RFID for personal asset tracking

The proposed mobile device uses Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) to keep track of registered objects that are within range of the user. The goal is to provide a new security solution for keeping belongings that are carried around. The device consists of a mobile RFID reader and a control program with a graphical user interface. The assets are attached with RFID tags with unique identifiers for each tag by using EPC Gen2. The graphic interface allows the user to create a catalog of objects that are to be kept track of. Personal items such as keys, wallets, passports, jewelry, watches, glasses, medicine, portable flash drives, electronic devices (cell phone, PDAs, laptops, mp3 players, calculators) can be tracked using this system. The first phase of this project is to demonstrate how the assets will be tracked. Objects are tracked using a WJM3000 RFID reader. Motorola's MC9090 mobile computer will be used for the interface. In order for this device to be useful in practice, the assets need to be tracked in any direction from the reader with a range of at least 1.5 meters. The benefits of having such a device is that the user can be notified if the object is lost, the time the object was lost, and the identity of the object that was lost. The demonstration of such a device becomes much more useful when it is combined with a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver. A GPS receiver can be used to keep record of where the RFID reader is when the assets are detected. This combination of the RFID reader and GPS receiver gives the user information on where the object was last detected. If the object was lost and not stolen, the object can be retrieved by going to where the RFID reader last detected the object.