International Journal of RF Technologies - Volume 11, issue 2

Authors: Chellaswamy, C. | Geetha, T.S. | Vanathi, A. | Venkatachalam, K.

Article Type: Research Article

Abstract: This paper proposes a new method for monitoring the irregularities in railway tracks by updating the status of the tracks in the cloud. The IoT based Railway Track Monitoring System (IoT-RMS) is proposed for monitoring the health of the railway track. The system identifies any abnormality in the tracks at an early stage. These abnormalities are rectified before they develop for smoother transportation. The micro electro mechanical system (MEMS) accelerometers are placed in the axle box for measuring the signal. It becomes hard to identify the exact location of abnormalities when the global positioning system (GPS) falters due to signalling …issues. In this paper, a new hybrid method is proposed for locating irregularities on a track; even in the absence of a GPS signal. Pre-processing of the GPS signal is carried out effectively because the sensors used in IoT-RMS are capable of functioning in a high noise environment. The IoT-RMS updates the location of the abnormality in the cloud and shares it with other trains that will be passing through that location. As a result, the drivers of trains respond accordingly and avoid derailment. An experimental setup has been developed for a study of the performances for four different abnormal cases, and the result shows the effectiveness of the proposed system. Show more

Keywords: Location of irregularity, MEMS accelerometer, track condition monitoring, internet of things, derailment

DOI: 10.3233/RFT-190210

Citation: International Journal of RF Technologies, vol. 11, no. 2, pp. 81-107, 2020

Authors: Li, Qingyun | Koo, Choongwan | Lu, Lin | Han, Jie

Article Type: Research Article

Abstract: With the concept of green hotel, the hotel industry has started to consider a sustainable design and operation to obtain more competitiveness. It is needed to implement a convenient way to recognize a real-time situation about the indoor environmental quality (e.g., temperature, relative humidity, CO2 , TVOCs, PM2.5 , etc.) and the relevant energy efficiency in a hotel guestroom. This study aimed to develop a scalable integrated platform for providing real-time monitoring, alert notification, and analytics so as to satisfy the level of the occupants’ comfort and satisfaction. Facility managers could gain insight from the real-time hierarchical and historical information …and take actions at a point of time. The novel approach could create a comfortable and healthy environment for the occupants in a hotel guestroom while realizing the energy efficiency in real time. The proposed platform was validated with three guestrooms in a hotel, and the scalability of the system was fully confirmed. In the future studies, it is expected to deploy the proposed platform to a larger physical entity of the hotel, providing flexibility and expandability in accordance with the strategic facility planning of the hotel. Furthermore, it is planned to develop various kinds of occupant-centered services in a hotel guestroom level. Show more

Keywords: Internet of things (IoT), indoor environmental quality (IEQ), energy efficiency, real-time monitoring, analytics

DOI: 10.3233/RFT-200263

Citation: International Journal of RF Technologies, vol. 11, no. 2, pp. 109-125, 2020

Authors: Freed, Tali | Carson, Victoria C. | Doerr, Kenneth H.

Article Type: Research Article

Abstract: We present a path determination method for an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) equipped with a radio frequency identification (RFID) interrogation system. UAV path design is one of the main factors influencing the cost of UAV inventory management systems. A case study for using a path-optimized UAV-RFID system is presented. In this case study the RFID-UAV travels above the pastures of an extensive cattle ranch scanning the RFID tags attached to the cattle in order to detect their locations. Since the UAV battery limits the flight time, the UAV path must be segmented and landing locations for recharging or battery …replacement must be determined. Scanning a cattle RFID tag requires the UAV to fly within a certain distance from the animal, as opposed to approaching the animal’s exact location. The reading distance (RD) of the RFID equipment determines the allowable distance. We use an easy-to-explain method to determine the UAV path. We generate a RD-based hexagonal tiling of the pasture and minimize the UAV path such that it visits all the tile center points. Based on the current UAV system configuration and environmental conditions, the optimal UAV tour allows for the scan of each pasture segment’s animals to be completed within the battery-limited flight time. A case study was performed at the California Polytechnic (Cal Poly) State University’s Escuela and Walters Ranches. The RFID-UAV system solution is estimated to be 62%faster than the current cattle scanning practice, which requires ranch employees to search for and scan each animal from close proximity. Show more

Keywords: Radio frequency identification (RFID), unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), tiling, traveling salesman problem (TSP)

DOI: 10.3233/RFT-180163

Citation: International Journal of RF Technologies, vol. 11, no. 2, pp. 127-141, 2020

Authors: Hou, Yubao | Liang, Hua | liu, Juan

Article Type: Research Article

Abstract: In the traditional RFID (Radio Frequency IDentification) system, a secure wired channel communication is used between the reader and the server. The newly produced mobile RFID system is different from the traditional RFID system, the communication between the reader and the server is based on a wireless channel, and the authentication protocol is suitable for traditional RFID systems, but it cannot be used in mobile RFID systems. To solve this problem, a mutual authentication protocol MSB (Most Significant Bit) for super lightweight mobile radio frequency identification system is proposed based on bit replacement operation. MSB is a bitwise operation to …encrypt information and reduce the computational load of communication entities. Label, readers, and servers authenticate first and then communicate, MSB may be used to resistant to common attacks. The security analysis of the protocol shows that the protocol has high security properties, the performance analysis of the protocol shows that the protocol has the characteristics of low computational complexity, the formal analysis of the protocol based on GNY logic Gong et al. (1990) provides a rigorous reasoning proof process for the protocol. Show more

Keywords: Radio frequency identification (RFID), mobile system, mutual authentication, ultra-lightweight, bit replacement operation (Bro)

DOI: 10.3233/RFT-200246

Citation: International Journal of RF Technologies, vol. 11, no. 2, pp. 143-157, 2020