C.J. Tan

Interconnected RFID Reader Collision Model and its Application in Reader Anti-collision

While several readers are placed together for improving read rate and correctness, reader collision problems happen frequently and inevitably. High probability of collision not only impairs the benefit of multi-reader deployment, but also results in misreading in moving tags RFID applications. In order to eliminate or reduce reader collision, a current centralized reader network can be modeled as a collaborative network for readers to directly exchange information with other readers. Peer-to-peer computing technology is an emergent technology and is also a preferred candidate for this purpose. Hence, in this paper we present a collaborative peer-to-peer network for reader collision model. This Interconnected RFID Reader Collision Model (IRCD) is constructed upon the RFID reader collision so that it is a fully distributed and self-organized overlay network. IRCD can be used in a dense reader environment to exchange collision related information directly among readers without any central control or intermediation. To illustrate how to use IRCD, a query-hit rate-based dynamic anti-collision scheme is also proposed in this paper.

A semantic similarity approach to electronic document modeling and integration

The World Wide Web is an enormous collection of information resources serving various purposes. However, the diversity of the Web information, as well as its related formats, makes it very difficult for users to efficiently search and obtain the information they require. The reason for the difficulty is because most of the information uploaded on to the Web is unstructured or semi-structured. Many meta-data models have been proposed to respond to this problem. These models attempt to provide a certain kind of general description for the Web information in order to improve its structuredness. Although these documents consist of the largest portion of the Web information or Web resources, few meta-data models deal with ill-structured Web documents by analyzing their semantic relations with each other. In this paper, we consider this huge set of Web information, called electronic documents. We propose a meta-data model called the EDM (Electronic Document Metadata) model. Using this model, we can extract the semantic characteristics from electronic documents and then use these characteristics to form a semantic electronic document model. This model, inversely, provides a basis for the analysis of semantic similarity between electronic documents and for electronic document integration. This document modeling and integration supports further manipulations on the electronic documents, such as document exchange, searching and evolution.

RFID Assisted Object Tracking for Automating Manufacturing Assembly Lines

RFID technology provides a wireless means to detect and identify objects. In this paper, an RFID assisted object tracking system is developed to track the object movement and further predict object positions in the assembly lines. To overcome the problems of the object tracking accuracy with certain amount of readers with omni directional aerial, a convex model for range-free cooperative object tracking is proposed in the manufacturing assembly lines. Further to enhance the assembly line efficiency, a particle filter model is developed to further process the object tracking results to improve the tracking accuracy. The proposed tracking system can also forecast the movement state of objects in the assembly lines.

A P2P Collaborative RFID Data Cleaning Model

RFID emerges to be one of the key technologies to modernize Logistics and supply chain management. In a typical RFID enabled logistics and supply chain application, there exist RFID readers to detect and identify the goods with RFID tags attached. Considering the huge amount of goods, the successful reading of RFID data becomes a crucial issue. Many algorithms and models to improve the RFID reading have been proposed, yet most of them focus on addressing the problem in a single reading node. In this paper, we introduce a P2P model to identify and remove inaccurate reading of RFID data by utilizing the information exchanged among related nodes along the business processing route of each RFID tagged item. The successful deployment of this model will ease the demand for high accurate reading of each RFID reading node while reducing the total cost of the RFID network. Our simulation shows the RFID network correct function against the business requirements will be ensured while the overall performance of the RFID network can be guaranteed.

Distributed and scalable XML document processing architecture for E-commerce systems

XML has became a very important emerging standard for E-commerce because of its flexibility and universality. Many software designers are actively developing new systems to handle information in XML formats. We propose a generic architecture for processing XML. We have designed an XML processing system using the latest technologies, such as XML, XSLT (XML Stylesheet Language Transformation), HTTP and Java servlets. Our design is very generic, flexible, scalable, extensible, and also suitable for distributed network environments. A main application of the architecture and the system is to support data exchange in E-commerce systems.

Warehouse Financing Risk Analysis for SMEs in China

Warehouse financing has emerged as one of the most promising financing approaches for small and medium-sized enterprises (SME). Its basic working mechanism is to transfer the companys assets to collaterals which are more acceptable by the banks. In this paper, we take the position of illustrating how a logistics service provider, the 3rd Party Logistics (3PL), can transform into a financing service provider to coordinate and control the financing logistics processes. With the professional 3PLs help, it is much easier for SMEs to get loan from a bank. In the meantime, the 3PLs business opportunities will be increased by providing financing service in addition to their traditional logistics based functions. This paper first compares different available financing technologies and points out that warehouse financing is one of the most effective financing means for SMEs. After introducing the basic working mechanism of warehouse financing, the risk analysis framework is developed by applying SCOR reference model to identify the financing activities and associated risks. The implementation cost of this approach is reviewed. Future work will be devoted to product and service design for 3PLs based on the warehouse financing mechanism. An outlook for applying this approach for risk analysis in carbon trading and financing is also presented.