Vision and Challenges for Realising the Internet of Things

moving it from the reader’s antennas range for a short time interval. Initially, since a reduced
quantity of products is RFID-captured and reported, the application considers the difference
in the current inventory level of the shelf as sales; but then, it registers it as a shelf replenishment
when the consumer puts the product item back on he shelf. Similar data quality problems
appeared also when the connectivity between the readers and the middleware application
was temporarily lost over a wireless connection in the store.
Our solution to these exception events was the development of a temporary database (buffer
mechanism) that stores all unique EPCs of tags per reading cycle. Every time a product was
placed on the promotional stand’s shelves, the buffer mechanism is queried on the product’s
EPC; this is a replenishment only if this EPC is not already stored in the buffer. In case the
query resulted to a success hit, meaning the product was placed on the stand in the past, the
sales quantity is automatically reduced by one product. The buffer was reinitialized on a daily
basis.
To summarize, the execution of the real-life pilots showcased that the aforementioned efforts
to cope with the readability differences, as well as the combination of the RFID data filtering
with the data stream management system effectively handles all the exceptions that might
occur in a retail environment while at the same time it supports exceptional readability for the
pilot applications. In particular, in each pilot we performed several audits comparing the system
logs with the information displayed by the system and the actual products’ quantity on the
refrigerator and promotion stand shelves. The results of these tests proved that the system
continuously presented accurate information on a real-time basis.
2.2.3 Consumer Privacy
To investigate whether consumer privacy affects the acceptance, and subsequent use, of our
RFID-integrated services, we experimented with a disclaimer sign placed on the promotion
stand at only one of the pilot sites and informing the consumers about the potential use of
their personal data. At the remaining two test sites, we did not use the disclaimer sign. The
experiment revealed that sales were significantly increased in the stores where we did not use
the disclaimer sign. Furthermore, it was observed that many consumers avoided picking up
products from the promotion stand simply because they had read the disclaimer sign. Interestingly,
in the two pilot sites where the disclaimer sign was not used, consumers did not
complain about RFID nor did they express any confound or puzzlement about the placement
of RFID tags on the products.
2.2.4 Health Concerns
The pilots revealed that health concerns were the most emotive issue for both consumers and
store personnel. In particular, the store personnel in all three pilot sites was significantly worried
by the potential radiation effects of the RFID antennas in the backroom (antennas were
visible). Similar concerns were expressed by the consumers in our initial pilot when the RFID
antennas on the promotion stand were fully visible. It should be highlighted that some consumers
complained directly to the store manager and asked for proof that the RFID infrastructure
is harmless for their health. In our second round of pilots, when we hided the RFID
infrastructure, we did not witness any health related concerns by the consumers. We acknowledge
that this issue has gained importance due to the recent excessive, conflicting press coverage
of all the possible ill effects of mobile phones and base stations.
2.2.5 Organizational Impact and Support
The top management’s commitment and the cost have been identified to be the most critical
issues that affect the organization’s expectations of the RFID impact; and as a result, the support
needed to engage in the RFID applications.
Semi-structured interviews with the users of the two RFID-integrated services, i.e. top management
and store personnel, were conducted during the requirements analysis and after the
first round of the pilot studies. They are expecting enhanced shelf products’ availability and
management of the promotional events capitalizing on the RFID capability to provide complete,
accurate information on the location and the status of product items on a real time basis.
Hopefully, the top management was found committed to give RFID technology a chance
and test it, in order to really assess the cost vs. the expected benefits.
Furthermore, the top management underlined that the cost is the biggest challenge their organization
faces with the RFID adoption. A key matter remains how to justify the investment
and they believe that the cost will gradually be shifted to the consumers. The main cost of the
RFID deployment comprises of the hardware and software investment, the tags cost, the cost
of integration with the legacy systems and the staff training cost. It was also found that it is
CERP-IoT – Cluster of European Research Projects on the Internet of Things
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