An RFID/WSN-based Monitoring System of

Smart Logistics on E-Commerce

Yu Guo and Junxiang Li

Business School, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, Shanghai, China Email: 13120738202@163.com, lijx@usst.edu.cn

Abstract—Using the method of questionnaire, the

requirements of e-commerce logistics information system

are proposed in a list which states all the functional and

nonfunctional requirements. In order to fulfill these

requirements, an RFID/WSN-based monitoring system

(RWMS) is established. The whole process of this

monitoring system is described. After RWMS is applied, all

the nonfunctional requirements are turned into functional.

Index Terms—RFID, WSN, smart logistics, information

system

I. INTRODUCTION

As the overwhelming majority of people prefer to

make a deal online, e-commerce has stirred increasingly

up more people's attention. Trades of e-commerce can be

completed by three steps—firstly consumers pay over the

Internet, secondly sellers make deliveries, and finally

consumers conform deliveries. The emergence of

e-commerce is the trend of the development of the market

in modern society. On the one hand, from the consumers’

perspective, e-commerce helps them save time, makes

shopping more convenient and provides cheaper

commodities with multiple options. On the other hand,

from the sellers’ perspective, e-commerce offers a new

way of sale and, in the meantime, saves cost such as rent.

To e-commerce, for it’s not synchronous between

payment and goods receipt, logistics has become the most

important step in which process should be an ideal system

to provide people seamless information. However, the

problem is that although logistics develops at an amazing

speed, it still can’t reach consumers’ demand.

II. LITERATURE REVIEW

Werner et al. denote that radio frequency identification

(RFID) technology is not only proved to be effective in

the fields of trade and stock-keeping, but also could be

used in the field of foreseeing future uncertainties [1].

Chonghua Li et al. show the application of RFID in every

link of logistics management such as the design of

hardware and software for entering storage, the delivery

of cargo from storage and examining goods of logistics

warehouse management system by means of RFID tech-

nology [2]. X. Q. Xu et al. propose a smart reverse supply

chain system, which is able to enhance the reverse supply

Manuscript received January 1, 2016; revised June 7, 2016.

chain real-time information transmission, as well as

reduce the uncertainty and complexity of the product

recycling process, based on RFID and other sensing and

intelligent technologies [3]. R. Zhang et al. establish a

logistics transportation vehicle system based on Wireless

Sensor Network (WSN), which consists of vehicle

module and cargo package module. This system is proved

to be valid to real-time information exchange through

experiments [4]. Lin Qi et al. contend that based on the

technology of WSN, a cold chain shelf life decision

support system is proposed, which provides not only the

users’ seamless information flow but also data to let

managers make decision in order to reduce the quality

and economic loss [5]. L. Evers claims that the use of

WSN will bring the leap to efficiency and quality of

service on logistics [6]. C. Pang et al. conduct an

experiment to show that based on point to point

communication method, the WSN could work in a long

distance to collect effectively dairy information and

transmit to the data center [7]. Badia-Melis Ricardo et al.

analyze two wireless technologies which are RFID and

WSN that are being used for cold chain monitoring and

tracking, especially, the variable of temperature [8]. A. M.

Liang et al. state that the cold chain management system

based on RFID and WSN enables to achieve traceability

and quality assurance and enhances cold chain operations

[9]. Junxiang Li et al. establish an RFID/WSID system to

monitor the food supply chain, accomplish the

traceability of food supply chain and provide a seamless

information flow of the chain [10]. Woohyung Chun et al.

apply integration of wireless sensors network with RFID

to provide item level inventory monitoring in retail stores

in order to wipeout tag duplication. This formulation

improves network latency and tag check-out rate [11].

Based on RFID and WSN technology, T. H. Shin et al.

develop a seamlessly integrated information management

framework that can provide logistics information to

project stakeholders for their decision making. Time

efficiency has been improved by about 32% compared to

the traditional supply chain management according to

pilot data [12]-[14]. Z. Zou et al. also presented a method

with RFID and WSN for intelligent food logistics [15]. R.

