© 2019 JETIR January 2019, Volume 6, Issue 1 www.jetir.

org (ISSN-2349-5162)

RFID BASED WAREHOUSE MANAGEMENT

USING RASPBERRY PI
V. Nagamani, C.Sreevani
Assistant Professor, Assistant Professor
Electronics and Communication Engineering
Santhiram Engineering College, Nandyal, A.P, India.

ABSTRACT: In general, warehouses are used to store goods or products. In the warehouses, if we want to locate any
product it is very difficult, because we have to do a detailed search manually in all the available warehouses this requires a lot of
effort. So to avoid this problem the warehouse inventory tracking system is very helpful because it maintains the detailed product
information and tells us in which stockroom the product is present. The warehouse inventory management system is playing a
significant aspect in many productions and goods based methodology. Though there are many wireless communication
technologies the RFID suits the best for the warehouse inventory system. The tag information is transferred from the transmitter
section to Raspberry Pi via a wireless link. The warehouse inventory system developed is used to track the goods or products
attached to the tags and readers address upon entering the warehouse and leaving the warehouse with respective time stamps. The
Raspberry Pi acts as a central server monitoring all the information. The total system gives an archetype to correspond the
information flow and material flow. The web server is built in accordance to provide convenient and graphical interface to track
the products. The developed system results a very low cost system and works dynamically compared with the existing present
warehouse management systems.

KEY WORDS :-RFID System, NODE MCU, ESP8266, RASPBERRY PI, MySQL

1. INTRODUCTION: The warehouse is a point in the logistics systems where a firm stores or holds raw materials; semi
finished products, or finished products. By using warehouses, companies can make goods available “when” and “where”
customers demand them. With the evolution of supply chain philosophies, strategic alliances, just-in-time; the last two decades
have seen a new role for warehousing. Today’s warehouse is not a classical long-term storage facility. Attention is given to the
warehouse role in attaining the logistics goals of shorter cycle time, lower cost, lower inventories and better customer services.
Warehouses processes are being redesigned to achieve cost and order-processing goals and are being relocated to achieve overall
customer service goals.
Warehouse management system (WMS): A warehouse management system, or WMS, is a key part of the supply chain and
primarily aims to control the movement and storage of materials within the warehouse and process the associated transactions,
including shipping, receiving, put away and picking. The system also direct and optimize stock put away based on real-time
information about the status of bin utilization.
Warehouse management systems often utilize Auto ID Data Capture (AIDC) Technology, such as barcode scanners,
mobile computers, wireless LANs and Radio-frequency identification (RFID) to efficiently monitor the flow of products. Once
data has been collected, there is either batch synchronization with, or a real-time wireless transmission to a central database. The
database can then provide useful reports about the status of goods in the warehouse.

OBJECTIVE:

The Objective of a warehouse management system is to provide a set of computerized procedures to handle the receipt of stock
and returns into a warehouse facility, model and manage the logical representation of the physical storage facilities (e.g. racking
etc), manage the stock within the facility and enable a seamless link to order processing and logistics management in order to
pick, pack and ship product out of the facility.

2. PROPOSED SOLUTION:
The proposed solution is to create a Warehouse management System with an integrated RFID-based technology that
will improve the entire inventory process by providing an automated, systematic and accurate warehouse management
cycle that is error-free, efficient and update real-time. The warehouse performs four basic functions: (a) receiving of
goods and other materials from a source, (b) inspection, storage, cross-docking and protection of goods, (c) retrieval
of goods according to customer requirements, and (d) preparation of goods for shipping and transportation.
2.1 COST-BENEFIT ANALYSIS: This project can provide the company with tangible benefits that can quickly and
dramatically improve warehouse operations and increase material management efficiencies without adding headcount. By
implementing an RFID-based WMS, the company will achieve a number of significant benefits. That includes the following:
 Reduced warehouse labor costs
 Reduced clerical labor costs
 Reduced overtime costs
 Reduces of physical inventories

JETIR1901653 Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (JETIR) www.jetir.org 416
© 2019 JETIR January 2019, Volume 6, Issue 1 www.jetir.org (ISSN-2349-5162)

