGN7485. All these batteries supply output All the different system components were chosen carefully to
voltage of 3.6 V and their energy storage capacity is 4 Ah. However, provide a high level of compatibility between the components,
the ultimate selection will depend on the final design as it is sub- ease of design, maintenance and management. In particular, the
ject to the experimental results that are currently exposing the sys- interface compatibility (hardware and software connections) be-
tem exact power requirements; it depends on the amount and the tween the microprocessor and the various components was thor-
frequency of the data that the system sends, receives and stores. oughly tested. The following standard testing procedures were
Other essential components shown in Fig. 4 but not detailed implemented:
above include external memory for storage of data and the micro-
processor program, power on-off mechanism, and a direct onboard a) The datasheets were examined in detail to confirm compat-
user interface. ibility between the different components in terms of data
In order to minimize cost and complexity and extend battery transfer rates and DC characteristics.
life, the hardware has a minimal onboard user interface, consisting b) Whilst programming the microprocessor, simulation tests
of LEDs to indicate system status only (e.g., indicating that trans- were used to verify the theoretical input and output charac-
mission and/or reception of data are in progress). Any in-depth teristics. The microprocessor debug and test capabilities
interrogation of the device (e.g., for fault diagnosis or reprogram- were fully utilized; the in-circuit emulator was used for sin-
ming) is most efficiently performed by the user through the radio gle stepping through programs. The interrupt handling was
transceiver. Consequently, the device manager (sensor interfaces/ tested using the debug unit. Additionally, the dedicated
 A. Musa et al. / Expert Systems with Applications 41 (2014) 137–155
debug and test input/output pins were employed in a PC test
environment to examine the clocks, counters, external chips,
and data and address links.
c) Test scenarios were designed and implemented to validate
compatibility between the microprocessor and each compo-
nent. Two sets of test scenarios were implemented. The first
one constituted the module test scenarios. Those scenarios
tested one or more modules independent of other modules
to ensure adequate performance, detect errors and minimize
the total system error probability. The second set of test sce-
narios comprised the global testing scenarios, in which the
system was tested as a whole to ensure that all the inte-
grated modules work together satisfactorily. In addition,
most of the ‘‘special cases’’ were investigated. The special
cases included multichannel communication (testing inter-
rupts and delays), different environmental conditions, and
various power levels.
Following the above steps, a printed circuit board (PCB) was de-
signed and tested.
8.2. Sensor readings
In static mode (in the lab) sensor readings were recorded every
10 min over a period of 24 h. In the dynamic mode, the board was
tested around the campus of the University of Central Lancashire at
pedestrian walking speeds. RFID tags were placed on a selection of
building walls and entrances and they were traversed by the
embedded device. All the tags were suitably identified by the
embedded device and the readings of temperature, pressure and
humidity were all within acceptable tolerances. GPS, temperature,
pressure and humidity readings were compared with external
independent measurements that were taken at the same times
and locations with the embedded device.
Tests were also conducted in a vehicle that was driven on a 40
km route, between Preston and Manchester in the UK. The embed-
ded device and RFID tags were placed at the back of the truck and
sensor readings were taken after every 1 km of the transit. Caution
was exercised to limit metal and other environmental effects.
Again, the readings of the sensors on the embedded device
matched those taken independently by external devices. More test
protocols, profiles and results will be published in the future.
9. Conclusion and future work
9.1. Conclusion
The contributions of this paper include: the illustration of the
roles of the cyber-infrastructure, real-time information flow and
coordination mechanism for efficient management of dynamic,
smart enterprises; the need in logistics for embedded devices that
integrates RFID and sensors for positioning and environmental
parameters; the support technologies and services that might be
implemented in such a device; and the challenges that are likely
to exercise such an integration of disparate technologies on the sil-
icon. In order to demonstrate the practicality and expediency of the
proposed technology, we developed and tested a prototype.
