Img Source - Harry Reafor
Today, Real-Time Location & Sensor Solutions (RTLSS) consist predominantly of BLE, UWB, and Wireless Mesh (Wirepas). The latter may be relatively newer, however, offers distinct advantages such as low installation & maintenance costs, ease-of-scalability, and high data transmission reliability.
How does Wireless Mesh location tracking & environment sensoring work?
Wireless Mesh uses battery-operated location tracking tags and environment sensors to collect real-time data. This data is fed to router nodes (anchors), which transmit the data to the gateway via signal ‘hops’ that maximize signal strength while minimizing battery consumption.
All tags, sensors, and anchors can last year(s), pending update rate. System integrators and end-customers can fix devices into position quickly, with minimal training and site intrusion (as simple as using a 2-sided tape). Scaling takes minutes – just put up more ‘plug-and-play’ devices.
How wireless mesh works
Key competitive advantages of Wireless Mesh (Wirepas)
- Low installation & maintenance cost – devices can be fully battery-operated and plug-and-play; there is no need for any wiring or infrastructure. Some devices only need a change of battery every 5 years, depending on the update rate.
- Widely scalable – to expand coverage area, simply put up more ‘plug-and-play’ devices using tape, strap, or screw. A wide range of device options (in functionality and form factor design) ensures project needs are fully covered. Moreover, leverage the Wireless Mesh network to develop solutions beyond location tracking / environmental sensing, such as Indoor mapping / navigation.
- Highly reliable and secure – Wireless Mesh networks maximize signal strength while minimizing battery consumption; data re-routes if there’s any signal interference (‘self-healing’) to ensure 99.9% transmission guarantee. Fully end-to-end encrypted to ensure maximum security.
Watch our webinar on "Scaling Indoor Navigation to RTLS via One Infrastructure: AetherIoT and Navigine Solutions":
Wireless Mesh application scenarios
Healthcare. Nurses & staff spend hundreds of hours per year looking for misplaced equipment; additionally, an average hospital will lose 15-20% of critical equipment each year. Frost & Sullivan studies indicate this adds up to millions of ‘unnecessary’ annual costs for every hospital.
By simply setting up Wireless Mesh tags (attached to equipment) and anchors (attached to walls), hospitals establish a robust RTLSS infrastructure to auto-detect the location & status of each equipment at all times. With battery-operated devices, use cases can further be seamlessly scaled to locate doctors and patients or monitor the temperature/humidity of pharmaceuticals.
An example of an asset tracking platform for hospital
Manufacturing. Wireless Mesh optimizes production processes by monitoring industrial assets, workers, and environmental conditions. Any tool or worker can be tracked by using a wide range of available Wireless Mesh tags (e.g., with different form factor / ‘hardiness’ to satisfy every type of use case). Tool movements and performance are displayed and analyzed via an intuitive web interface. By setting up more plug-and-play devices, use cases easily scale to other areas such as tracking worker movements, tool utility, and / or environmental temperature, humidity, and air quality.
Wireless Mesh for manufacturing
Logistics. During loading/unloading and on-the-road, Wireless Mesh gateways are seamlessly integrated with existing GPS trackers while tags and anchors easily attach to any pallet surface, allowing monitoring of cargo (and workers) at all times. Especially important for high-value cargo, and /or environmentally sensitive goods such as vaccines or groceries. Alarms auto-trigger when location or environmental conditions deviate outside of pre-designated parameters.
Wireless Mesh for logistics
Navigine specializes in developing cost-effective geolocation tools for indoor positioning and asset tracking solutions. Our company’s credo is to be hardware-agnostic, which means the software produced by Navigine can be easily used with all existing types of technologies, such as Bluetooth® LE, Wi-Fi, UWB, and now, Wireless Mesh. Wireless Mesh opens new possibilities for our customers – easier project set-up (non-invasive to existing infrastructure), enhanced project scalability, and improved data transmission reliability, especially when it comes to enterprise location tracking and environmental sensoring capabilities.
Are you interested in finding out more about Wireless Mesh and how it can solve your project needs? Discuss more in a private free consultation with our managers:
You can read more about Wireless Mesh in the article prepared by one of our partners here: Wireless Mesh vs. other radio technologies for location tracking & environmental sensing.
