Chapter9.Designing and Implementing an RFID Solution

Chapter 9. Designing and Implementing an RFID Solution

Just how challenging can it be to design and implement a nontrivial RFID solution? Someone who has not implemented such an RFID system might think, "Not much at all! After all, what else do you need besides a few readers, antennas, cables, and some tags to build any RFID system?" The short answer is this: plenty. This chapter provides the long answer. Suffice to say that designing and implementing a real-world, nontrivial RFID solution is not easy. Therefore, if you are expecting to use a plug-and-play RFID solution for your business needs, be forewarned: The unique needs of each business and the involvement of several variables influence the appropriateness of an RFID solution. No single one-size-fits-all RFID solution exists. Depending on your business needs, you can find several solution components commercially available today from hardware and software vendors as well as integrators. The task is to know which of these components will provide the optimum solution and how you need to put these elements together to achieve the desired solution.

This chapter provides designers and implementers with an in-depth examination of the variables involved in an RFID solution. The chapter also covers the complexity and potential pitfalls involved in designing and implementing a nontrivial RFID solution. In addition, you will find several practical tips and suggestions based on real-world design and implementation experience. From this chapter, you can take away a rich set of tools and guidelines to use to craft your RFID system.

NOTE

This chapter assumes that the designers and implementers are already well versed in general application design and implementation, such as crafting system architecture and so on. It also assumes that the appropriate business use cases, application requirements, and nonfunctional requirements activities have been completed at this point. Therefore, this chapter does not discuss these topics in detail.

Some of the topics covered in this chapter, such as vendor selection, might seem beyond the context, in a traditional sense, of system design and implementation. However, these seemingly out-of-scope variables have important bearing on design and implementation assumptions, and are therefore considered in this chapter.

Some of the variables can prove difficult if not impossible to analyze using only pen and paper. Designers and implementers should be prepared to get their hands dirty by actually using RFID products in trial/pilot setups. This hands-on experience should help them determine the parameters that, in turn, will enable them to make the right technical decisions.