Abstract
Because of different hardware specifications, there are no unified protocol commands to use with various kinds of RFID readers. The current commercial RFID middlewares do not satisfy the various requirements from users to support business process logic representation. The EPCglobal, which is leading organization for the RFID research, suggested a RFID middleware architecture which is called ALE(Application Level Events) standard. However, their architecture also does not provide the application level's interfaces. Therefore, a new RFID middleware architecture is required to provide basic RFID functions, conform to ALE's specification and, additionally, support application level's business logic representation. This paper proposes a ALE-based RFID middleware architecture which provides business process logic representation. At first, the basic RFID control functionalities are identified. Secondly, the business process logic requirements in RFID applications are identified and classified Into six categories. Third, the Middelware architecture is implemented with Java and XML technology so that it can easily extended to support the various RFID hardware's protocols. Finally, an example RFID prototype system is developed to show the proposed architecture's feasibility and validate it. The proposed middleware is expected to be used In various application areas since it is using XML technology for easy adaptation and it also con- forms to ALE interface which is standard specification.
