Real time location systems are the new buzz in RFID
Pastor Dale Morgan
Real time location systems are the new buzz in RFID
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By Simon Holloway, Bloor Research
Published Tuesday 21st August 2007 09:54 GMT
A new acronym is being banded around the RFID world - that of RTLS. What
is a real time location system (RTLS)?
The simplest definition I have come across is that it is a system of
finding the position of assets using active RFID tags. The tags
broadcast a signal, which is received by three reader antennas. The time
each signal is received is passed on to a software system that uses
triangulation to calculate the location of the asset.
At the beginning of August I had a briefing with Josh Slobin, director
of marketing at AeroScout, one of the pioneers in RTLS.
AeroScout was founded in 1999 and, from May 2007, has its headquarters
in Redwood City, California. Its research and development is done in
Israel. AeroScout has 125 employees currently spread across USA, Europe,
Japan, Israel, and Australia. Slobin said about 50 per cent of the
company's revenue comes from North America with some 15-20 per cent each
from both Europe and Asia Pacific.
The firm's elevator pitch states: "AeroScout complete visibility
solutions use standard wireless networks to accurately locate assets,
and utilise that location to improve business processes". The company
introduced the industry's first Wi-Fi-based Active RFID tag in 2003. It
has become the market leader in RTLS based on Wi-Fi.
Why use Wi-Fi? Slobin explained that this enables hospitals (one of
their major customer targets) to reduce their costs by up to 50 per
cent. One of the issues I had previously come across when implementing
RFID on existing networks was that it had seriously affected performance
of the original applications that used the network. I asked Slobin about
this. He explained that tags only sent out a minute message as large
amounts of information were not held on the tag. Slobin reckoned that
there is generally less than a one per cent increase in traffic using
the AeroScout solution on existing Wi-Fi networks.
So now let's us look at the AeroScout visibility solution components:
* AeroScout's Wi-Fi-based Active RFID Tags are small,
battery-powered wireless devices for locating and tracking any asset or
person. They use standard Wi-Fi networks to track assets and people in
real time, in any environment from indoor to open outdoor locations. The
T2 Tag is the market leader in Wi-Fi tags, due its long battery life,
convenient small size and built-in choke point capabilities. It is ideal
for tracking high volumes of assets across a wide range of environments.
The T3 Tag combines a streamlined flat form factor with long battery
life, two call buttons, motion and temperature detection and
tamper-proofing. It is ideal for use as a personnel badge and for IT
asset tracking. The choke point feature is a unique capability
currently. All the AeroScout tags are dual in that they have a built-in
passive tag exciter which works at 125 KHz.
* The Exciter is an optional component that triggers AeroScout's
tags as they pass through a choke point to transmit a message that is
received by a standard Wi-Fi Access Point or AeroScout Location
Receiver. This provides instant knowledge that a tagged asset or person
passed through a gate, doorway or some other tightly defined area. This
enables RFID-style tag detection, telemetry message retrieval and other
functions. To get directionality, one would need to implement 2 Exciters
slightly offset from one another at a chokepoint.
* The AeroScout Location Receiver is an optional component that
extends the AeroScout Visibility System to outdoor and difficult
environments. AeroScout Location Receivers provide location measurement
capabilities packaged in small devices designed for harsh conditions. It
receives transmissions and executes radio signal measurements and
calculations that are sent to the AeroScout Engine software.
* The AeroScout Engine is a software component of the AeroScout
Visibility System, which enables location-based applications in a
standard wireless LAN environment. The AeroScout Engine processes
information received from wireless Access Points to produce location and
presence data for assets tagged with AeroScout's Wi-Fi-based Active RFID
Tags.
* AeroScout MobileView turns asset location information received
from multiple location data sources into real business solutions,
delivering mapping, rules-based alerting and reporting functions. With
MobileView, developers and end users can apply their own rules and
business logic to location information, leveraging their positioning
data for intuitive applications.
The AeroScout system utilises standard wireless networks from multiple
leading networking vendors for its communications, keeping the
infrastructure cost low and enabling enterprises to gain more benefit
from their existing WLAN. AeroScout have developed a close partnership
with Cisco. AeroScout tags and software are integrated with the Cisco
wireless infrastructure, so that customers can use the standard WLAN for
wireless data, voice communications and location-based services.
In May 2007, AeroScout announced a close tie up with Cisco that involves
AeroScout Tags using the CCX tag format to communicate with the Cisco
Unified Wireless Network, which is also integrated with AeroScout's
MobileView. This integration includes full compatibility for multiple
advanced features such as wireless sensors, data telemetry, call-button
messaging and choke point detection through AeroScout's Exciter product.
In March 2007, AeroScout announced it had secured $21m in Series C
funding led by Menlo Ventures. Both Menlo Ventures and Greylock Partners
have joined the AeroScout investor syndicate in this round, and existing
investors Star Ventures, Pitango, Cisco Systems and Intel Capital also
participated. AeroScout will use the funding to expand its sales and
marketing function in order to capitalise on its success within the key
sectors of healthcare, manufacturing, and logistics. It will also
utilise the funds to expand its presence in growing international
markets. In addition, the funds will support product development.
For anyone needing to solve a business issue around the visibility of
key assets and people, AeroScout offer a solution that has a proven
track record combined with an innovative product set. In addition its
partner network includes a number of well-known companies, like HP. The
additional finance should ensure that AeroScout gains better penetration
into a growing market.