 Lower shipping/freight costs

 Lower costs to rectify errors
 Reduced equipment costs

2.2 LITERATURE SURVEY:

BARCODES USE IN WAREHOUSES: While barcodes have been in use for many years in shipping and manifesting systems,
many warehouses still don’t fully use this technology. That’s a shame; because barcodes help you reduce costs and increase
control of your operation. Among other functions, barcodes let you track the what, who and when for all warehouse activities
within the four walls.
Potential savings can occur in the following areas:
A decrease in clerical costs due to reduced need for manual data-entry functions fewer errors thanks to improved inventory
tracking and positive verification of activities Increases in overall inventory accuracy. Ability to track employee performance that
can increase productivity Improved scheduling of warehouse activities. You can use barcodes in warehouse paperwork (purchase
orders, pick tickets, etc.); for individual employee identification to track who did what; on individual products; and on cartons or
pallets to identify the contents and track activities. Each warehouse location can have a unique barcode that facilitates inventory
moves. Many of the warehouses we work with have applied barcode technology to areas such as receiving, put away,
replenishment, picking, packing, shipping/manifesting, returns, cycle counts, value-add functions and labor tracking. We recently
toured a furniture warehouse that had installed a warehouse management software package within the past few years. As a result
of being able to use barcode applications, the company reduced the warehouse staffing level by 50%. We should note that this is
not a typical result for most warehouses. But there’s no question that moving from a very manual operation to one that uses
barcode technology can yield significant benefits.
Efficient Inventory Management With QR Codes and a Smartphone: It may be hard to believe now, but QR Codes were
originally invented not for marketing, not so that advertisers could put them on every possible product, business cards or banner.
They were invented specifically for inventory management. By the early 1990s, Toyota Company found out that barcode system
they used to track parts was running out of capacity: the number components the company used was about to exceed the
maximum number of items they could encode in a standard barcode. Even if you do not deal with very high number of
components, exceeding regular barcode capacity, your inventory management process will benefit from incorporating QR Codes.
Why? Because of the new part of equation - smart phones. Instead of using traditional scanners, your employees can use
Smartphone (that most of them have in their pockets already) to track inventory items. It means that you no longer need to
purchase scanners in order to be able to record inventory transactions efficiently and eliminate mistakes associated with the
manual data entry. Even if you do not mind the cost of extra hardware, think of how much more convenient it is to use the a
Smartphone instead of a scanner. Scanners need to be either physically connected to a computer, or be in close vicinity, while
most inventory management operations happen in the warehouse, on the shop floor or in the field -- far from the office computer.
Smartphone work in any location, can easily fit in the pocket (unlike a bulky scanner), and in fact are already in the pockets of the
most of your employees. No matter how many employees in your organization handle inventory, they can record inventory
transactions as they happen - and send data to the central database in real time, meaning you always have current inventory status.
These "physical" advantages - convenient shape and size, ability to work without a nearby host computer, being readily available
for employees who handle inventory are only a part of the story. Smart phones are also much more "capable" than regular barcode
scanners.

3. INTRODUCTION TO PROPOSED SYSTEM:

Here in the warehouse inventory system, we are taking two WAREHOUSES i.e. Warehouse A and Warehouse B to distinguish to
which warehouse the goods are going. So we need two RFID readers, two NODE MCU’s, two ESP8266-01 each attached at the
beginning of the warehouse. The RFID reader is used to scan the tags and send it to the ESp8266 via NODE MCU. The raspberry
pi B+ model acts as a central server controlling all the information about the goods like when the specified product entered the
warehouse and when the specified product leaving the warehouse all the information With respect to the timestamps etc must be
sent to the database, so that the controlling agent can track the product details like in which warehouse the product is placed, at
what time it entered and at what it is leaving. The whole database was built with MYSQL .

BLOCK DIAGRAM:

JETIR1901653 Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (JETIR) www.jetir.org 417
© 2019 JETIR January 2019, Volume 6, Issue 1 www.jetir.org (ISSN-2349-5162)

Figure1: Block Diagram of Two warehouses

Database : MySQL
No of tags for stockroom 1=4
No of tags for stockroom 2=4

In the web server it must display like below

TITLE: Welcome to warehouse management system
STOCK ROOM 1: Table: Warehouse1
S.NO TAG PRODUCT STOCKROOM 1 TIME –IN TIME –
NUMBER DESCRIPTION OUT

STOCK ROOM 2: Table: Warehouse2

S.NO TAG PRODUCT STOCKROOM TIME –IN TIME –OUT

NUMBER DESCRIPTION 2

AFTER ENTERING TAG NUMBER In The Search Field THE TABLE MUST SHRINK LIKE BELOW
S.NO TAG PRODUCT STOCKROOM TIME –IN TIME -OUT
NUMBER DESCRIPTION NO