Effective, instantaneous information flow and supply network
control are now feasible. This is due largely to the ever-increasing
growth, speed, convergence and adoption of the Internet, wired
and wireless infrastructure-based communication networks, sensor
networks (ad hoc and mesh), RFID, ubiquitous positioning, micro-
electromechanical systems, software-defined radios, chip-scale
atomic clocks, mobile computing, semantic web services (especially
lightweight SWS), intelligent software agents (especially mobile
151
multi-agents), etc. The attraction, as has been observed in this paper,
is that many, if not all, of these technologies contribute to realizing
the goal of enabling the smart enterprise, but efficiently integrating
all of them on one silicon comes with challenges. Achieving com-
plete visibility of all assets (at the appropriate level of detail, but ide-
ally at the individual item instance) and empowering all mobile
personnel to access distributed databases of all partners in a supply
network in real-time will facilitate the realization of the smart enter-
prise. Such a realization is no longer a dream but a real possibility. In
this paper, we have outlined how positioning and wireless technol-
ogies may be incorporated into EPCglobal’s model of the supply net-
work to further strengthen the model and move it towards the
fulfilment of the requirements of smart enterprises.
With extensive evaluation, model refinement and simulation
studies, the most suitable technologies for positioning can be se-
lected from Table 2 for hardware fabrication, but as noted in Sec-
tion 6.1, in the near future it will be possible to accommodate
many of these technologies on one silicon chip, so that accurate
positioning and navigation will be achievable on the fly every-
where and anytime. Coupled with wireless communication capa-
bility and RFID, this will lead to unprecedented levels of resource
and product visibility in supply networks. The main obstacle would
appear to be the likely high horsepower needs of such a multi-
functional device. It will be valuable to explore power-saving tech-
niques in subsequent studies, since adequate power supply and
consumption mitigation will be essential for any thin device that
will be required to be operable, but not necessarily operational,
most of the time. In fact, this will be a very important dimension
of our future work. Earlier attempts in the past decade by some
firms to develop an implantable GPS-capable chip stumbled mainly
because power sources of dimensions compatible with such a de-
vice are still a challenge (Cozzens, 2006). Securing adequate power
for micro-devices is still an immense challenge, especially if com-
munication is involved, since this consumes more power than
computations.
We have attempted to seamlessly integrate RFID with other
sensors (GPS, temperature, humidity and pressure). Other sensors
(e.g., for light and chemical composition) will be integrated in
our model micro-device in the future, for eventual applications in
various industries. This is particularly needed by the perishable
food supply chain (Spieß et al., 2007). Many challenges do, how-
ever, still need to be addressed in the seamless integration of RFID
with environmental sensors. These will form part of our future
work (see Section 9.2).
The question arises as to whether any enterprise needed contin-
uous remote monitoring of static and mobile assets. Questions like
this will need to be addressed by the service infrastructure that
connects wireless sensors to the enterprise business applications
before the practical utility of total visibility (and a technology such
as the one proposed in this paper) can be ascertained for individual
applications. The merits of end-to-end visibility are obvious en-
ough, but data complexity and needed hardware resources in-
crease significantly with product or item instance tracking.
