Design and Implementation of IoT Based Integrated Model for Warehouse

Inventory Management and Environment Monitoring

Meghana Mohan1 and N. Shesha Prasad2
1
M.tech in VLSI Design and Embedded Systems, BNMIT,Bangalore
2
Associate Professor, Dept. of ECE, BNMIT,Bangalore
Abstract-The Internet of Things alludes to the networking of physical substances using embedded actuators,
sensors, and different devices that can gather or transmit data about the substances. The information amassed
from these devices can then be examined to improve commodities, administrations, and operations. The
"Internet of Things" is detonating. It is comprised of billions of "wise" devices. Inside the limitless Industrials
segment, the IoT shows an architectural change analogous to industrial innovation. Equipment is turning out to
be more digitized and more associated, setting up remote innovation between machines, people, and the
internet and making new ecosystems. The present work aims to contribute to the development of a
platform for IoT based integrated model for warehouse inventory management and environment
monitoring. The technique presents the idea of sensor hubs, low-control systems, and IoT Gateways
utilized as a part of warehouse scenarios. The sensor node monitors the quantity of inventories and
environmental parameters. IoT gateway transfers and standardize the information and can remotely
control the operations of sensor node. The major thought of suggested technique is to accelerating
information aggregation and stock administration, enhances remote monitoring, effectiveness, and
control of physical resources, and efficiency.
Keywords- Internet of things, warehouse, environment monitoring, inventory management, monitoring
and control system, temperature and humidity sensor, LDR, PIC16F887, raspberry pi, XBee, Sensor
node, IoT gateway.
I. INTRODUCTION
A warehouse is a mercantile edifice used to incur, store and dispense the goods or merchandise.
The necessity for a warehouse emerges due to the time interval between production of products and
consumption of products. Warehouses are basically constructed for the protection of the quality and
quantity of the stored products or merchandise. The role of warehousing and storage has changed
drastically and there are more demands and expectations in today’s industry. Today’s concept of
warehousing goes far beyond the basic function and includes many value added service. With rapid
industrialization and globalization, warehousing is receiving much needed attention. Inventory
management and supply chain management are the backbone of any business operations. With the
development of technology and availability of process driven software applications, inventory
management has undergone revolutionary changes.
Inventory is always dynamic. An inventory control involves having greater oversight over one’s
stock. Some refer to it as ―internal control‖ where it controls the process of receiving goods in a given
unit size, selecting the correct item in the correct quantities, retrieving them from storage and shipping
them in a different unit. Inventory management techniques can also help in managing multiple
inventories. Understanding what stocks are present, where it is in the warehouse, and when stock is
going in and out can help lower costs, speed up fulfillment, and prevent fraud.
In the current scenario when customer satisfaction and service have become a prime reason for a
business to stand apart from its competition, the need for effective inventory management is largely seen
more as a necessity than a mere trend. Goods stored in inventory over a long period may spoil. This

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leads to unnecessary overheads in operating a business. Hence, proper inventory management and
monitoring environmental parameters can help to reduce the costs greatly. With the development of
modern logistics technology, the requirements on modern warehousing system are also increasing, the
control of the temperature, humidity and other storage environmental parameters of warehouses play a
decisive effect to ensure quality of stores, prolong the life of the stores and improve the management
efficiency and economic benefits of warehouse.
As the emerging information network, more and more attention is paid to the internet of Things
technology. IoT gained greater adaption in the last few years with the dropping prices of IoT enabled
devices and sensors and availability of big data solutions that can proves millions of events per second
in real-time. Internet-powered technology innovation within the industrial operations space adds new
dimensions. With the introduction of the internet of things, the ability to track and communicate with
products and monitoring system on different platform, monitoring of warehouse environment become
more instant, automatic and intelligent
The present work aims to contribute to the development of a platform for IoT based integrated
model for warehouse inventory management and environment monitoring, considering the demand of
inventory management and detection of environment parameters and control of equipment, based on the
research of technology of internet of things. The technique presents the idea of sensor hubs, low-control
systems, and IoT Gateways utilized as a part of warehouse scenarios. The sensor node monitors the
quantity of inventories and environmental parameters. IoT gateway transfers and standardize the
information and can remotely control the operations of sensor node. [1, 2, 3]
II. SYSTEM DESIGN AND ANALYSIS
The diagram of the system is shown in Figure 1, which incorporates the implementation of IoT
based integrated model for warehouse inventory management and environment monitoring.