Tao et al. designed a warehouse vehicle positioning

system based on RFID and WSN [16].

III. RESEARCH SCOPE AND METHOD

Step1) A literature review is given on smart logistics in

which RFID and WSN technologies are used in supply

173©2016 Journal of Traffic and Logistics Engineering

Journal of Traffic and Logistics Engineering Vol. 4, No. 2, December 2016

doi: 10.18178/jtle.4.2.173-177

chain and logistics industry, and an integration of RFID

and WSN technologies is used in the information system.

Step2) A survey is conducted in order to find out

shortages of existing logistics information system and

introduce the main technologies—RFID and WSN.

Step3) The new concept of RWMS is brought in,

which concretely illustrates the RFID/WSN-based

information system architecture design. Finally this

system can meet requirements of customers.

In order to build the RWMS, a solid knowledge of

RFID and WSN devices, zigbee, wifi and so on should be

mastered. However, all of these knowledge stated above

are not the research scope of this study. This study

focuses on the architecture of the monitoring system, the

application of the system into smart logistics and how this

information system overcomes the disadvantages of the

existing logistics information system.

IV. RFID/WSN MONITORING SYSTME ANALYSIS

A. Survey Design and Analysis

Being direct user of logistics, almost everyone has

such an experience of receiving or sending a delivery.

Although the high-speed development of transportation

and computer technology has made logistics faster and

more transparent to users, the reality still can’t fulfill

customers’ rigorous satisfaction. The methods adopted to

the users’ requirement of RFID/WSN-based information

system are collected by questionnaires. The

questionnaires are distributed to 300 people with different

backgrounds such as different genders, different ages,

different jobs, different education histories. With the

collected questionnaires being 208, removing 27

questionnaires without key variables, the number of valid

questionnaires is 181.

The key factors of e-commerce logistics are cost,

service, speed, scope and customization. Thus, the ideal

information sharing system is a “user-defined” concept,

and “customization” shows its ever-mounting importance

as logistics development. To adapt to this “user-defined”

concept, the design of questionnaire is mainly to ask

people what are the advantages of current logistics

information system, and more importantly what are the

shortages of the system. Users’ requirements based on the

survey and the system analysis are concluded and

demonstrated via the following Table I.

TABLE I. USER'S REQUIREMENTS FOR RWMS

Requirement identification Requirement details Requirement type

Req1 Be a system that enables users to know exactly when the delivery is sent Functional Req2 Be a system that enables users to know where the delivery is transferred Functional

Req3 Be a system to precisely predict goods receipt time Nonfunctional

Req4 Be a system that enables users to trace responsibility of damaged delivery Nonfunctional

Req5 Be a system that enables users have access to query delivery on the

Internet at any time Functional

Req6 Be a system to timely update transfer information Nonfunctional

Req7 Be a system to remind both consigner and consignee transfer information Nonfunctional

Req8 Be a system to elimnate the loss of delivery and retrieve the lost delivery Nonfunctional

Req9 Be a system that enables users to complain unsatisfied service Nonfunctional

B. Main Technologies

1) Operating principle of RFID

RFID also called electrical tag, is a new kind of

communication technology which can read and write

related data of the specific objectives through identifying

radio signals instead of generating physical or optical

contact. When the identified objects enter the magnetic

field emitted by reader, the information stored in the

RFID chip will be sent out in responding to the energy of

the magnetic field. The tag is defined as passive tag.

When a tag emits initiatively signals on some frequency,

which will be conveyed to the RFID system after the

signals are decoded by reader, the tag is defined as

positive tag. Positive tags equipped with a built-in battery

are able to sense the temperature, humidity of the

environment and feed information back to the RFID

system timely. But positive tags are often made of

relatively high cost, and couldn’t function in hostile

environment. On the contrary, passive tags, which are not

equipped with any batteries, can work in hostile

environment and are made by low price. The operating

principle of RFID system is stated by Fig. 1.

