With beacon wristbands, efficient and reliable real-time tracking can be realized with comparatively low installation and maintenance effort.
SETUP OF A LOCALIZATION SYSTEM
A tracking system always consists of receiver and transmitter hardware. In most applications, the receiver hardware is distributed at regular intervals throughout the site and is permanently installed, while the transmitter hardware (usually beacons) is attached to the assets to be tracked or carried by people. The receiver hardware can be infsoft Locator Beacons and/or infsoft Locator Nodes 1400. Locator Beacons are battery powered, whereas Locator Nodes must be connected to a power source and the network.
This setup of a localization system with Locator Beacons is particularly suitable in cases where area- or room-accurate localization is sufficient and a slightly time-delayed position determination, for example a position query once every few minutes, is sufficient. This is the case for many use cases, including applications in office buildings and hospitals.
PROBLEM WITH VERY SHORT SAMPLING INTERVALS AND HIGH SAMPLING RATES
However, if a tracking solution requires both high positioning accuracy and a sampling interval of a few seconds, the receiver hardware must scan its environment for signals from the transmitter hardware at very short intervals. In such a scenario, the battery life of Locator Beacons would be extremely short and the maintenance effort correspondingly high. If Locator Nodes are used instead, they have to be installed at shorter intervals, which results in a large installation effort.
SOLUTION: USING BEACON WRISTBANDS AS RECEIVER HARDWARE
An alternative setup, which requires much less maintenance and installation effort, is the use of mobile beacon wristbands as receiver hardware. The Minew B10 wristbands are equipped with the firmware of our Locator Beacons and can thus function as receiver hardware just like a Locator Beacon. A high sampling rate of a few seconds is no problem in this scenario, as the wristbands can be easily recharged, for example overnight, and are ready for use within a few hours.
In this scenario, the beacon wristbands are worn by people and function as receiver hardware, while fixed beacons or Locator Beacons send out signals and act as transmitter hardware. The received data is then sent from the beacon wristband to an infsoft Locator Node. Only a few of those are needed in such a scenario to relay the information to the infsoft LocAware platform®.
Overall, both installation and maintenance efforts are kept comparatively low in such a setup. At the same time, reliable real-time tracking of people is possible.
Do you have further questions about infsoft Locator Beacons or would you like to know if they are suitable for your project? Please feel free to contact us!