4. HARDWARE COMPONENTS:
RASPBERRY PI:-The Raspberry Pi is a low cost, credit-card sized computer that plugs into a computer monitor or TV, and uses
a standard keyboard and mouse. It is a capable little device that enables people of all ages to explore computing, and to learn how
to program in languages like Scratch and Python.
HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT:
The board of trustees was assembled by 2008 and the Raspberry Pi Foundation was founded as a registered charity in May 2009
in Caldecott, Cambridge shire, UK.The Raspberry Pi was created in February 2012 by the Raspberry Pi Foundation, Originally
setup to promote and teach basic computer science in schools and colleges around the UK. They initially released 2 Devices the
Model A and the Model B, these computers ranged in spec and abilities. On the Raspberry pi website they created 2 images that
could be installed easily onto a sd card which would then act as the OS for the device, one of the images was based off of Debian
a popular lightweight Linux OS and was called Raspbian, the other was called Raspbmc and was based off the popular media
centre software Kodi (Formally known as XBMC).In February 2014 they had been reported to have sold 4.5 million boards, soon
after this success they released the Model A+ and Model b+ which provided more GPIO’s and used less power to run. In early
2015 the Raspberry PI 2 was announced with increased MHz by 200 to bring it to 900 MHz and doubled the ram to make it 1GB.

JETIR1901653 Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (JETIR) www.jetir.org 418
© 2019 JETIR January 2019, Volume 6, Issue 1 www.jetir.org (ISSN-2349-5162)

5. KEY FEATURES:
The Model B+ uses the same BCM2835 application processor as the Model B. It runs the same software, and still has 512MB
RAM; but James and the team have made the following key improvements:
More GPIO.The GPIO header has grown to 40 pins, while retaining the same pin out for the first 26 pins as the Model B.
More USB. We now have 4 USB 2.0 ports, compared to 2 on the Model B, and better hot plug and over current behavior.
Micro SD. The old friction-fit SD card socket has been replaced with a much nicer push-push micro SD version.
Lower power consumption. By replacing linear regulators with switching ones we've reduced power consumption by between
0.5W and 1W.
Better audio. The audio circuit incorporates a dedicated low-noise power supply.
Neater form factor. We've aligned the USB connectors with the board edge, moved composite video onto the 3.5mm jack, and
added four squarely-placed mounting holes. It's an evolution from last year's Raspberry Pi model B rather than an all-new Pi; its
creators claim that it "isn't a Raspberry Pi 2, but rather the final evolution of the original Raspberry Pi". To this end the B+ has the
same 700MHz Broadcom processor as the previous model, and there's still 512MB RAM on board. Specifications Broadcom
BCM2835 Soc processor with 700MHz ARM1176JZF-S core, 512MB RAM, Video core 4 GPU supports up to 1920x1200
resolution, micro SD card slot, 10/100Mbps Ethernet port, 4 x USB 2.0 ports, HDMI, audio/video jack, GPIO header, micro USB
power port, DSI and CSI ports, 85.6x56mm.
More processor speed. The CPU on the raspberry Pi 3 is one and a half times faster at 1.2GHz.
On-board connectivity. The Pi 3 features 802.11 b/g/n 2.4 GHz Wireless LAN and Bluetooth Classic & Low Energy (BLE).
You can get connected much quicker without the need for any external devices in the raspberry pi3 b+ module.
A power supply. With more processor speed and on-board connectivity, you'll need more power. Power supplies for previous Pi
boards will not be sufficient. You will need the Official Raspberry Pi 3 Power Supply (9098126 — white) or (9098135-black).
New components. The Pi 3 features a chip antenna where status LEDs were located previously. The status LEDs are still on the
board, right next to the microSD card slot.
Like the Pi 2, it also has:
1GB RAM,4 USB ports,40 pins with including GPIO pins, Full HDMI port, Ethernet port, Combined 3.5mm audio jack and
composite video, Camera interface (CSI),Display interface (DSI),Micro SD card slot (now push-pull rather than push-
push),Video Core IV 3D graphics core, The Raspberry Pi 3 has an identical form factor to the previous Pi 2 (and Pi 1 Model B+)
and has complete compatibility with Raspberry Pi 1 and 2.

