Investigation of UHF signal strength propagation at warehouse management applications based on drones and RFID technology utilization

Abstract

As a part of the supply chain, inventory management includes, among other things, maintaining the storage of stock, controlling the amount of product for sale and order fulfilment. In business terms, inventory management means the right stock, at the right levels, in the right place, at the right time. In the case of large outdoor warehouses, common identification methods are lengthy and inappropriate. One way to determine inventory easily and quickly is to deploy UAV’s (unmanned aerial vehicle) for product identification purposes. In this case, however, there is a problem in determining where the goods are located. A drone moves at higher altitudes, which can lead to a situation where we will not be able to determine the exact location of the goods. This article deals with a method of determining the correct flight level suitable to distinguish the identified items located at least 2 m apart. The evaluation is performed based on an RSSI (received signal strength indicator) value. The experiment proved that even at maximum reading distance of selected passive UHF RFID tags the two objects can be distinguished.