Time Domain RTLS Can Really Track Things Down

Domain

RTLS products use radio signals to transmit the physical location of tagged objects in or near realtime. The systems include tags that are attached to whatever or whomever is being tracked; transmitters and receivers located in a given area, such as a warehouse or hospital and software that provides the tracking application. In most cases, the systems use battery-operated active tags. The technology is becoming popular in markets such as health care, manufacturing and logistics.

Time Domain's product, Precision Location UWB System (PLUS), offers several advantages over other types of RTLS systems, said Greg Clawson, vice president of sales and marketing at the Huntsville, Ala.-based company. One is that it provides accurate locations of moving or stationary objects through multiple walls in an indoor environment, within 12 to 36 inches.

"With that kind of accuracy, you can confidently make associations and glean significant business intelligence from the location data," Clawson said. In comparison, he explained, active RFID and Wi-Fi positioning systems are accurate to about 10 feet resolution and often up to 20 to 30 feet.

A second advantage, Clawson said, is location throughput, or the ability to locate a single item in the presence of thousands of other items. The system uses a form of active RFID with UWB coupled with tiny pulses, which gives it more throughput than other RTLS systems.

"In a very small space of just a few rooms, we can provide precision location of over 1,500 tags simultaneously," Clawson said. "If all you care about is presence and not location, that number goes up to over 4,000 tag reads per second." As businesses realize the benefits of RTLS, "it won't be long before they require this much throughput," he added.

PLUS is designed to be scalable. Organizations can start out small and add readers to their network over time as their requirements for coverage and precision increase, according to Clawson. For example, a company could start out monitoring assets or people in a presence-detect mode with just a few readers, with each reader monitoring an area of up to 150 feet to provide the presence information.

Later, the company could upgrade the system to add more readers and get down to 12- to 36-inch accuracy, Clawson said. The system can cover areas of a million square feet of space or greater.

"The system scalability of PLUS is a key differentiator for us because it enables our VARs to generate recurring revenue from services and/or network upgrades once the initial PLUS network is installed," Clawson said.

The company's early focus for the technology is the health-care industry. Wireless and other RTLS approaches are being tested in multiple hospital settings for patient security and equipment tracking, according to Time Domain, but up to now the systems have been limited to room-only, "last read" monitoring that tracks patients and equipment when they leave or enter a room.

There is a huge demand for precision RTLS that provides better location accuracy than current solutions using Wi-Fi or other active RFID technology, Clawson said.

"Our analysis coupled with analyst reports from companies like IDTechEx and Frost & Sullivan shows a vibrant and growing RTLS marketplace," he noted.

The PLUS platform will be sold through VARs that will be eligible to participate in Time Domain's certification programs.