Figure 1: HIERARCHY OF SYSTEM DESIGN MODULE

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FIGURE 2: DESIGN MODULE FOR A SINGLE NODE

The design module shown in above figure presents the idea of sensor hubs, low-control systems,
and IoT Gateways utilized as a part of warehouse scenarios. EmPICMo2 Microcontroller, XBee,
Raspberry Pi 2 and open source programming is utilized for prototyping a conclusion to-end
arrangement.
In an industrial IoT scenario, there are many sensors and actuators that interact with the
machinery. Each machine would typically have multiple sensors tracking its health and monitoring the
key parameters related to the production. Each sensor and actuator is attached to a microcontroller that is
responsible for acquiring the data or controlling a switch through a pre-defined instruction set. The
microcontroller — along with the sensors, power and a radio — is called a sensor node. It is a self-
contained, deployable unit that captures the data generated by sensors. The sensor node doesn’t have
enough processing power, memory, and storage to deal with the data locally. It uses a low-energy radio
communication network to send the data to a central location. The communication link between the
sensors’ nodes and the central hub is based on ZigBee, Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), or Power over
Ethernet (PoE). The hub that acts as an aggregator of multiple raw datasets generated by the sensor
nodes is called an IoT gateway.
An IoT gateway has multiple roles to play. One of the first jobs of the gateway is to transform
and normalize the data. The datasets generated by the sensor nodes will be in disparate formats. The
gateway acquires heterogenous datasets from multiple sensor nodes and converts them to a standard
format that is understood by the next stage of the data processing pipeline.
The second role of an IoT gateway is protocol transformation. Since the sensors nodes cannot
use power hungry Wi-Fi or ethernet, they use low-powered communication networks. A gateway
supports multiple communication protocols for accepting the inbound data sent by the sensor nodes. It
uses a variety of protocols for the outbound communication, which typically connects the gateway to a
process running in the cloud. In some scenarios, the gateway may also process the data and raise alerts
in real time. But this is best left to the powerful stream processing pipelines running in the cloud.
Gateways act as an edge device, obscuring the sensor nodes from the public internet. Though the
sensor nodes can make outbound connections to the internet and cloud through the gateway, they cannot
be accessed directly. Thus, gateways play the dual role of routers and firewall securing the sensor nodes
and internal network. Sensor nodes that are capable of connecting to the Internet still need a gateway for
data aggregation and transformation. They connect to an appliance running in the cloud called a cloud
gateway. The local edge device running on-premises is often referred to as a field gateway.[4]. The
software design of the node of is divided into two parts. The sensor node program design (as shown in
Figure 3) and remote intelligent monitoring terminal program design (as shown in Figure 4).

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FIGURE 4: PROGRAMMING DESIGN FOR THE SENSOR NODE

FIGURE 5: PROGRAMMING DESIGN FOR AN EDGE NODE

2.1 PREREQUISITES FOR SYSTEM DESIGN:
2.1.1 HARDWARE REQUISITES:
1. EmPICM02 Development board (PIC16F887), Raspberry PI 2
2. Temperature and humidity sensor (DHT11), LDR sensor, Buzzer, DC Fan
3. XBee Module, Wifi module.
EmPICM02 is connected with DHT11 (Temperature and Humidity sensor), LDR (Light intensity
sensor), a 12V DC fan, buzzer and LED. The DHT11 sensor continuously detects the room temperature
and humidity, and displays the value on the LCD. As per the readings from the DHT11 sensor, any
variations in the temperature and humidity of warehouse will be sent to the microcontroller. If the
temperature of the warehouse goes beyond the threshold value then automatically fan starts rotating. The
threshold value of temperature for a DC Fan is frozen on webpage and the value is received via XBee.

