Real-Time Locating Systems—Now a Very Hot Topic
The world’s only major conference on Active RFID and RTLS takes place in Dallas in December. The organizers, the analysts IDTechEx, have announced a new addition to the lineup of leading suppliers and users of RTLS that will be presenting at the conference and exhibition.
It is the new supplier Q Track, with its unusual low frequency system that is very tolerant of water and metal. Douglas Hogg, CEO of RFTRAQ, says, “This is the first conference RFTRAQ has chosen to attend—ever—and we look forward to revealing some exciting developments along with our co-exhibitors.” This addition completes the set, with all the other types represented by best-in-class companies such as IDENTEC Solutions and RFTRAQ using UHF and G2 Microsystems that use microwave frequency. There are more. Remarkable new advances and installations will also be described for Ubiquitous Sensor Networks (USN)—another very hot topic. Speakers will fly in from Korea, the UK, Australia, and many other countries, to give an unusually comprehensive understanding of what is possible, what is needed, and what comes next. Learn why active RFID is frequently more useful and more lucrative than passive RFID and understand why it will rise rapidly to 27 percent of the RFID market by value in 10 years. Who will be the winners and losers? Masterclasses, visits to local centers of excellence, and free educational material will be available, giving a truly professional examination of what is really going on. This event is located where the densest grouping of active RFID and allied companies operates in the US.
Real-Time Locating Systems (RTLS) involve small tags that can signal their location at all times. There is no need for an RFID reader to be nearby. They variously work at 10 meters to several kilometers, and they are already widely used from Club Car golf cart production lines to military helicopters monitoring assets. However, the applications and the technology are now moving forward at a blistering pace.
The tags may be the size of your hand or the size of a wristwatch. Accuracy of location varies from a few centimeters to merely many meters. Basically, you get what you pay for. However, RTLS is one of those technologies that is workable and affordable at just the right time to meet a variety of urgent needs. These vary from preventing hospitals losing typically 15 percent of their assets every year and their staff not being located rapidly enough when they are being assaulted or come to an emergency situation that requires assistance. Then there is the need for better traceability of personnel, whether up a stack or down a tunnel, in oil and gas facilities, finding critical assets in those and other industries, and even tracking children on the way home from school or when a building is evacuated. There is much more, and that is why no one technology will satisfy all the needs, and many more technologies are coming along. For example, BP finds Ultra Wide Band RTLS best for 3D tracking of personnel in potentially dangerous facilities. Hospitals often prefer RTLS working off WiFi, because it can be a little lower in cost-of-ownership and best accuracy is not paramount.
Dr. Peter Harrop
Chairman, IDTechEx
