Rafael Pous

Low-Profile Patch Antenna for RF Identification Applications

A novel low-profile bow-tie patch antenna, which can be mounted on metallic objects for RF identification (RFID) applications is presented. This antenna is fabricated using a single layer printed circuit board with thickness of 1.5 mm without any via-hole or shorting plate. The RFID chip is connected to a small loop, which is magnetically coupled to the radiating body. The loop, as well as the radiating body, can be fabricated as a separate inlay, simplifying the manufacturing process and reducing its cost. A prototype has been fabricated and measured.

Cricking: customer-product interaction in retail using pervasive technologies

The popularization of eCommerce has led to effective customer shopping experiences. Pervasive computing could bring the benefits of eCommerce to brick and mortar stores, merging both online and physical worlds into a unique system. We define crick as the extension of the (c)lick and b(rick) concept, by means of pervasive technologies. In this paper, we summarize our work-in-progress research on using pervasive Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) to sense human-product interaction. These cricks can be performed through diverse interfaces in the retail domain, and automatically receive feedback in different manners. We believe that integrating RFID and other pervasive technologies in retail stores is the next step to obtain comprehensive customers user models and preferences. Retail management improvement, or personal and collaborative recommendations, are envisioned to be successful applications of cricking.

CUIDATS: An RFID–WSN hybrid monitoring system for smart health care environments

Abstract The continuous development and improvement of low-power wireless communication technologies is enabling the emergence of many new applications in the field of the Internet of Things (IoT). One of the main areas of research within the Smart City context is smart health, which engages novel IoT initiatives to improve both quality and access to health care and smart services in general. In this paper we present CUIDATS, an IoT hybrid monitoring system for health care environments which integrates RFID and WSN technologies in a single platform providing location, status, and tracking of patients and assets. After its performance validation in a suitable testbed, CUIDATS has been deployed and evaluated with a high degree of success in a real hospital.

Projection of RFID-Obtained Product Information on a Retail Stores Indoor Panoramas

RFID can be used to obtain information about objects present in a physical space, including their approximate location. Handheld RFID readers, smart shelves, zenithal antennas, and autonomous robots can obtain additional information with varying time and space resolutions. The authors present a system that projects this information on a panoramic view of a retail store, allowing users to virtually navigate the space and obtain quasi-real-time information about the products as they actually are in the store. For example, when a user clicks on the image of a shelf in the panorama, product information appears at or near that position from the last RFID-based inventory, which could be as recent as a few seconds ago.

Using Augmented Reality and Internet of Things to improve accessibility of people with motor disabilities in the context of Smart Cities

Abstract Smart Cities need to be designed to allow the inclusion of all kinds of citizens. For instance, motor disabled people like wheelchair users may have problems to interact with the city. Internet of Things (IoT) technologies provide the tools to include all citizens in the Smart City context. For example, wheelchair users may not be able to reach items placed beyond their arm’s length, limiting their independence in everyday activities like shopping, or visiting libraries. We have developed a system that enables wheelchair users to interact with items placed beyond their arm’s length, with the help of Augmented Reality (AR) and Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technologies. Our proposed system is an interactive AR application that runs on different interfaces, allowing the user to digitally interact with the physical items on the shelf, thanks to an updated inventory provided by an RFID system. The resulting experience is close to being able to browse a shelf, clicking on it and obtaining information about the items it contains, allowing wheelchair users to shop independently, and providing autonomy in their everyday activities. Fourteen wheelchair users with different degrees of impairment have participated in the study and development of the system. The evaluation results show promising results towards more independence of wheelchair users, providing an opportunity for equality improvement.

Human-object interaction reasoning using RFID-enabled smart shelf

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID)-enabled smart shelves are becoming common place in pervasive retail. These devices provide real-time information about the items stock and location, but few efforts have been made to reliably detect human interaction with the items. We present a novel approach on real-time human-object interaction detection based on RFID using supervised machine learning techniques. By analyzing specific RFID features, we classified human interaction on a real smart shelf, achieving a performance over 84%. This work aims to provide the first method to model RFID information as a source of human activity recognition, with application to context-aware industrial infrastructure, smart environments and Internet of Things.

Cricking: browsing physical space with smart glass

We are so used to surfing the web, clicking on links and getting instant feedback, that we often wonder why we cannot do the same on physical surfaces. We have coined crick as a portmanteau term blending click and brick (and mortar) to describe the action of selecting a point on a physical surface and receiving digital information about its content. In this paper we are presenting a browsable physical space with clicking solution. Our target space is a shelf equipped with Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) containing changing number of DVDs and books. The mouse is replaced by a smartphone acting as a touch pad, the cursor is replaced by a controllable moving head beam light that projects a spot on the shelf and the information about the products near the cursors position is then shown on a heads-up display (HUD) such as Google Glass. The items can be localized and visualized at HUD with an accuracy of 99%. The system is developed in context to independent living i.e. wheelchair users.

Mobile augmented reality for browsing physical spaces

Browsing, a concept usually reserved for the on-line world, consists in a sequence of media consumptions and clicks: reading text, looking at images, watching videos, interlaced with clicks that take us from one content to another. A similar concept does not yet fully exist in the physical world. In this paper we present a system that uses Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) to obtain information about the objects on a shelf, and Augmented Reality (AR) to let users click on a live image of that shelf shown on a handheld device, accessing the information about the objects located in the vicinity of the clicked spot. A smart shelf with RFID has been set up to which a AR marker has been added to be able to map physical to screen coordinates. Testing and validation of system is done with different number of books at different locations on a shelf. The resulting experience is close to browsing a shelf, clicking on it and obtaining information about the objects it contains.

Bringing online shopping experience to offline retail through augmented reality and RFID

Retail is undergoing through major technological changes. Online shopping is rapidly increasing because of the features it offers. Bringing online shopping features to offline retail will enrich customer experience. In this paper we present Augmented Reality (AR) interfaces developed for handheld devices, linked to a physical Smart Space to bridge the gap between offline and online retail. Preliminary evaluation shows that the user is able to interact with the products in the physical spaces while having access to online shopping features. System is tested and validated with number of products at Radio Frequency(RFID) based smart shelf.

Browsing reality: dynamic contextualization in human scale smart spaces

Augmented Reality (AR) systems can provide a method for browsing information that is situated in the real-world. We have developed a system that enable the user to browse the objects in the real-world with the help of AR. Our system is an AR application that incorporates information obtained by a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) system. Our application runs on a smartphone or a tablet and its target space is a shelf. By aiming a mobile phone or tablet camera at a collection of items present on a shelf, a user can browse and interact with the items through the smartphone or tablet.The shelf is termed as smart shelf and it is equipped with the RFID system that makes it a smart space. All the items present on a shelf are RFID-tagged, so they can be inventoried and their locations are calculated with the help of the RFID system. The project is focused on enhancing and enriching the user experience in browsing physical reality.