Page 317 - Mechatronics for Safety, Security and Dependability in a New Era

Ch61-I044963.fm Page 301 Thursday, July 27, 2006 9:04 AM
Page 301
9:04 AM
Thursday, July 27, 2006
Ch61-I044963.fm
301
301
THE CHALLENGES ON THE DEVELOPMENT
OF MOBILE CONTROLLED RFID SYSTEM

1
1
Mikael Soini , Lauri Sydanheimo and Markku Kivikoski 2
'Tampere University of Technology, Electronics Institute, Rauma
Research Unit, Kalliokatu 2, 26100 Rauma, FINLAND
2
Tampere University of Technology, Electronics Institute,
Korkeakoulunkatu 10, 33720 Tampere, FINLAND

ABSTRACT
The Mobile Controlled RFID System (MCRS) has been developed for remote tracking and control of
RFID tags. MCRS utilizes the packet switched GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) network in its
operation. However, to guarantee the necessary QoS (Quality of Service) level for critical applications
can be a problem using the GPRS network. Therefore the main goal of this paper is to study how
different applications, mainly MCRS can operate in variable QoS conditions. At the same time the
influence of enhanced security features are studied in relative to the operability and usability of
MCRS. The security level is increased by user certification and by VPN tunnelling.

KEYWORDS
Automation, Mobile tracking and control, RFID systems, Security, Wireless Communication

INTRODUCTION

The motif for this paper rises from previous work concentrating on the Mobile Controlled RFID
System [1]. With this system the tracking and control of RFID tags can be carried out remotely
through the GSM (Global System Mobile communications) network's GPRS service. Tag tracking
solutions can be exploited in many practical situations such as manufacturing processes, material flow,
supply chain and warehouse management, logistics, and security. Research in this paper concentrates
on the QoS issue in GPRS networks. The paper shows how the quality of the GPRS network
connection affects the operation of MCRS and other applications. GPRS QoS parameters here are:
mean delay, jitter, and packet loss proportion. The object is to study how variations in these parameters
influence the amount of transferred packets and data transfer times. The simulations are executed with
and without Virtual Private Network (VPN) tunnelling. VPN is used to increase data security in remote
connections from public to private networks. In this case the VPN connection is based on the Point-to-
Point Tunnelling Protocol. The extensive practical GPRS network operability measurements are the
reference for the simulations.