Application of an artificial immune system-based fuzzy neural network to a RFID-based positioning system

Due to the rapid development of globalization, which makes supply chain management more complicated, more companies are applying radio frequency identification (RFID), in warehouse management. The obvious advantages of RFID are its ability to scan at high-speed, its penetration and memory. In addition to recycling, use of a RFID system can also reduce business costs, by indentifying the position of goods and picking carts. This study proposes an artificial immune system (AIS)-based fuzzy neural network (FNN), to learn the relationship between the RFID signals and the picking cart's position. Since the proposed network has the merits of both AIS and FNN. it is able to avoid falling into the local optimum and possesses a learning capability. The results of the evaluation of the model show that the proposed AIS-based FNN really can predict the picking cart position more precisely than conventional FNN and, unlike an artificial neural network, it is much easier to interpret the training results, since they are in the form of fuzzy IF-THEN rules. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.