TELKOMNIKA (Telecommunication Computing Electronics and Control)
Vol 24, No 1: February 2026

SELLA: An IoT-based smart shopping trolley with real-time RFID tracking and automated checkout

Hadj Zerrouki (Djillali Liabes University of Sidi Bel Abbes)
Salima Azzaz-Rahmani (Djillali Liabes University of Sidi Bel Abbes)



Article Info

Publish Date
01 Feb 2026

Abstract

The contemporary retail sector faces a persistent challenge in enhancing in store customer experience, primarily due to inefficiencies at checkout. This paper presents smart e-cart for lean logistics application (SELLA), a smart shopping trolley system engineered to eliminate this bottleneck. The system’s architecture is centered on a Raspberry Pi 4 microcontroller, orchestrating an ultra-high frequency (UHF) radio frequency identification (RFID) subsystem for instantaneous, non-line-of-sight product identification, and a responsive 7-inch touchscreen graphical user interface (GUI) developed in PyQt. The core contribution lies in developing a self contained shopping solution with integrated payment processing, supported by comprehensive performance validation. We present a detailed methodology, including the system’s multi-threaded software architecture and core operational algorithm. Experimental evaluation demonstrates a mean tag detection accuracy of 98.2% under optimal conditions, a robust user interface (UI) latency of under 500 ms, and an average central processing unit (CPU) utilization of 28%, proving system efficiency. Comparative analysis confirms that SELLA’s integration of on-trolley automated payment and detailed performance metrics represents a significant advancement over existing prototypes. The system provides a validated, high-performance solution for next-generation smart retail environments.

Copyrights © 2026






Journal Info

Abbrev

TELKOMNIKA

Publisher

Subject

Computer Science & IT

Description

Submitted papers are evaluated by anonymous referees by single blind peer review for contribution, originality, relevance, and presentation. The Editor shall inform you of the results of the review as soon as possible, hopefully in 10 weeks. Please notice that because of the great number of ...