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The LDR sensor continuously detects the light intensity, and the value will be converted into its
corresponding lux value. The light intensity value is displayed on the LCD and will be transmitted to the
IoT gateway via XBee. If the light intensity of the warehouse goes beyond the threshold value then
automatically it is indicated by switching on buzzer. The threshold value of light intensity for a Buzzer
is frozen on webpage and the value is received via XBee. EmPICM02 board utilizes XBee S2 for
sending the sensor and status of inventory information to the IoT portal and for receiving the
information about the quantity of stocks to be dispatched and threshold value for sensors from the IoT
portal through the ZigBee protocol. When EmPICM02 board is powered by external power adapter, this
turns into a deployable sensor hub with independent force and a communication radio equipped for
sending and receiving information. Figure 6 illustrates the schematic for wiring up components in sensor
node.

FIGURE 6: SCHEMATIC FOR WIRING UP COMPONENTS IN SENSOR NODE

Raspberry Pi is associated with XBee Series 2. EmPICM02 and Raspberry Pi are associated over
the serial port. Raspberry Pi collects the information from the EmPICMO2 utilizing XBeeS2 and store
that in log file and data will be uploaded to the Admin panel utilizing Wi-Fi. Raspberry Pi also collects
information from webpage using Wi-Fi and transforms the information over serial port to EmPICM02.
Raspberry Pi 2 utilizes ZigBee for inbound correspondence and Wi-Fi for outbound correspondence.
Raspberry pi as a field portal (gateway), it is carrying out protocol and information transformation. Wi-
Fi module is utilized to make the Internet of Things device cable free. Raspberry Pi utilize the USB port
to include a minimal price, however high-dependability remote connection. To have wireless Internet
network miniature WIFI 802.11b/G/N module is used. Figure 7 illustrates the schematic for wiring up
components in edge node.

FIGURE 7: SCHEMATIC FOR WIRING UP COMPONENTS IN EDGE NODE

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To access a website on Raspberry Pi a Web server should be installed. Raspberry Pi can be
utilized as a Web server to have a basic site or store documents in the cloud in order to access at any
time. . The Raspberry Pi is more than equipped for running essential web server programming and
setting it up is straightforward. Configuring Raspberry Pi as a web server is an awesome approach to
deal with get some answers concerning web setup and server association. Pi utilizes essentially less
power, and consumes up limited space than a PC. The prevalent web server application - Apache is
installed on the Raspberry Pi to permit ita to provide web pages. All alone, Apaches can serve HTMLs
documents and dynamic website pages, for example, PHP. As a matter of course, Apache puts a test
HTML document in the web organizer. The default website page (HTML file placed at /var/www/html)
is served when http://localhost/ is browsed on the Pi itself, or The Pi's IP location (http://192.168.1.10/)
is from alternate PC on the system.
XBee modules make it simple to make a remote point-to-point or work system. They are
designed with the standard AT commands. With inherent blunder remedy, XBee modules offer a
dependable remote connection. The XBee modules can be arranged to work either in an application
programming interface (API) mode or in a transparent data mode. In the transparent mode, information
coming into the Data IN (DIN) pin is specifically transmitted over-the-air to the planned getting radios
with no adjustment. This component is the thing that makes XBee a drop-in trade for a RS–232 link.
Approaching packets can either be specifically tended to one target (point-to-point) or show to different
targets (star). XBees arranged in transparent mode is utilized for interfacing the sensor hub to the IoT
portal. ZigBee is a stipulation for a high level transmission convention for personal area networking. Its
low power utilization limits the transmission range from 10 to 100 meters viewable pathway, rely upon
ecological qualities. XBee devices are equipped for transmitting information over long separations by
going through a mesh connection. It is normally utilized as a part of low information rate applications
that require long battery life and secure systems administration. For example consumer and industrial
equipment which requires short-go, low-rate remote information exchange. The innovation characterized
by the ZigBee detail is proposed to be less complex and less costly than different remote individual
territory systems. ZigBee is utilized as the radio connection between the sensor hub and the IoT door. In
order to establish the wireless communication the XBee module needs to be configured as router and
coordinator.
The XBee radio associated with the sensor hub will work as a router, while the one associated
with the IoT portal will work as a coordinator. Various routers can converse with the coordinator.
The coordinator is connected to the Raspberry Pi via CP2102 USB to RS232. It is used for serial
communication between raspberry pi and XBee. Thus coordinator sends/receives message to/from the
Router.
2.2.2 SOFTWARE REQUISITES:
1. Operating system - Ubuntu
2. Coding Language - Embedded C
3. Programming Languages used for web applications : HTML PHP
Ubuntu is a broadly suitable Debin based Linux operating system and distribution for smart
phones, PCs, and network servers. Linux is a platform that can be utilized for the advancement of
programs and applications. Actually, it is likely the best operating system because of its simplicity.
Utilizing Linux for embedded systems is enhancing day to day. Programming the embedded systems is
entirely different because embedded systems have precise and bounded resources. As a result of the less
memory accessibility there is a necessity of faster response. Response time and performance requisite
are fixed for an embedded system. Embedded software is major differentiation for any device to
accomplish progress. Developing excellent software plays a very important role since the complexity of
devices increasing day by day. In spite of so many new programming languages, 85% of embedded