5.1 PRODUCT DESCRIPTION:

The Raspberry Pi Model B+ incorporates a number of enhancements and new features. Improved power consumption, increased
connectivity and greater IO are among the improvements to this Powerful, small and lightweight ARM based computer.
RFID Readers:-

Figure2: EM-18 RFID

This module directly connects to any microcontroller UART or through a RS232 converter to PC. It gives UART/Wiegand26
output. This RFID Reader module works with any 125khz RFID tags.
Radio-frequency identification (RFID) uses electromagnetic fields to automatically identify and track tags attached to objects.
The tags contain electronically stored information. Passive tags collect energy from a nearby RFID reader's interrogating radio
waves. Active tags have a local power source such as a battery and may operate at hundreds of meters from the RFID reader.
Unlike a barcode, the tag need not be within the line of sight of the reader, so it may be embedded in the tracked object. RFID is
one method for Automatic Identification and Data Capture (AIDC).RFID tags are used in many industries, for example, an RFID
tag attached to an automobile during production can be used to track its progress through the assembly line; RFID-tagged
pharmaceuticals can be tracked through warehouses; and implanting RFID microchips in livestock and pets allows positive
identification of animals. A radio-frequency identification system uses tags, or labels attached to the objects to be identified.
Two-way radio transmitter-receivers called interrogators or readers send a signal to the tag and read its response. RFID tags can
be either passive, active or battery-assisted passive. Here in our project we used active tags. An active tag has an on-board battery
and periodically transmits its ID signal. A battery-assisted passive (BAP) has a small battery on board and is activated when in the
presence of an RFID reader. A passive tag is cheaper and smaller because it has no battery; instead, the tag uses the radio energy
transmitted by the reader. However, to operate a passive tag, it must be illuminated with a power level roughly a thousand times
stronger than for signal transmission. That makes a difference in interference and in exposure to radiation. Tags may either be
read-only, having a factory-assigned serial number that is used as a key into a database, or may be read/write, where object-
specific data can be written into the tag by the system user. Field programmable tags may be write-once, read-multiple; "blank"
tags may be written with an electronic product code by the user. RFID tags contain at least two parts: an integrated circuit for
storing and processing information, modulating and demodulating a radio-frequency (RF) signal, collecting DC power from the

JETIR1901653 Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (JETIR) www.jetir.org 419
© 2019 JETIR January 2019, Volume 6, Issue 1 www.jetir.org (ISSN-2349-5162)

incident reader signal, and other specialized functions; and an antenna for receiving and transmitting the signal. The tag
information is stored in a non-volatile memory. The RFID tag includes either fixed or programmable logic for processing the
transmission and sensor data, respectively. An RFID reader transmits an encoded radio signal to interrogate the tag. The RFID tag
receives the message and then responds with its identification and other information. This may be only a unique tag serial
number, or may be product-related information such as a stock number, lot or batch number, production date, or other specific
information. Since tags have individual serial numbers, the RFID system design can discriminate among several tags that might
be within the range of the RFID reader and read them simultaneously.
A liquid crystal display (LCD) is an electronically-modulated optical device shaped into a thin, flat panel made up of any number
of color or monochrome pixels filled with liquid crystals and arrayed in front of a light source (backlight) or reflector. It is often
used in battery-powered electronic devices because it requires very small amounts of electric power.

5.2 SOFTWARE MODULES:

PYTHON, RASPBERRY PI SOFTWARE CONFIGURATION TOOL (RASPI-CONFIG).

6. IMPLEMENTATION OF PROJECT:
Heart of this project is raspberry pi minicomputer. The Wi-Fi module scans for the available network and connects to the network
with pass-word. To implement the project, we have to write the appropriate program for the required result. For this we are
writing the code in python language. Firstly after connecting the raspberry pi to the system we have to configure the keyboard and
configure the Wi-Fi by writing the username and password to which the board has to connect. Open Lx terminal and
type”sudonano home automation.py” and press enter. Start the program with importing all the supporting files, initialize LCD for
displaying the output. Then initialize the Wi-Fi for the working of project. Initialize the GPIO pins for different inputs and outputs
for controlling the home appliances.
Now write the program and press CTRL+X for saving the program. To execute the program type “sudo python home
automation.py” and press enter. Interface the LCD to Raspberry Pi for displaying the output after execution. Make the
connections such as relay circuit for switching the loads and L293D for driving the motor to open or close the door.
RESULT:
When we login to web server what we mentioned in the above chapter, then the below web page will be displayed.

Figure3: Welcome Display

From the above image we can see some of tag numbers displaying .Actually when the tag of particular good is read by the RFID
reader then that particular tag details are displayed at the starting of the table with tag number product description and in which
stock room it is going to be placed with the location and also date, time. At the top right side of the web page we can see the
“Goto Search” option click on that option and now another page is opened as follows.

