GTSys: A mobile agent based in-transit goods tracking system

Abstract

The real-time information access of goods plays an increasingly important role for decision-making in operations management of supply chain. Based on mobile agent and radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology, this paper proposes a novel solution to track in transit goods. Firstly, mobile RFID reader integrated in a smart phone retrieves information automatically from RFID tags bound to goods. Then, the front-end system that works on the smart phone send information back to the back-end system via short message system of mobile telecommunication platform. Because the solution is built on mobile agent platform, it enables the back-end system to dispatch mobile agents to the front-end system to process raw RFID data locally, and only the filtered results are fed back. Therefore, the solution promises to reduce time and cost of data transfer between the front-end system and the back-end system. Finally, a prototype system, GTSys named, is implemented and verified on simulation platform. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2007.