What is an indoor position system for smart industry
Indoor position tracking is an emerging technology that is used to locate moving and stationary objects within premises such as production area, warehouses, logistics yards, construction industries, etc. Let us look at some of the Indoor location tracking solutions for pallet tracking, inventory & asset monitoring.
There are different kinds of indoor position technology available under two broad categories. First, it is the wired solution, where gateway devices are installed at designated locations on the shop floor of the manufacturing unit or hospital. Depending on the total layout of the space, hundreds of gateway devices will need to be deployed to ensure there is full coverage to track the moving or stationary objects.
Large scale indoor positioning systems
The objects need to be fitted with tracking tags, which communicate to one or more of the gateway devices; and using cloud-enabled application software, the end-user will be able to see the location of the object on the shop floor map. Today highly reliable technologies are available from companies such as Wirepas that can scale to 1 million asset tracking tags on a single network.
Indoor position location accuracy
The accuracy of the location would vary between a few centimeters to 5 meters or higher. More the accuracy, the greater will be the cost of the solution and related maintenance costs. Pallet tracking in production areas would normally require accuracy of 5 square meters.
Wired solutions involved extensive cabling, electrical inspections, LAN network, WiFi or Zigbee transmission protocols enabled in the factory or the warehouse where indoor position technology is enabled.
Whereas, wireless solutions using a mesh technology comprises of battery operated anchors (instead of a powered gateway) and asset tags (location, movement, temperature, opening-closing and other functions provided) typically give a location accuracy of 5 meters – to depict the location within a room or a production area such as quality control, packing or dispatch. With the help of our software, the end customer can be given access to order specific information so as to update on the production status. This is very helpful for hi-tech industrial equipment manufacturers, where strict deadlines are the norm.
Indoor positioning system Singapore – ownership vs rental models
These solutions are relatively affordable and are available on a one-time purchase or rental basis from vendors such as Ripples IOT Pte Ltd, a leading indoor position technology provider. The battery life of these devices is in the range of 4 to 10 years depending on the frequency at which data is transmitted by the asset tracking tags for indoor location management.
Pallet tracking and indoor positioning in factories
The battery life of the tags will attribute to the cost of ownership of the solution, which includes installation, deployment, maintenance, battery change and the ability to expand the area of operations as new departments and inventory are added in the manufacturing line. Pallet tracking in factories & warehouses can help reduce inventory costs.
The devices available in the markets are a mix when it comes to environment protection and standards. Bluetooth Low Energy is the preferred technology, is widely endorsed by industry leaders such as Google, Apple etc. A mesh enabled solution ensures the position network stays reliable even if one of the anchor devices fail. A battery low alert mechanism is provided by many vendors.
Indoor position for factories, hospitals, warehouses, construction
Besides tracking inventory & fixed assets, the indoor positioning solution can be deployed to monitor the movement of the workforce and contractors within the factory or warehouse shop floor. This will help in understanding the daily workflow and remove bottlenecks that will aid in productivity and elevate the morale at workplaces through greater transparency and trust.
Call us to know more about indoor location monitoring and asset tracking solutions to help improve productivity, reduce costs for your competitive advantage.