RFID inventory management for rapid deployment of first responder teams

• Main Author: Hafilah Binte Mohamed Hapik
• Other Authors: Yong Chuen-Tze, Mark
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2013
• Subjects: DRNTU::Engineering::Computer science and engineering
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/55078
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Radio-frequency identification (RFID) is a generic term to describe a technology that uses radio waves to automatically identify a person or an object wirelessly. RFID technology was first used during World War II when British developed the first active identify friend or foe (IFF) system. Since then, RFID technology continues to mature and many industries have adopted this technology. The main objective of this project is to use the RFID technology to rapidly identify the equipment carried on rescue and medical teams’ vehicles. Current deployment procedure requires the rescue and medical teams to open up the boxes to identify equipment. Sparkfun USB RFID ID-20 reader was provided to implement this project. A Java application integrated into a web was developed to communicate with the RFID reader to read RFID tags. The application will retrieve data from online or local database based on serial number of tags scanned. Other than identifying equipment, a web-based inventory management system backed by online and local database was also implemented so that rescue or medical personnel are able to manage the information of the RFID tags attached to equipment boxes. With this web-based application, it is hoped to aid rescue and medical teams to improve the deployment of equipment and decrease response times in times of emergency.