By using RFID/NFC - passive sensors - along with ZigBee - active sensors -, asset tracking can be more accurate than ever along the whole supply chain process. Product management softwares, like ERPs, will have access in real time to information related to remaining stock, storage and transportation conditions (temperature and humidity levels, vibrations, light exposure, etc), expiration dates and even consumer profiles, knowing time spent in front of a shelf or products picked up and not bought.

Security applications, including access control, can also be covered with this technology as the RFID standard -Mifare- uses a 6 bytes key to ensure maximum privacy and authentication requirements, a major concern in this technology.

The information given by the passive tags (cards, keyrings, stickers, etc) is read by the RFID/NFC interface and then transmitted using the ZigBee radio to an Internet Gateway which will finally upload it to a Cloud server making it accessible everywhere. The identification data can also be sent to the Cloud directly using the Wifi radio which performs secure connections with the web servers (HTTPS).

NFC technologies, quickly adopted in the majority of Smartphones brands, allows everyone to be part of the Internet of Things.

This RFID/NFC radio completes Waspmote connectivity - which already covers ZigBee, Wifi, Bluetooth and 3G/GPRS - making it compliant with any wireless technology in the market.  The new module is available in both 125 KHz and 13.56 MHz bands to ensure compatibility with previous RFID deployments.

Libelium provides an intuitive and open source programming API and complete documentation with examples in order to help developers to easily start working with the platform.

More information about the new RFID-ZigBee platform at
www.libelium.com/rfid_nfc_zigbee_sensors