RESUMO
The I-READ 4.0 project is aimed at developing an integrated and autonomous Cyber-Physical System for automatic management of very large warehouses with a high-stock rotation index. Thanks to a network of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) readers operating in the Ultra-High-Frequency (UHF) band, both fixed and mobile, it is possible to implement an efficient management of assets and forklifts operating in an indoor scenario. A key component to accomplish this goal is the UHF-RFID Smart Gate, which consists of a checkpoint infrastructure based on RFID technology to identify forklifts and their direction of transit. This paper presents the implementation of a UHF-RFID Smart Gate with a single reader antenna with asymmetrical deployment, thus allowing the correct action classification with reduced infrastructure complexity and cost. The action classification method exploits the signal phase backscattered by RFID tags placed on the forklifts. The performance and the method capabilities are demonstrated through an on-site demonstrator in a real warehouse.
RESUMO
Autonomous vehicles enable the development of smart warehouses and smart factories with an increased visibility, flexibility and efficiency. Thus, effective and affordable localisation methods for indoor vehicles are attracting interest to implement real-time applications. This paper presents an Extended Kalman Smoother design to both localise a mobile agent and reconstruct its entire trajectory through a sensor-fusion employing the UHF-RFID passive technology. Extensive simulations are carried out by considering the smoother optimal-window length and the effect of missing measurements from reference tags. Monte Carlo simulations are conducted for different vehicle trajectories and for different linear and angular velocities to evaluate the method accuracy. Then, an experimental analysis with a unicycle wheeled robot is performed in real indoor scenario, showing a position and orientation root mean square errors of 15 cm, and 0.2 rad, respectively.
