NFC based inventory management solution

Smart Closet Inventory: NFC based usage tracking system to organize clothes

Sadaf Hussain Syed, MSE The University of Texas at Austin, 2015 Supervisor: Adnan Aziz

Clothes become worn, their colors fade, and sometimes they do not fit well. Wardrobes and closets require reorganization every season to remove unused articles. Smart Closet Inventory (SCI) is an easy to use system allowing users to create a virtual inventory of clothing items in their wardrobes. SCI provides real time usage tracking with

Near Field Communication (NFC) tags attached to articles. NFC technology on smartphones makes it easier for the user to mark usage by simply scanning the article’s tag. SCI not only keeps track of when an item was last used, but also how many times it has been used. It provides the ability to search articles based on names, tags, category, and usage filters. Additionally, it allows the user to match articles based on color to improve clothing choices and reuse of rarely used items. SCI web store allows users to share articles with other users and automate online advertising and selling of infrequently used, second-hand clothing items.

This report describes SCI, including the Android app, online web store, and the backend servers. First we discuss the NFC technology and how it works, followed by the SCI app features and use cases. Next, we discuss the technology stack, including NFC technology and tags, the image processing libraries used, design architecture of the server, the Android app, and the web store. Furthermore, we explore the design and implementation details of the Android app and web store. We conclude with summary of lessons learned, ideas for future and discussion of related work.