JETIR1901653 Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (JETIR) www.jetir.org 420
© 2019 JETIR January 2019, Volume 6, Issue 1 www.jetir.org (ISSN-2349-5162)

Figure 4: Date, Time and Location

Now from the image we can see the page with search option , here in the search option you can enter your good or product tag
number as I entered one of the displayed tag number in the search box i.e. I entered a tag number like ‘4C006EB32FBE’ of
product 4 and it cost as RS 400/- then the details of the only that tag number is listed in another page as follows

Figure 5: person of product owner entered

From the image you can see that how many times the person of product owner entered into warehouse with the tag the time and
date is displayed along with the location.
CONCLUSION:
The warehouse management (WMS) based on RFID using Raspberry pi 3 can collect, transfer, check, and update mass data on
daily frequent goods entry and delivery, thus the labor intensity will be decreased , errors like fault scanning, miss scanning, re-
scanning in the repeating manual operations can also be avoided. It improves the efficiency and accuracy, with the development
of the RFID technology, reduction of costs, gradual unification of the standards, decrease of the error rate, the effective
combination of WMS and RFID will become one of the key factor to improve the competitive power of enterprises and the
efficiency of the supply chain.

APPLICATION:
 Increase in organizational transparency and responsibility.
 Accurate and faster access to data for timely decisions.
 A wider reach in terms of vendors, thus producing more competitive bids.
 Improvement in customer response time.
 Significant decrease in time and effort needed in data entry.
 More controls thereby lowering the risk of inappropriate utilization of resources.
 Decrease in Labor Work And Errors.

JETIR1901653 Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (JETIR) www.jetir.org 421
© 2019 JETIR January 2019, Volume 6, Issue 1 www.jetir.org (ISSN-2349-5162)

References:
[1] Caron, F., G. Marchet, and A. Perego. 1998. “Routing Policies and COI-Based Storage Policies in Picker-to-Part
Systems.” International Journal of Production Research 36 (3): 713–732.10.1080/002075498193651, Caron, F., G. Marchet,
and A. Perego. 2000. “Optimal Layout in Low-Level Picker-to-Part Systems.” International Journal of Production Research 38
(1): 101–117.10.1080/002075400189608,
[2] De Koster, R., E. Van der Poort, and M. Wolters. 1999. “Efficient Orderbatching Methods in Warehouses.” International
Journal of Production Research 37 (7): 1479–1504.10.1080/002075499191094
[3] De Koster, R., T. Le-Duc, and Y. Yu. 2008. “Optimal Storage Rack Design for a 3-Dimensional Compact
AS/RS.” International Journal of Production Research 46 (6): 1495–1514.10.1080/00207540600957795
[4] Ekren, B. Y., and S. S. Heragu. 2010. “Simulation-Based Regression Analysis for the Rack Configuration of an Autonomous
Vehicle Storage and Retrieval System.” International Journal of Production Research 48 (21): 6257–
6274.10.1080/00207540903321665
[5]Gagliardi, J. P., J. Renaud, and A. Ruiz. 2012. “Models for Automated Storage and Retrieval Systems: A Literature
Review.” International Journal of Production Research 50 (24): 7110–7125.10.1080/00207543.2011.633234
[6] Grosse, E. H., C. H. Glock, M. Y. Jaber, and W. P. Neumann. 2015. “Incorporating Human Factors in Order Picking Planning
Models: Framework and Research Opportunities.” International Journal of Production Research 53 (3): 695–
717.10.1080/00207543.2014.919424
[7] Grosse, E. H., C. H. Glock, and W. P. Neumann. 2017. “Human Factors in Order Picking: A Content Analysis of the
Literature.” International Journal of Production Research 55 (5): 1260–1276.10.1080/00207543.2016.1186296
[8] Heragu, S. S., L. Du, R. Mantel, and P. Schuur. 2005. “Mathematical Model for Warehouse Design and Product
Allocation.” International Journal of Production Research 43 (2): 327–338.10.1080/00207540412331285841
[9] Hwang, H., Y. H. Oh, and Y. K. Lee. 2004. “An Evaluation of Routing Policies for Order-Picking Operations in Low-Level
Picker-to-Part System.” International Journal of Production Research42 (18): 3873–3889.10.1080/00207540410001696339

JETIR1901653 Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (JETIR) www.jetir.org 422