Industry 4.0: Asset Track and Trace

#News(IoTStack) [ via IoTForIndiaGroup ]

Industry 4.0 real time location systems (RTLS)
Over the years, different technology has appeared as solution to providing real-time assets location information to the ERP system. As mentioned above, technologies, such as RFIDs, bar codes and GPS have certainly been a step in the right direction, but didn’t fully meet the requirements of modern businesses look to optimise their processes.

Ultrawide band (UWB) radar
With advances in radar technology over the last few years, a few silicon vendors are now producing affordable UWB radar devices suitable for trace and trace applications. Radar technology that used to cost thousands of Euros, and was primarily aimed a military technology, is now available for tens of Euros, making it viable candidate for track and trace applications.

UWB highlights

Ten times more accurate than GPS, Wi-Fi or Bluetooth with typical accuracies a good as 10cm.
Hundreds of metres range with data communication options.
Very low power and safe for humans – power emission typically a fraction of percent of a typical Wi-Fi router.
Licence free ISM band, meaning no complicated ETSI/FCC certification and lower implementation costs.
Penetrates walls and doors, making it ideal for warehouses and buildings.
Contemporary UWB based solutions finally allow for a true RTLS implementation, giving enterprises control over their personnel and assets. Whether tracking containers through a supply chain, optimising manufacturing processes, or providing asset traceability, an RTLS-UWB system provides an ERP system with real-time situation awareness that can be acted upon instantly.

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