Mobile tracking architecture in ZigBee RFID sensor networks

Zigbee is one of the most exciting wireless sensor network (WSN) technologies for monitoring and control. In our previous research, an integrated Zigbee RFID sensor network was designed as an ‘all-in-one’ system as well as a connectionless inventory tracking solution for Humanitarian Logistics Center (HLC) resource management. Various field trials, which have justified the feasibility and features of such a system, have also revealed the requirement for simple yet reliable mobile tracking architecture for mobile target in Zigbee networks. In this paper a connectionless stochastic reference beacon architecture based on Zigbee RFID sensor network is proposed, for tracking both inventory and mobile targets. Such an architecture not only inherits the previous connectionless inventory tracking system’s features, but also has longer hardware battery life, lower network traffic level and extends the system’s capability to enable mobile target tracking. The implementation of such an architecture and model is also discussed with a demonstration system presented at the end.