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systems are built using C language. This is mainly because it produces the most optimal machine code.
C is a very tight and economical language.
With the improvement of web advances, the utilization of online business portals has expanded.
Today a large portion of the organizations are led through the web which serves as a universal enclosure.
A dynamic web page is created for inventory management and to monitor the environmental parameters
of warehouse utilizing HTML and PHP. Figure 8 shows the webpage created for the project

FIGURE 8: WEBPAGE DISPLAY OF IoT MODEL

1. The browser induces a request to the server.
2. The PHP code inside the HTML file is executed.
3. The database is queried.
4. The outcomes are then come back to the PHP program and then to the server.
5. Eventually the data is shown in the browser.
The Warehouse Web page aids to integrate the procedure of shipping products, receiving product
and taking inventory of products. It is planned to be utilized by warehouse specialists on the warehouse.
In receiving products is generally initiated by products occurring at warehouse. The worker loads the
product to the corresponding rack and enrolls the products that truly appeared. This is typically
performed by checking the standardized tags at the products/bundles. The status of loaded components
will be upgraded on the webpage and it will be stored in the file called warehouse.log.
In shipping products process the products to be shipped will be entered by the worker in the field
pick items. The server remotely sends the quantity of products to be picked to the microcontroller in the
warehouse. After fruitful picking the products worker have an option to send the acknowledgement
signal for picking actual quantity or to increase/ decrease the quantity. After all the products are picked,
the status of picked components will be updated on the webpage and a document is created that records
the products that were shipped.
The third major mechanism is to monitor the environmental parameters of the warehouse. In the
webpage there is a field to continuously monitor the environmental parameters and to set the threshold
esteem for temperature and light intensity.
III. RESULTS & DISCUSSIONS
The developed IoT integrated model for inventory management and environment monitoring
contained sensor hubs, vitality proficient communication systems, and gateways that interface with the
Internet and cloud. Each module of the system design is tested and performance of each module is
analyzed.
To manage the inventory a light directed picking mechanism is implemented which directs the
operator to the particular zone. Whenever stocks are required from a specific area, the relating LED
indicator enlightens, drawing consideration where activity is required. The operator picks the shown
item amount, and then affirms the pick by pressing a button. The quantity of stocks to pick will be
entered in the ―Quantity of products-- pick‖ form by administrator. If the entered quantity is valid then a
pop up mess will be display as ―Pick: write successful‖. If the entered quantity is not valid then a pop up

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mess will be displayed as ―Wrong Input‖. When the entered quantity is valid and both sensor node and
IoT gateway are connected via XBee the amount of stocks to be picked will be communicated to the
sensor node present in the warehouse the LED will be illuminated when the order is displayed and LED
quits illumination when operator affirms the pick by pressing button. Then the status of successful
picking will be displayed on webpage. When the entered quantity is valid and both sensor node and IoT
gateway are not connected via XBee then a pop up message will be displayed as ―Error in opening the
file‖. The operators also have a choice to increase or decrease the count and then affirm the pick by
pressing a button. Along with this the operators also have a choice to count the loaded products and
affirm after successful loading of the products. Then the status of successfully loaded products will be
displayed on webpage. The results of this mechanism are shown in the figure 9 and figure 10.

