An agent-based architecture of a remotely controllable laboratory system for an online RFID learning environment.

摘要

Similar to many other emerging technologies, Radio Frequency IDentification (RFID) technology requires skilled implementers for correct and effective deployment. Due to the mandates by government agencies and major retail companies, the lack of skilled personnel is the main concern for this technology, far greater than its counterpart systems. To increase the number of people who are acquainted with RFID, this thesis suggests teaching this technology to onsite and offsite college students through an online learning environment with a remote testing laboratory. Such an environment conveys the knowledge about RFID and helps learners obtain hands-on experience; a fact that has the potential to satisfy corporate needs, support collaborative educational programs, and promote RFID technology advancements. The effort in this thesis involves developing an agent-based architectural model for the remote RFID laboratory that yields the desired flexibility to change as well as other features such as the promotion of automation and the standardization of device communication. Moreover, a programming language is designed to let testers code hardware scenarios and hence, automate the task of configuring the testing setup in the laboratory. An implementation of the developed architecture is given as an example of a real testing system and its use to conduct an experiment. The implemented project is the Integrated Auto-ID Technology for Multidisciplinary Undergraduate Studies1 (I-ATMUS) project, and its material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation.;1Integrated Auto-ID Technology for Multidisciplinary Undergraduate Studies (I-ATMUS) and its material are based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. DUE0633334. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the NSF.