RFID Journal Staff asked 15 years ago Is it possible to design a system that can connect radio frequency identification with mobile phones? We want to track objects using RFID, and get information on the location of those items on a mobile phone, via text messaging (SMS). What technologies need to merge in order to make this happen?
—Vaishali
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Dear Vaishali,
This seems to be a fairly easy software application to write. Each RFID interrogator has its own unique identification number, so you can create a database containing a list of locations in which readers have been stored (dock door 1, loading bay 5, store 62 and so forth), then design a software application that searches for a particular tag ID on the object you want to track—say, a bin of spare parts.
When that serial number is read, it is stored in a database along with the unique ID of the interrogator that captured the tag's serial number. The software application then looks up the location where the tag was read, and sends an SMS message to a predetermined cell phone saying, for instance, "The bin of spare parts has arrived at dock door 1."
American RFID Solutions has developed a sophisticated tracking system for the iPhone, known as iStar, which has been certified by Apple. It connects to RFID readers and the Global Positioning System to locate assets, individuals and potential work-flow problems within a business. The iStar solution—which enables an iPhone user to pinpoint a tagged object by serial number, by proximity, within a user-defined area or by some other meaningful filtering criteria—will be unveiled at RFID Journal LIVE! 2009.
—Mark Roberti, Editor, RFID Journal
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