FIGURE 9: THROUGHPUT OF A LIGHT DIRECTED PICKING MECHANISM

FIGURE 10: THROUGHPUT WHICH ILLUSTRATES THE OPERATOR SUCCESSFULLY

LOADED PRODUCTS

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These ecological parameters straightforwardly influence the quality and storage time of products,
lifetime and unwavering quality of gadget in the distribution center. To upgrade the distribution center
administration framework, it is critical to pay consideration on screen the ecological parameters. In the
project the environmental parameters like temperature humidity and light intensity is monitored the
control mechanism is implemented. If the monitored temperature goes beyond the threshold value then
automatically fan will be turned on in order to control the temperature. If Light intensity is more than
threshold value the Buzzer will be turned on for example in pharmaceutical industries few medicines
should be kept in the dark place if the medicines are exposed to light more than expected threshold then
operator gets alert from the buzzer. The IoT gateway remotely monitors and controls the components
and to maintain optimal environmental parameters. With the assistance of this observing framework, the
administration of distribution center environment will turn out to be more moment and exact. The
outcomes of monitoring and control unit are shown in figure 11.

FIGURE 11: THROUGHPUT TO CHECK FOR THETHRESHOLD VALUE OF THE TEMPERAURE

AND LIGHT INTENSITY

FIGURE 12: WEBPAGE DISPLAY OF IoT WITH REAL-TIME SENSOR DATA AND
INVENTORY STATUS
IV. CONCLUSION & FUTURE SCOPE
4.1 CONCLUSION
The project proposed an incorporation arrangement of stockroom monitoring and administration
the system based on the request on mechanized monitoring, managing and cautioning and so forth of
modernized stockroom. Integrating the hypothesis and strategies of Internet of things, design for the
stockroom environment monitoring and inventory management arrangement is brought out. Alongside
the monitoring system of stockroom light directed picking method is implemented in order to improve
the pick rate efficiency and request precision of items. Lit up LEDs direct pickers to the right item area,
and showcase the required unit amount. Subsequently the administrator affirms the finished movement
after picking all pieces, by squeezing a button. They then continue to the following lit up area and rehash
the procedure until all the fundamental picks in their general vicinity are done. The communication

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modules convey the information by ZigBee to build up the remote sensor system to bolster the
distribution center environment monitoring and control. After building elaborated study and design of
each outline and layer the hierarchy of each module is mapped to the configuration and execute of
physical structure and programming framework.
With the assistance of this framework, the administration of distribution center environmental
parameter and inventory has turned out to be more moment and exact and manual operation has been
decreased successfully.
4.2 FUTURE SCOPE
The Industrial IoT is the most recent wave of innovative change and brings uncertain
probabilities. IoT can be taken to another level— they can monitor vital points of interest like Human
movement, entrance guard and remote video surveillance with wireless camera, the delivery track, the
suggested speed, accommodating the storage temperature automatically while transporting perishable
products, raising alarms for any extended or spontaneous stoppages, and recognizing maintenance
consequences before the truck breaks down - which affect the nature of an item in-travel. These
outcomes in bringing down fuel costs, lessened loss and theft, exact lead times, and augmenting the life
of the fleet. Clients can likewise utilize the information from the IoT gadgets to track their items in real-
time, versus capturing periodic updates from transportation suppliers.
REFERENCES
[1] Research on Warehouse Environment Monitoring System Based on Wireless Sensor Network Qinghua Zhang, Yi Wang,
Guoquan Cheng, Zhuan Wang, Dongmei Shi School of Mechanical Engineering University of Science and Technology
China
[2] Jun Liu, Yue Shen, Cheng’an Wang, Jiahui Li‖ Design of Fruits Warehousing Monitoring and Control System Based on
WiFi‖ ©2015_ IEEE
[3] http://iotworm.com/internet-of-things-inventory-management-effects/
[4] http://thenewstack.io/tutorial-configuring-a-sensor-node-and-iot-gateway-to-collect-and-visualize-data-part-2/
[5] Internet of Things Technology-Based Manufacturing Inventory Management Hanbin Wang ,Xiaoxia Chen Published by
Atlantis Press
[6] ‖ Towards the Implementation of IoT for Environmental Condition Monitoring in Homes‖ Sean Dieter Tebje Kelly,
Nagender Kumar Suryadevara, and Subhas Chandra Mukhopadhyay, Fellow, IEEE

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