Intelligent Network Services Can Make RFID More Productive

By Michael Crane

An Intelligent Network Service for RFID
The intelligent network service is installed throughout the physical network to capture and filter RFID events at the network edge, and to provide additional data filtering and data authentication and aggregation in the data center. The service understands the content and context of such application messages as advance shipping notices (ASNs), stock allocations and purchase orders, and it processes those messages according to business policies. The service can secure RFID data, provide a standard format for data communication and filter the raw data so only relevant information can pass through the network.

The intelligent network service starts the process of managing RFID data by collecting and filtering data from the reader. Filtering includes correlating, aggregating and transforming the data into meaningful business-level events.

The service then securely routes the filtered RFID messages to the appropriate parties, based on content and any rules created by the administrators. Using content-based routing, for example, the service can automatically direct messages about a particular product to the appropriate product-line manager. This intelligent routing increases network performance by reducing the amount of data propagated through the supply chain.

Filtering data also improves network performance by reducing the volume of data necessary to disseminate relevant information. For example, if a tag remains in the interrogation RF field for an extended period of time, most readers will simply continue reading the tag and pass its data along to the network. They do not have the intelligence to realize they are reading the same tag over and over again in the same location, clogging up the network with redundant data.

An intelligent network service would recognize that multiple reads of the same tag in the same location need not all be propagated throughout the supply chain. Administrators could use the intelligent service to create a policy defining how often a tag should be read in the same location, and to set a threshold for how long a tag can remain stationary before triggering an alert.

Policy-based management is useful in securing RFID data, as well. For example, a policy can be used to determine whether a message has originated from an authorized source. Source authentication may be accomplished by interpreting digital signatures or checking identification against a database of users. This type of security helps ensure that legitimate members of the supply chain send messages to one another, reducing network traffic by preventing unauthorized messages.