The modem we used in the prototype currently accepts only
GPRS feeds. General packet radio service (GPRS) is a packet ori-
ented mobile data service on the 2G and 3G cellular communica-
tion systems. GPRS usage charging regime is based on volume of
data, either as part of a bundle or on a pay-as-you-use basis. An
example of a bundle is up to 5 GB per month for a fixed fee. Usage
above the bundle cap is either charged for per megabyte or prohib-
ited. The pay-as-you-use charging is typically per megabyte of traf-
fic. This contrasts with circuit switching data, which is typically
billed per minute of connection time, regardless of whether or
not the user transfers data during that period. GPRS is a best-effort
service, implying adaptable throughput and latency that depend on
the number of other users sharing the service in parallel, as
152 A. Musa et al. / Expert Systems with Applications 41 (2014) 137–155
opposed to circuit switching, where a certain quality of service
(QoS) is guaranteed during the connection. In 2G systems, GPRS
provides data rates of 56–114 kbit/s. 2G cellular technology com-
bined with GPRS is sometimes described as 2.5G, i.e., a technology
between the second (2G) and third (3G) generations of mobile tele-
phony. It provides moderate-speed data transfer, by using unused
time division multiple access (TDMA) channels in, e.g., the GSM
system. 2.5G and 3G systems use double core network infrastruc-
tures, i.e., traditional circuit-switched network nodes (switching
points) for telephony, and packet-switched GPRS nodes for various
data services. Dedicated nodes handle the SMS service. 4G systems,
on the other hand, are all-IP, meaning that the core network is
based on IP routers. GPRS is used by a significant number of end-
to-end visibility architectures and is also used for transmitting dif-
ferential corrections in GPS.
9.2. Future work
The integration of real-time information from sensor networks
with enterprise databases and business processes can be achieved
through service computing. As pointed out in Section 6.4, we rec-
ommend the optimal integration of lightweight versions of seman-
tic web services and intelligent mobile agents (Sourceforge, 2013).
No lightweight versions of these technologies have been identified
for the microsystem described and prototyped in this paper. There
is thus considerable scope for further research in attaining effective
real-time visibility and supply chain coordination, from the three
perspectives of: event-driven, real-time data capture; data trans-
mission and utilization in distributed databases; and instant data
retrieval from such databases over wireless channels.
In this paper the question of vulnerability and security of mo-
bile terminals - both in sensor measurements and in communica-
tion - has not been addressed. Wireless positioning and data
networks are always susceptible to the three most common types
of security breach, namely, impersonation, modification, and re-
plays (Čapkun & Hubaux, 2006; Hu, Perrig, & Johnson, 2006; Ah-
mad, 2005). We shall discuss details of the potential threats and
possible remedies in a future article. In the future, we shall also
provide more details of the framework and logical architecture
on the server side, as well as report the outcome of ongoing further
field trials of the embedded device. Then there are the issues of
methods for power-saving on the embedded device, of integrating
more sensors (e.g., for light and chemical composition) on the mi-
cro-device, and of exploiting the intelligent highway infrastructure
as a data source. Context awareness (see Fig. 2) offers a possibility
to reduce the device’s power budget, but we are yet to investigate
and provision this feature on the device.
Acknowledgments
The authors are grateful to the anonymous reviewers of the pa-
per for their productive evaluation of the paper that contributed
notably to its quality and flow.
Appendix A.
3G = Third-generation communication networks, 3PL = Thirty-
party logistics services, 4G = Fourth-generation communication
networks, 4PL = Fourth-party logistics services, ADC = Analogue-
to-digital converter, AGPS = Assisted GPS (assistance by means of
space or terrestrial data), API = Application program interface,
AVLI = Automatic vehicle location and identification, Bei-
dou = China’s regional navigation satellite system, Beidou-2/Com-
pass = Upgrade of China’s regional Beidou system into a full
global navigation satellite system (the first Beidou-2 satellite was
