The integration of Wireless Sensor Networks and RFID for pervasive computing

Abstract

As increasing research effort has been made, pervasive computing is on the step closer to realization. Recent technologies have allowed smaller-scale computational devices with characteristics such as low-cost production, low energy consumption and wireless communication to capture and manage information. The technologies of Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) and Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) are gaining high attention for their promising applications in the field of pervasive computing. Integrating RFID and WSN has been researched extensively in recent years, and deployed in variety of applications. In this paper, WSN architecture, sensor node hardware and RFID system are discussed firstly. According to RFID and WSN architectures and taking into account the specific circumstances of pervasive computing, the integrations of RFID and WSN are classified into three main categories. Each category of integration is described in details through some prototypes.