A Complete Traceability System for a Wine Supply Chain Using Radio-Frequency Identification and Wireless Sensor Networks [Wireless Corner]

Radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology provides an effective tool for managing traceability along food supply chains. This is because it allows automatic digital registration of data, and therefore reduces errors and enables the availability of information on demand. A complete traceability system can be developed in the wine production sector by joining this technology with the use of wireless sensor networks for monitoring at the vineyards. A proposal of such a merged solution for a winery in Spain has been designed, deployed in an actual environment, and evaluated. It was shown that the system could provide a competitive advantage to the company by improving visibility of the processes performed and the associated control over product quality. Much emphasis has been placed on minimizing the impact of the new system in the current activities.