Computer systemComputer system

Reader

antenna tag

Figure 1. Operating principle of RFID

2) Operating principle of WSN

WSN is a wireless network consisted of thousands of

mobile or static sensors that are combined by multi-hop

and self-organizing. The procedure is that the sensors

perceive, collect, handle and transmit information of

objects in the network covered zone, and then send the

information to the end-users of network. WSN is a

system of self-allocation, self-handshaking, self-diagnose,

which enable WSN system to become an attractive

solution in terms of environment monitoring, logistics

supervising and health care.

174©2016 Journal of Traffic and Logistics Engineering

Journal of Traffic and Logistics Engineering Vol. 4, No. 2, December 2016

Generally, WSN system is constituted of three

sub-systems, wireless sensor network sub-system, base

station nodes sub-system, and software sub-system,

respectively, corresponding to sensors, sensed objects and

observers. The operating principle of WSN system is

stated by Fig. 2.

Gateway

Data control platform

node Sink node

Figure 2. Operating principle of WSN

V. RFID/WSN MONITORING SYSTEM

In order to provide customers seamless logistics

information, this study establishes an RFID/WSN

monitoring system. The RFID technology is used for

precise location and traceability during every process of

logistics. The WSN technology is used for fuzzy location

and monitoring environmental factors such as

temperature, humidity and pressure. The mechanism of

precise and fuzzy location is that a large number of

wireless sensors are randomly distributed in the

monitoring zone. When a specific item is needed to find,

the RWMS is firstly located this item in a small scale by

these wireless sensors, and each item carries an RFID tag,

then the system would locate the exact item by the

specific RFID tag. The RFID readers could only read tags

at a relatively short distance and the sink nodes may

recognize a long distance, so the two technologies

complement each other during the process of providing

information and traceability. Furthermore, there is an

online complaint subsystem to restrain logistics

companies. The users can complain through the system if

they are not satisfied with the services. The composition

of RWMS is shown in Fig. 3.

The composition of RFID/WSN-based monitoring systemO

nlin

e q

uery su

bsyste

m

Lost d

elive

ry traceab

ility

On

line

com

plain

t sub

system

On

line

op

erating su

bsyste

m

Figure 3. Composition of RWMS of smart logistics on e-commerce

Logistics is an indispensable procedure of e-commerce

trades. There are two types of e-commerce logistics,

normal delivery and abnormal delivery. The normal

delivery is defined as delivery is conveyed timely and

intactly and the abnormal delivery is defined as delivery

is missing or damaged or delayed for a long time. This

system enables both customers and sellers to conduct

through the internet. When the commodity is sent out,

each package is installed an RFID tag, and WSN nodes

are randomly dispatched around the warehouses and

transportation vehicles. As to the abnormal delivery,

traceability of lost delivery and damaged delivery should

be taken into account. The whole process of RWMS for

smart logistics on e-commerce is shown in Fig. 4.

Sellers aspect

Onlineorder

Customers aspect

Comfirmorder

Sending delivery

Query online

Query online

Operating subsystemOnline query

subsystem

Normal delivery

Abnormal delivery

Receiving delivery

ConfirmReceipt

Receiving money

Contact courier

Automatically trace lost delivery

Complaint

ComplaintAutomatically trace lost delivery

Lost delivery traceability

Online complaint subsystem

RFIDWSN

Figure 4. The whole process of RWMS for smart logistics on e-commerce

RFID chain: RFID tags are embedded into some

valuable items or bulking packages. Every time these

items or packages enter the sensing zone of RFID readers,

all the information written in RFID tags is uploaded to

175©2016 Journal of Traffic and Logistics Engineering

Journal of Traffic and Logistics Engineering Vol. 4, No. 2, December 2016

the RWMS. Therefore the RWMS could realize real

location and predict accurate arriving time. Furthermore,

when the item is lost or damaged, RWMS could easily

trace the lost item or locate the responsibility of damaged

item.

