A radio frequency identification and sensor-based system for the transportation of food

The damage caused by the degeneration of the quality of perishable products usually results in a great loss to transportation enterprises. To improve the delivery system for perishable products, a real-time monitoring and online decision support system with Radio frequency identification (RFID), a sensor network and a decision rule base has been developed in this study. First of all, the value degeneration process is described, using several mathematical models for handing different ways of perishing. Based on the mathematical models, and data from RFID and the sensor network, the quality of the goods can be predicted by the forecast module. When something abnormal occurs, the warning function will send an alarm signal to the users, then, the rule-based decision module will provide the user with suggestions as how to cope with the abnormality. The results from the simulation have shown that the monitoring and decision support system is an efficient tool for reducing the transportation losses of perishable products for the enterprises in cold chain. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.