Cloud computing, REST and Mashups to simplify RFID application development and deployment

While of increasing importance for the real-time enterprise, deployments of Internet of Things infrastructures such as RFID remain complex and expensive. In this paper, we illustrate these challenges by studying the applications of the EPC Network which is an RFID standards framework that aims to facilitate interoperability and application development. We show how the use of blueprints that were successful on the Web can help to make the adoption of these standards less complex. We discuss in particular how Cloud Computing, RESTful interfaces, Real-time Web (Websockets and Comet) and Web 2.0 Mashups can simplify application development, deployments and maintenance in a common RFID application. Our analysis also illustrates that RFID/EPC Network applications are an excellent playground for Web of Things technologies and that further research in this field can significantly contribute to making real-world applications less complex and cost-intensive.