"The new Smart Agent Tag concept, with its enhanced long-range two-way data communication, processing, and high-accuracy location capabilities, will revolutionise the way manufacturing and logistics companies perceive active RF (radio frequency) technology," said Precision Systems CEO Rani Plaut.
"We believe that Real Time Locating Systems (RTLS) solutions should do much more than rough location and simple identification. The technology today enables us to offer many new and enhanced features for this market, at extremely competitive prices."
Real Time Locating Systems are fully automated systems that continually monitor the locations of assets and personnel. An RTLS solution typically utilises battery-operated radio tags and a cellular locating system to detect the presence and location of the tags.
According to Michael Braiman, Precision's founder, iLocate 2 introduces a wide range of features built on Precision's patented Sub-Meter real-time location technology.
"We moved from the traditional one-way RF beaconing protocol to a two-way synchronous data air protocol, which enables us to both enhance tag functionality and to expand the location levels offered."
By utilising the new protocol, the Smart Agent Tags can perform read-and-write operations, storing data on a tag at a range of over 600 feet. The new tags, which are installed with an on-board processor, can receive and execute commands; for example, they can activate externally attached machine controllers.
The tags, which have a battery lifespan of between five to seven years, can also receive data, digital or analogue, from external sources, and transmit it to the central system. The Smart Agent Tags are, in fact, automated smart terminals: they combine Precision's RF active tags' low-cost design with the benefits of automated location, identification, control, data storage, and data communication.
In scenarios where high-accuracy location is not required, the new iLocate 2 offers RF zone based location at even lower cost. The tags can be located in RF zones or recognised while passing through wide gates even at high speed. The iLocate 2 gate and zone technology requires no network connectivity to the infrastructure elements; this feature dramatically lowers infrastructure costs and substantially reduces installation complexity.
Radio frequency technology represents a major breakthrough in supply chain management. While traditional technologies can help record when a container was received and where it was delivered, RFID and RTLS go one step further by being able to provide accurate real time location information to managers of complex operations.