WSN chain: wireless sensors are randomly scattered in

monitoring zones, especially transportation tools. These

sensors sense pressure, temperature, vibration, humidity

and so on. And when these indices exceed standard, the

RWMS will send alarm so that workers can easily make

some quick solutions or the system is moderated

automatically. Through the method, damage of items is

largely reduced.

RFID

/WSN

-based

mon

itoring system

RFID chain

WSN chain

Item level

Transportation tool level

readersReal

locationInformation

system

Predict accurate arriving time

Trace lost item

Locate responsibility of damaged items

Wireless sensors

Sink nodes plateform

Pressure,temperature,vibration... Reduce

damages

Figure 5. Description of RWMS functions

The existing logistics is powerless to make sure the

safety of a delivery. Customers have two options. One is

to buy insurance for the commodity and the other is to

take the risk. For commodity that must be transported in a

specific situation, such as delicate, vulnerable items or

perishable items, an additional attention should be given.

The RWMS supervises the environment like temperature,

humidity and pressure. When these indices exceed some

standard, the RWMS would automatically raise the alarm.

Because WSN nodes are fairly cheap, when an item is

need to be queried, the system uses WSN nodes to fuzzily

locate firstly, which gives a small scale area that the item

located. Then the system uses RFID tags to precisely

locate the exact item. After applying this system, the

nonfunctional requirements are fulfilled.

TABLE II. REQUIREMENTS FULFILLMENT

Requirement ID Requirement details Requirement type

Req3 Be a system to remain users when the delivery arrives exactly without unexpectation as far as possible

Functional

Req4 Be a system that enable users to trace responsibility of damaged delivery Functional

Req6 Be a system that real-time address information more accurate Functional

Req7 Be a system that enable the traceability of damaged delivery Functional

Req8 Be a system to eliminate the loss of delivery and retrieve the lost delivery Functional

Req9 Be a system that enables users to complain unsatisfied service Functional

VI. CONCLUSION

Within the framework of smart logistics, a concept that

an RFID/WSN-based monitoring system has been dawn

will greatly improve the quality of service and make

logistics more efficient and more convenient for users. As

for e-commerce, the desynchrony between payment and

delivery makes logistics become a necessary process in

e-commerce trade. The concerns of users that particular

articles should be protected, missing items should be

traced, real-time transfer information should be queried

and so on are solved after applying this system into smart

logistics.

AKNOWCNOLOGYMENT

This research was sponsored by the National Natural

Science Foundation of China (No. 71572113, 71432007,

11171221, 71303157), Shanghai First-class Academic

Discipline Projects (No. XTKX2012), the Innovation

Program of Shanghai Municipal Education Commission

(No. 14YZ089) and the Innovation Fund Project for

Undergraduate Student of Shanghai (No. SH2014054,

SH2014062, SH2015056, XJ2015083).

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Guo Yu

was

born in China in1992. She

obtained her bachelor degree at Business

School of Shanghai University of Science and

Technology in China on June, 2013. She is

now a graduate student at the same school

and university and is majoring in logistic

engineering. During her study as a graduate student, she has published two papers about

WSN and RFID.

Junxiang Li

was born in China in

1971. He

obtained his Ph. D from Dalian University of

Technology in China in 2008. Now he is

an

associate professor and supervisor of

postgraduate at Business School of University of Shanghai for Science and Technology in

China. His major is management science and

engineering and his research interests are Logistics Engineering, Industrial Engineering

and Systems Engineering. He has published

several papers in some known journals such as

Journal of Optimization Theory and Applications and Computational Optimization and

Applications.

177©2016 Journal of Traffic and Logistics Engineering

Journal of Traffic and Logistics Engineering Vol. 4, No. 2, December 2016