By using RFID/NFC — passive sensors, along with ZigBee — active sensors, asset tracking can be more accurate than ever along the whole supply chain process. Product management software, such as ERP software, will have access in real time to information related to remaining stock, storage and transportation conditions (temperature and humidity levels, vibrations, light exposure, etc), expiration dates and even consumer profiles, knowing time spent in front of a shelf or products picked up and not bought.

Security applications, including access control, can also be covered with this technology as the RFID standard — Mifare- uses a 6 bytes key to ensure maximum privacy and authentication requirements, a major concern in this technology.

The information given by the passive tags (cards, keyrings, stickers, etc) is read by the RFID/NFC interface and then transmitted using the ZigBee radio to an Internet Gateway which will finally upload it to a Cloud server making it accessible everywhere. The identification data can also be sent to the Cloud directly using the Wifi radio which performs secure connections with the web servers (HTTPS).

NFC technologies, quickly adopted in the majority of Smartphones brands, allows everyone to be part of the Internet of Things. Libelium’s CTO David Gascón says, “Soon, we will scan products in the supermarket with our Smartphones to check if they contain anything our family is allergic to and see nutritional information while our fridge will warn us about expiring dates and suggest shopping lists according to our preferences”.

Libelium provides an intuitive and open source programming API and complete documentation with examples in order to help developers to easily start working with the platform.

www.libelium.com/rfid_nfc_zigbee_sensors