Tasks:
Internet of Things (IoT) product tracking aims to keep perfect track of a store’s inventory in both quantity of products and location in store to help reduce the time spent searching in stores for products and let the customer know ahead of time if the product is available or not. Searching for a product in store that is not available is a waste of time for both the customer and the employees.
Customer demand for certain products can change quickly and if a store overstocks or understocks a product, then it is either wasting space in store or losing potential profits on products that are not in stock. IoT product tracking aims to let the employees know which products are selling the best.
Current manual inventory tracking is susceptible to miscommunication and other kinds of human error. IoT product tracking aims to provide a more reliable approach to inventory tracking.
Final Solution State Attributes:
Scalability:
The final solution state should be that the product can function at low to high scales. The product should be able to operate from small storefronts to large warehouses. A network will be developed to allow multiple IoT product tracking devices to share information to a database.
Reliability:
Sensors and near-field communication (NFC) chips should be checked on a regular basis to ensure accurate information. Long lasting sensors should read and write information tens of thousands of times and still be accurate. NFC chips should be durable enough to withstand the weight of products and the environment it is in.
Cost:
The final solution state should be cheap enough to provide scalability. Minimal number of parts should be used to ensure an easier way to repair and replace if needed. The final solution state should be inexpensive to maintain, manufacturer, and design.
Design Goals:
Public Acceptance:
Customers are accepting of products having NFC chips.
Reliability:
NFC chips and scanners should not malfunction or break over time.
Performance:
NFC scanning and tracking should be quick and convenient for both customers and employees. The server storing the data should run quickly and smoothly.
Durability:
NFC chips and scanners should not break easily while being used.
Ease of Operation:
Scanners should be easy to operate for employees.
Minimum Cost:
NFC chips and scanners should be cheap. Lots of chips will be needed for all the products the store sells.
Design Specifications:
NFC chips must be small and cheap for the mass number of products.
NFC scanner needs to be easy to use and be handheld.
The server that will store the information about all the products must be efficient and large enough to store all the information.
Eliminating a Design Path:
A design path that can be eliminated is one in which the IoT product tracking devices will track products in real time. It would be more resource efficient for the device to track products at bigger discrete time intervals than for it to continuously check the current state.