launched on April 13, 2007), CDMA = Code division multiple access,
CS = Coding scheme, CVDD = Capacitive (element) VDD, DAB = Dig-
ital audio broadcasting, DAC = Digital-to-analogue converter,
DASH7 = Developers’ Alliance for Standards Harmonization of ISO
18000-7, DNS = Domain name service, DSL = Digital subscriber line,
DSRC = Dedicated short-range communication, DSSS = Direct se-
quence spread spectrum, DVB = Digital video broadcasting,
EAI = Enterprise application integration, ebXML = electronic busi-
ness using extensible markup language, EDGE = Enhanced data
rates for GSM evolution, EDI = Electronic data interchange,
EEPROM = Electrically erasable programmable read-only memory,
EGNOS = European geostationary satellite navigation overlay sys-
tem, EGSM = Enhanced GSM (an extension of GSM 900), EPC = Elec-
tronic product code, EPCIS = EPC information system,
ERP = Enterprise resource planning, ESB = Enterprise service bus,
EVDO = Evolution for data only, FCC = Federal Communications
Commission (USA), FDD = Frequency division duplex/duplexing,
FHSS = Frequency hopping spread spectrum, FPGA = Field-pro-
grammable gate array, GAGAN = GPS-aided geo-augmented satel-
lite navigation system (India’s regional navigation satellite
system), Galileo = Europe’s global navigation satellite system,
GDSN = Global data synchronization network, GLONASS = Russia’s
global navigation satellite system, GNSS = Global navigation satel-
lite systems, GPRS = General packet radio service, GPS = Global
positioning system, GSM = Global system for mobile communica-
tions, HSDPA = High-speed downlink packet access,
HTML = Hypertext markup language, HTTP = Hypertext transfer
protocol, ICT = Information and communication technologies,
IDEN = Integrated dispatch enhanced network, IMA = intelligent
mobile agents, IMU = Inertial measuring unit, INS = Inertial naviga-
tion system, IP = Internet protocol (IPv4 for version 4, and IPv6 for
version 6), JADE = Java agent development environment, JIT = Just-
in-time, Kbps = Kilobits per second, KBps = Kilobytes per second,
LAAS = Local-area GPS augmentation system, LBS = Location-based
services, LTE = Long term evolution, MAC = Medium access control,
MANET = Mobile ad hoc network/networking, MAS = Multiagent
system, Mbps = Megabits per second, MBps = Megabytes per sec-
ond, MEMS = Micro-electromechanical system, MIP = Mobile IP
(MIPv4 for version 4, and MIPv6 for version 6), MU = Mobile unit/
client, NIC = Network interface control/card, NGW = Network gate-
way, OFDM = Orthogonal frequency division multiplexing,
OFDMA = Orthogonal frequency division multiple access, ON-
S = Object name service, OS = Operating system, OWL = Web ontol-
ogy language, PCB = printed circuit board, PCS = Personal
communications service (alternatively known as GSM 1900
MHz), PDA = Personal digital assistant, PML = Physical markup lan-
guage (an extension of XML used to provide a description of an ob-
ject in EPCIS), PNT = Positioning, navigation and timing,
QoS = Quality of service, QR = Quick response, QZSS = Quasi-ze-
nithal navigation satellite system (Japan’s regional navigation sa-
tellite system), RFID = Radio frequency identification,
RVDD = Resistance (element) VDD, SBAS = Space-based GPS aug-
mentation system, SCK = Serial clock (output from master), SDI = -
Serial digital interface, SDR = Software-defined radio,
SEMMAS = Semantic web services and multiagent system frame-
work, SIM = Subscriber identity module, SNDC = Supply network
distribution centre, SOA = Service-oriented architecture,
SOAP = Simple object access protocol, SoC = System-on-chip,
SoP = Small outline package, SWS = Semantic web services,
TCP = Transmission control protocol, TDMA = Time division multi-
ple access, THSS = Time hopped spread spectrum, TOE = TCP off-
load engine, UART = Universal asynchronous receiver/transmitter,
UDDI = Universal discovery, description and integration, UDP = U-
ser datagram protocol, UMTS = Universal mobile telecommunica-
tions system, URI = Universal resource indicator, URL = Universal
resource locator, UWB = Ultrawideband (IEEE 802.15.3),
 A. Musa et al. / Expert Systems with Applications 41 (2014) 137–155 153

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Further reading
Cabri, G., Ferrari, L., Leonardi, L., & Quitadamo, R. (2006). Strong agent mobility for
aglets based on the IBM JikesRVM. In Proceedings of the 2006 ACM Symposium on
Applied Computing, Dijon, France (pp. 90–95).