Using radio frequency identification in agent-based control systems for industrial applications

The radio frequency identification (RFID) is a technology for automatic identification of items, particularly in supply chain, but it is becoming increasingly important for industrial applications. Unlike barcode technology that detects the optical signals reflected from barcode labels, RFID uses radio waves to transmit the information from an RFID tag affixed to the physical object. In contrast to today most often use of this technology in warehouse inventory and supply chain, the focus of this paper is on the exploitation of RFID in industrial environments, particularly for the purposes of the real-time programmable logic controller (PLC)-based manufacturing control. The paper also presents a unique architecture integrating the RFID technology with the agent-based industrial control solutions by proposing special RFID agents as mediators between physical RFID readers and other agents. Integral part of this solution is the introduction of the work piece agents directly negotiating with the manufacturing resource agents about the details of production. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.