By Mário Prado, Computer Engineer and CTO at Taggen Soluções IoT
In our hyperconnected world, in which we face numerous technological advances day by day, the Internet of Things is one of the topics that has been extensively researched, generating debates and investments on the part of companies and the government, due to the diversity of applications and vertical businesses that can benefit from this type of innovation.
It is not by chance that daily projections appear about how many connected objects we will have in Brazil and in the world. Gartner, a world reference in technology research and advice, estimates that we will reach 20.4 billion connected things by 2020, a number that will continue to grow exponentially in the years to come.
In general, IoT projects involve devices connected to the internet capable of sending data (collected by sensors or other sources) or communicating with other objects. Today, in many applications, there is a great tendency to aggregate the position information of this object during the collection of this data. Knowing the location of an object is something very common when we speak in external environments, because technologies like GPS or the triangulation of GSM network are well known and work very well. However, there is a great difficulty in the implementation of systems capable of performing localization in indoor environments with precision. I recently participated in the Geo IoT World 2017 congress in Belgium, which had focused specifically on this subject, showing different technologies capable of accomplishing this task.
This type of system is usually called RTLS or Real Time Location System. There are several technologies that allow indoor location today, such as WiFi or UWB, but the most promising, given the cost, stability and feasibility of implementation, involves the use of beacons (active bluetooth tags). These devices allow the detection of objects to be carried out indoors with relative precision (error of a few meters) at an affordable cost and with the use of small tags, which work on the battery for several years.
The system works as follows: small readers (IoT gateways) are installed in the company's internal facilities. These readers will detect the beacons tied to the assets, objects or even employees of the companies, and will send this information through a wifi network, to a central server responsible for mapping the location of each object in the plant. This central system can be integrated with other company systems, performing tasks such as meeting room reservations, measuring time in processes, traceability of employees in dangerous areas, time control and internal logistic routes or, simply, showing the position of a item on the company's premises.
This identification and location data is essential for organizations to enjoy the benefits of the Internet of Things (IoT), including in the industry, by analyzing the data generated by the devices for control and decision making.
At Taggen, a company in which I am technical director, we developed a complete RTLS traceability solution, robust and accessible, based on TAGGEN BEACON, a Brazilian 100% device, approved by Anatel, which uses Bluetooth Low Energy technology to transmit its location to a server in the cloud. The system also allows equipment with attached tags to be located by ordinary cell phones, even when outside the business environment. This solution allows system integrators and developers to create numerous internal traceability solutions for their customers. For example, one of our partners is conducting a pilot screening of hospital equipment in the ICU of a large hospital in the State of São Paulo.
Taggen Beacon was developed in partnership with EMBRAPII CPqD and works with market standards created by Apple (Apple iBeacon) and Google (EddyStone). A version of the product with integrated sensors will be available in 2018.
For traceability of low-cost assets, Taggen also works with passive RFID tags, which dispense with the need for direct contact of the object with readers as with bar codes, bringing great agility to the inventory process. The scene of a boy carrying out inventories and manual inventory control will be a thing of the past.
Radio frequency technology (RFID) has been used for much longer as a technology of communication, identification and location, whose costs have become more accessible and contributed to its popularization, especially after the advent of passive tags, which do not have their own battery or transmit signals, but whose data is identified by readers.
Beacons and RFID tags can be installed on any type of asset, such as IT equipment, furniture, appliances, hospital and industrial equipment, etc. These are IoT location technologies that add more intelligence, make it possible to reduce losses, optimize investments, and improve the provision of services. We believe that more sectors and companies will be able to use these technologies to explore the benefits of IoT in their activities.
It is not by chance that daily projections appear about how many connected objects we will have in Brazil and in the world. Gartner, a world reference in technology research and advice, estimates that we will reach 20.4 billion connected things by 2020, a number that will continue to grow exponentially in the years to come.
In general, IoT projects involve devices connected to the internet capable of sending data (collected by sensors or other sources) or communicating with other objects. Today, in many applications, there is a great tendency to aggregate the position information of this object during the collection of this data. Knowing the location of an object is something very common when we speak in external environments, because technologies like GPS or the triangulation of GSM network are well known and work very well. However, there is a great difficulty in the implementation of systems capable of performing localization in indoor environments with precision. I recently participated in the Geo IoT World 2017 congress in Belgium, which had focused specifically on this subject, showing different technologies capable of accomplishing this task.
This type of system is usually called RTLS or Real Time Location System. There are several technologies that allow indoor location today, such as WiFi or UWB, but the most promising, given the cost, stability and feasibility of implementation, involves the use of beacons (active bluetooth tags). These devices allow the detection of objects to be carried out indoors with relative precision (error of a few meters) at an affordable cost and with the use of small tags, which work on the battery for several years.
The system works as follows: small readers (IoT gateways) are installed in the company's internal facilities. These readers will detect the beacons tied to the assets, objects or even employees of the companies, and will send this information through a wifi network, to a central server responsible for mapping the location of each object in the plant. This central system can be integrated with other company systems, performing tasks such as meeting room reservations, measuring time in processes, traceability of employees in dangerous areas, time control and internal logistic routes or, simply, showing the position of a item on the company's premises.
This identification and location data is essential for organizations to enjoy the benefits of the Internet of Things (IoT), including in the industry, by analyzing the data generated by the devices for control and decision making.
At Taggen, a company in which I am technical director, we developed a complete RTLS traceability solution, robust and accessible, based on TAGGEN BEACON, a Brazilian 100% device, approved by Anatel, which uses Bluetooth Low Energy technology to transmit its location to a server in the cloud. The system also allows equipment with attached tags to be located by ordinary cell phones, even when outside the business environment. This solution allows system integrators and developers to create numerous internal traceability solutions for their customers. For example, one of our partners is conducting a pilot screening of hospital equipment in the ICU of a large hospital in the State of São Paulo.
Taggen Beacon was developed in partnership with EMBRAPII CPqD and works with market standards created by Apple (Apple iBeacon) and Google (EddyStone). A version of the product with integrated sensors will be available in 2018.
For traceability of low-cost assets, Taggen also works with passive RFID tags, which dispense with the need for direct contact of the object with readers as with bar codes, bringing great agility to the inventory process. The scene of a boy carrying out inventories and manual inventory control will be a thing of the past.
Radio frequency technology (RFID) has been used for much longer as a technology of communication, identification and location, whose costs have become more accessible and contributed to its popularization, especially after the advent of passive tags, which do not have their own battery or transmit signals, but whose data is identified by readers.
Beacons and RFID tags can be installed on any type of asset, such as IT equipment, furniture, appliances, hospital and industrial equipment, etc. These are IoT location technologies that add more intelligence, make it possible to reduce losses, optimize investments, and improve the provision of services. We believe that more sectors and companies will be able to use these technologies to explore the benefits of IoT in their activities.
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